“All Facts and Opinions” is a clean two column page with a red banner as a header. Seems a simple and straightforward layout at first glance. But as I went looking for an “About Me” link, I scrolled through what was undoubtedly THE longest list of linkage I have had the misfortune to encounter as a reviewer. I never did find an “about” page. But I did discover I had arrived at a political blog.
I searched in vain for an easy to access archive link and finally found that if I typed “archives” into the search box, a long list of entries appeared. A more user friendly archive access would be helpful to newcomers.
As to writing style and content, the entries are generally rather sarcastic jabs at whoever is annoying our author that day. There is a mean spirited tone to many of the entries. This is fine if you just want to vent. And establishing a blog as a place to vent has a long and glorious tradition. But if you want to persuade, other tactics are in order. One can be civil and still have strong opinions. Occasionally there were entries about movies and pop culture, but these were few and far between.
There were certain inconsistencies that I found annoying, given the strong opinions our author holds about her brand of politics. In one entry she says the following:
“It is any wonder why some see no other recourse but to leave the US? That is my ultimate goal, and it will happen the minute my economic condition allows it. To me, the choice to flee is a simple one: Why stay in a country that hates?”
And in another she writes this:
Can’t believe I am admitting this publicly: One of my favorite guilty pleasures is Ted Casablanca’s “The Awful Truth” a celeb-gossip column presented weekly at E! Entertainment’s web site. Naturally, I surf by for delicious dirt, but what really tickles me is the blond one’s open partisanship — Casablanca is an out-and-proud Bush hater (in more ways than one, she quips crudely, taking a page from Whoopi Goldberg’s book) and he takes delight in zinging the Shrub every chance he gets.
So, it’s okay to hate, as long as it’s President Bush.
It’s hard to respect this kind of sloppy logic, regardless of your political leanings.
I found little original thought on this blog, and frankly, the vitriol became tedious. Political blogs of all stripes run the risk of falling to the lowest common denominator. Honest political commentary is hard work, requiring diligent inquiry into opposing views and deep introspection into one’s own positions. I found little of that here.