Weigel

When Anthony Shadid died, the White House made an official statement mourning the loss of a great foreign correspondent. My old colleague Jack Shafer made a brief, unpopular stand against this: It was not good practice for government to praise reporters like that.

Shafer appears to have lost the argument. The three non-Ron Paul candidates for the GOP nomination have all come out with statements remembering and thanking Andrew Breitbart. Mitt Romney goes for the joint marital condolences:

Rick Santorum doesn't mention his wife, but he encourages prayers for the decidedly Jewish Breitbart.

Newt Gingrich, who proudly writes his own tweets, needs two of them to express himself.

Can anyone recall a similar story like this, of the GOP's leaders praising a late journalist? The Breitbart tribute moved from Twitter to the floor of the House. Rep. Louie Gohmert, one of the members who picked up the rebound from the Big Government ACORN story, gave a tearful tribute speech as a giant-sized Breitbart photo balanced behind him.