A Visit To McCain Blogette

OK, I admit it. I finally broke down and surfed the invisible waves to http://www.mccainblogette.com/, the blog headed by Meghan McCain, daughter of Republican presidential nominee John McCain. I'd been avoiding this for weeks, but after AP released a positive review of the site I felt obligated to check it out. Besides, how could I continue to take a pass on the blogette after learning that Meghan "reveals" for her readers "that her mother, chairwoman of a family beer company, knows if a beer is fresh depending on the taste."

I expected the site to be a thinly veiled political ad, shilling support for McCain's agenda with a faux Disney starlet appeal (minus the sex, drugs and child custody lawsuits). I was wrong.

The blog doesn't shy away from unabashed support of the Arizona Senator, but it is less about the politics than the man, his family and their friends as they travel the campaign trail. And Meghan McCain has an authenticity about her personae and approach that makes you feel as though you are connecting with the real McCains, regardless of the production values in the presentation. The fact is that I intended to quickly breeze through the site with a couple of Ctrl+F "Beer" searches, then head off to something I might find more entertaining, like the latest infantine insight from Keith Olbermann. But after a few minutes I felt an awkwardly addictive impulse to roll and read through the pages. It's not Walden Pond, but this site is a page turner that is worth a visit. Or several visits.