Cao's Blog

"Cao's Blog" ( http://caoilfhionn.blogspot.com/ ) is the political blog of a conservative/libertarian woman from Illinois. The last post when I looked at it was well-written article about the "Ruckus Society" -- a radical group that espouses property destruction and dangerous forms of sabotage in support of animal rights. It was very informative, and it highlighted the activities of a group whose nonsense deserves scrutiny.

There is also a fact-filled post about Democratic Section 527 organizations, highlighting that their size dwarfs that of the Swift Boat Veterans' operation, and another post about Kerry's opportunism in Viet Nam, where he towed around an 8mm camera to record his exploits and where he manipulated the rules on Purple Hearts to get out of 'Nam as fast as possible. These are, I think, fair comments, unlike some of the miss-leading comments that have been made about Kerry's valor and leadership. They are not the full story -- the 527 organization MoveOn.org pulled an offensive "Bush morphs into Hitler" ad that someone had submitted to them, which is an action those involved with the Swift Boat Veterans have not yet emulated in any way; and Kerry's opportunism pales in comparison with that of Bush and Cheney, who manipulated the rules to stay as far out of 'Nam as possible in spite of supporting the war. But they are fair comments.

More questionable are a series of images comparing Kerry's use of an up-raised fist to that of Communists and anarchists, as well as the underlying theme that George Soros' money props up much of the anti-gun, pro-animal, and anti-Bush movements.

In sum, though, Cao gives the distinct impression that she is someone who would be happy to discuss real issues rather than just to say whatever at the moment seems the most favorable to Bush/Republicans and the most embarassing to Kerry/Democrats, regardless of how superficial the comment might really be.

Writing: 8

Personal/Public: 9

Content Quality: 8

Thoughtfulness: 8

Overall: 8

"Cao's Blog" is certainly worth a look. I peered at previous posts and found criticism of our military confiscating weapons in Iraq (which included the information that Saddam Hussein permitted widespread ownership of automatic weapons and even grenades, raising the question of how exactly gun ownership protects us from tyranny, as the NRA promises us so often that it does), and of domestic prison abuse. I also found that "Cao's Blog" is very new -- starting (if I can believe datemarks) August 18 -- and that Cao's real political favorites are libertarians Alan Keyes and Ron Paul, and not anyone in the Bush Administration. This makes me wonder if Cao has not been easing off a little on Bush as the election approaches, much as "Nader Democrats," if they are smart, will hold their noses and pull the Kerry lever on November 2.