Andrew Breitbart used to command attention. He was either loved or despised, depending on which side of the political aisle one is on or how much stock one places in quaint ideas like "truth."
According to the Quantcast website, a service that measures web audiences, the site Breitbart.com had 315,308 visitors on the day his death was reported, March 1. The previous day, he had 67,930.
Andrew Breitbart used to command attention. He was either loved or despised, depending on which side of the political aisle one is on or how much stock one places in quaint ideas like "truth."
According to the Quantcast website, a service that measures web audiences, the site Breitbart.com had 315,308 visitors on the day his death was reported, March 1. The previous day, he had 67,930.
In fact, Quantcast reports his biggest day ever was Feb. 8, 2010. The website had 862,624 hits. That is the day former Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha died. Unfortunately, that date's entries no longer exist online so we will be denied the kind, loving comments written by Andrew Breitbart and his readers about this man they reviled for daring to draw attention to President Bush's mishandling of the war in Iraq.
They never got close again. Not even on Aug. 25, 2009. For some reason there is no record of Breitbart even having a website that day. Quantcast leaps directly from Aug. 23 to Aug. 26. Aug. 25 is the day Sen. Edward Kennedy died and Breitbart showed his true colors in calling the beloved senator a "prick" and "a special piece of human excrement."
No wonder he "disappeared" that page and date on his website.
Breitbart.com went into a period of decline according to Quantcast. The site topped 500,000 visitors on two days, the first of which was June 23, 2010. That's the day General Stanley McChrystal was relieved of his command in Afghanistan. Breitbart and his readers didn't care for that stuff at all, the readers cared little for that uppity "you know what" in the Oval Office telling a white General what to do.
The final time was Nov. 20, 2011, when the head of the House's Debt Supercommittee said he doubted the committee would reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling in time for the Nov. 23 deadline. Breitbarters loved that news. They also, no doubt, loved watching the video of NASCAR fans booing Michelle Obama.
And that was it. The big readership days were over. Every now and then, they'd stick their head up above the 200,000 hits mark, but those days were getting fewer and further between.
Now that the site has relaunched with a new design and mission, to "vet" President Obama like he's never been "vetted" before, the site has been a huge bust. An epic failure.
On the day the site relaunched, this past Monday, March 5, the site had a pitiful 2,502 hits. That was the day they announced they were going to release the goods on Obama.
The goods? Obama attended a play about Saul Alinsky. He sat on a panel discussion about the play. Shock. Horror.
The following day? 670 visitors.
Yesterday, March 7? 752 visitors.
By comparison, Daily Kos.com had 177,190 individual visitors on March 7. Talking Points Memo had 157,155.
Numbers for today, the day of their second "big reveal" -- that Obama was seen hugging a black man after giving a speech that they claimed was "doctored and edited" by the "lamestream media" (a charge rebutted on Examiner.com)?
We'll have to wait and see tomorrow. But the blogosphere and Twitter are filled with laughing references to the website, about the right wing reaction to Obama "hugging" a Harvard college professor after giving a great speech on the importance of diversity, and all manner of jokes about Obama being seen caressing a mother of two (Michelle) and being caught on film hugging two underaged girls (his daughters).
Andrew Breitbart would be so proud of the tragic comedy his surviving lackeys and lickspittles have turned his joke of a right wing lie factory into.
ADDED LATER: Thank you all so much for your kind comments about Gail. We're all keeping our fingers crossed for a good outcome, clean margins and negative neck nodes on Tuesday. If anyone is interested, I will be doing my best to liveblog all of this on my Facebook account and at Famous Squamous, the website I created to tell her story.