‘What is this Bart that is Breit?’: Cory Booker mocks late conservative media king Andrew Breitbart

“Who was Andrew?” Booker asked.

Starr replied: “He was probably the pioneer of citizen journalism.” He then mockingly lauded Breitbart. “Oh, that’s fantastic,” he said to Starr. “Are you a citizen journalist, or do you get paid for your job?” Starr responded: “I’m a journalist.”

Andrew Breitbart, who founded the Breitbart News Network in 2007 after being an editor of the Drudge Report, was a key figure in launching major conservative journalism ventures online. He died in 2012 of a heart attack at age 43.

Starr then questioned Booker about his thoughts on the use of the word “lynching,” a term used by the president and other politicians to indicate a targeted attack on someone’s political career. Booker decried the term and told Starr that she couldn’t point out that Democrats used the word as a defense. “I don’t know if you know this, but there have been a lot of Democratic racists in the past,” said Booker.

“And I’m not talking about people who have used that word in recent history. I’m going back to George Wallace and the like. And if every time we call out Donald Trump for behavior and the first response is, ‘Look at the Democrat,’ that’s not gonna solve the problem.

“He [Trump] is the president of the United States of America. Words matter. And excusing him because some Democrat used the same word?” Booker exclaimed. “We weren’t taught those morals on the playground for crying out loud. Leadership is about accepting responsibility for your actions. And he uses language that divides, demeans, and degrades on a regular basis. Have Democrats used language that divide, demean, and degrade? Yeah.

“So don’t point out to me as an excuse for his behavior other Democrats,” Booker said, still addressing Starr’s question. “This is a moment where we need some sacred honor.”