About That Renegade Republican....

After his lone GOP "yes" vote on the U.S. House's health care reform bill helped its approval by only a two vote margin yesterday, right wing sites such as Free Republic and others have already launched a campaign against Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), branding him a "traitor" and calling for his deportation back to Vietnam, among other unrepeatable things. Cao emigrated to the United States at the age of eight with two siblings and an uncle, while his mother remained in Vietnam awaiting the release of his father from a North Vietnamese Army "reeducation camp."

After earning a master's degree at Fordham and a law degree from Loyola, Cao narrowly defeated Rep. William Jefferson in 2008 to become the first Republican congressional member from New Orleans' heavily Democratic 2nd District since 1891. Cao's win came after Jefferson was indicted on 16 felony counts of corruption. (Jefferson was found guilty on 11 of those counts in August.) Since taking office, Cao has consistently voted as one of the most moderate GOP reps in the House, becoming one of the four GOP co-sponsors of the recently-approved hate crimes act.

You can thank Rep. Cao for his support of health care reform here. In addition to the racist comments on conservative sites, his Facebook page is getting quite ugly, but appreciative progressives are also pouring in with messages of support.