Breitbart: We Can't Win Political War Without Taking On Media

As NewsBusters previously reported, conservative Internet entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart went into the belly of the liberal beast Friday evening by appearing on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."

Although he was treated abysmally by the host, his co-panelist, and the audience, Breitbart stated in Monday's Washington Times column that he had the time of his life.

More importantly, he strongly made the case concerning why conservatives must stop avoiding encounters with shameless, liberal media members such as Maher, Jon Stewart, and even the good ladies of "The View" and instead "take [them] on head-on" (h/t Hot Air):

Pretty much everyone I respect in media and politics recommended I not go on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher." But on Friday night, I defied that wisdom and had the time of my life. [...]

Since the salad days of ABC's "Politically Incorrect," which minted countless right-wing pundits and best-selling authors, conservatives have rightly assessed the HBO version of the Maher show as R-rated and shockingly hostile to their worldview. So most opt out. [...]

The problem with the withdrawal approach is that it cedes the popular culture debate to the other side. We figure talk radio, a certain cable news network and some independent Internet venues will allow for us to get our ideas out to the masses. Well, those few outlets are greatly outnumbered. They are also isolated and targeted for destruction by the activist left. The sitting president (using taxpayer money) is now leading the charge. [...]

This army of the emboldened and gleefully ill-informed is growing. Groupthink happens, and we must take it on head-on. [...]

By not going on "The View" and the Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert and Maher shows - or even David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Fallon, etc. - we are allowing them to define us into a very distorted and ugly caricature. Our most articulate voices, likable faces and best idea-makers need to go into hostile territory and plant the seeds of doubt in the minds of our ideological enemy and the apolitical masses who simply go with the media flow. [...]

We must plant seeds of doubt in the minds of the groupthink liberals in our dumbed-down and activist media culture. Yes, "Real Time With Bill Maher" is a hostile work environment for conservatives. But so is Hollywood - writ large. When conservatives withdraw from media and the entertainment business because they are intimidated or don't want to get down and dirty, we lose even more, valuable political ground.

Even though Mr. Dyson filibustered in a poetic jargon only a linguistics student could decipher, and Mr. Maher glared at me in his trademark smirk, and the audience booed my every utterance, I left knowing I won the rigged bout simply by showing up.