Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

This week’s quote comes to us from none other than newly minted GOP Veeper J.D. Vance In a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson he said that top Democrats — Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez — were: “A bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choicesContinue reading “The Q&Q For 7/27/24”

“Rust Belt.” I heard that awful moniker used over and over again by the national news media at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week.  Ironically, the convention was held at the shiny new Fiserv Forum and its swanky surroundings, largely funded (shamefully) with taxpayer money, but nonetheless very, very nice. And that arenaContinue reading “Knock Off the Rust”

Let’s be honest. Joe Biden did not graciously sacrifice his own career for his country. He was dragged, kicking and screaming, from the stage. By hanging on as long as he did, he did damage to his party and the nation. If Kamala Harris wins in November all will be forgiven, If she loses, he’llContinue reading “Let’s Be Real About Joe”

A lot has happened this month. On June 27th Joe Biden cratered his campaign at a debate he himself had demanded to display his superiority to Donald Trump. Then somebody tried to kill Trump. Then the Republicans had an unusually united and more or less disciplined convention topped off by a rambling and typically mean-spiritedContinue reading “Let Us Chill”

Let’s spend a day not talking about Donald Trump or Joe Biden. You’re welcome. Instead, let’s talk about generic political strategy, regardless of the candidates. Republicans have performed worse than expected in recent cycles and the reason generally offered is that since Roe was overturned voters are taking them to the woodshed over abortion. IContinue reading “GOP Getting Smarter”

The Onion headline writes itself: Democrats Replace Candidate Sure to Lose With Candidate Pretty Sure to Lose. Now that Joe Biden has — at long last — dropped out of the race, the Democrats should not rush to select his replacement on the ticket. They’ve got almost four weeks before their convention and they shouldContinue reading “Dems: Take A Breath”

The UW’s power plant on Walnut Street is one of my favorite buildings on the campus. It’s clean, crisp, unadorned, functional. Odd Angles is a regular Sunday morning feature at YSDA. On my many walks around Madison I like to snap pictures of spots I like that nobody else would think to photograph.

The editors on the Quote & Quiz Desk had a challenge this week, what with the Republican Convention producing candidates for quote of the week on a minute by minute basis. But we finally settled on this gem from Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance: “When Mamaw died shortly before I left for Iraq in 2005,Continue reading “The Q&Q For 7/20/24”

I didn’t plan to watch Donald Trump’s speech. Just as my Sheepshead game on the Memorial Union Terrace (it was a lovely night with a great band playing in the background, though I lost 40 cents in the game) was wrapping up, I noticed on the screen inside the building that Trump had started speaking.Continue reading “Trump Rambles the Dems Back to Viability”

Today’s theme is that stuff changes. For two nights the Republicans did a fair job of lowering the temperature on their rhetoric. I doubted they could keep it up. They didn’t. It started with Kimberly Giulfoyle who screamed about “illegals!” and all kinds of other imagined threats. As I watched her for some reason ImeldaContinue reading “So Much For That”