A Salute to Tom Tancredo

Though i very rarely have nice things to say about Republicans, I want to aknowledge that Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) his stuck his neck out way before his colleagues and started an true, open, congressional blog. From reading the Molly Norton article, my hunch was confirmed that the reason more members of congress don't have blogsis because they don't want to risk having something nasty said about them on their own website.
First of all, nobody said the blog should be the feature of the website or the primary method of delivering a message. Second of all, if i'm a longstanding incumbent or a freshmen facing a re-election fight, wouldn't you want to know what the most negative criticism of any of your constituents is? I don't see negative comments as turning over control of the message. I see it as an opportunity for the elected official and their staff to openly respond to claims, rumors, and charges that would have otherwise been spread around as whisper campaigns. If I were Tom Tancredo's constituent and he voted in a way that made me sick, I would still have respect for him because he allows me to let him know that publicly. Isn't this what being active in our Republic is supposed to be about?