Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

With rare exceptions, Kamala Harris lost support across demographic groups compared to Joe Biden. In this guest column, Mike Maierle — who spent a career as a transportation and neighborhood planner and public transit manager and who delights in wonky analysis spiced with the occasional wry aside — does a fascinating deep dive into theContinue reading “Where Harris Lost Support”

Yesterday I offered a pretty bleak assessment of where things are at. My point was that societies are closing down all over the world and turning over power to corrupt authoritarians, like Donald Trump. It has happened before in history when more educated urban elites grow much richer and far more culturally progressive than theContinue reading “A Moderate Dem Party”

It’s okay, even necessary, for a political party to do some soul-searching when it loses as badly as my party did last Tuesday. But let’s make a distinction between sober reflection and finger-pointing.  I will not point a finger at any person. I’ll blame history. I’ll get to that in a bit, but first letContinue reading “The Chasm”

We’ve been pawing through the post-election analysis (which takes on various forms of “I told you so” and “if only they had listened to me”) and this morning we provide you with excerpts from three of the takes we found most insightful. Well, okay, so it’s basically the same take expressed by three different writers.Continue reading “Insufferable Liberals”

Whether or not it was good politics to say it, I suppose it’s debatable (though not much) if Donald Trump is really a fascist. But it’s undeniable that he is an authoritarian. In fact, it’s Trump’s strongman, give no quarter, image that so many of his supporters love about him. So, here’s what I expectContinue reading “The Authoritarian Handbook”

No commentary today. Just two extended quotes from candidates who lost elections. The first statement was made yesterday by Kamala Harris. Now, I know folks are feeling and experiencing a range of emotions right now. I get it, but we must accept the results of this election. Earlier today, I spoke with President-elect Trump andContinue reading “Who Loves America?”

There were many theories about how this election would turn out. I catalogued almost a dozen myself. But in the end it turned out to be about the fundamentals. No party had ever won a presidential election when its incumbent president had approval ratings this low. Joe Biden’s approval hovers around 40%. Most elections areContinue reading “It Was Fundamental”

When I was running for mayor for the first time in 2003 I was in a studio cutting my final radio ad. We were running through the script when a line occurred to me. “Vote your hopes, not your fears.” We tossed it in at the last minute and it seemed to work. The lineContinue reading “Hope and Fear”

You’d have to be a fool to predict the results of tomorrow’s elections. Okay, so let’s get started then. If you don’t live in Madison or Dane County you can skip on down. For those of you who live in the Magic Kingdom, I’m going to predict State Sen. Melissa Agard will win the specialContinue reading “YSDA Predicts the Elections!”

This week’s quote comes to us from none other than Pres. Joe Biden. Republicans are all in a lather about Biden’s gaffe during an interview when he referenced a remark by a comedian at a Trump rally who described Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage. Biden said: “The only garbage I see floatingContinue reading “The Q&Q For 11/2/24”