Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos
A safe place for moderates in a polarized world
Latest from the blog
Some Hope in Dane County
There is finally some hope for the return of a sensible center in Dane County politics. This week ten county supervisors voted against a budget amendment that would take money from the Sheriff’s budget and allocate it to human services spending, including $233,000 to an organization called Urban Triage. Sup. Michael Engelberger questioned, appropriately, Urban…
Betrayal
Last week I had lunch with my friend Chris Berge. Chris and his brothers are some of Madison’s best, most creative and daring restauranteurs. They started with Blue Marlin some thirty years ago and then Chris moved on to Magnus, Nattspil and the Weary Traveler before decamping for Blue Mounds where he opened his solo…
Misplaced Priorities
It has long been the case that there are three groups the Madison public school system’s board and administration don’t care about: well-behaved kids who just want to learn, teachers who just want classrooms they can control and taxpayers who just want their money to provide kids with a good education in an orderly and…
YSDA Refuses to Lawyer Up
Let’s do a little tidying up around the YSDA office before we get out of here for the weekend. Here are some observations about this week’s events that didn’t merit (or I just didn’t feel like) writing a whole blog about. Money can’t buy you votes. Okay. Okay. Maybe in Cook County it still can,…
A Mandate For Moderation
According to an analysis in the New York Times, “The path to Democrats’ sweeping victory this week, when they seized control of both chambers of Congress, was paved overwhelmingly by moderates who had spent months persuading voters in Republican-leaning states and competitive congressional districts that they could be trusted to govern and would deliver dissatisfied…
The Mandate Is To Get Real
Last night’s destruction of Donald Trump’s Republican Party raises some fundamental questions for both parties. First for the Republicans: who are you guys? Are you going to continue to be the Party of Trump or will you return to being the Party of Reagan or will you reinvent yourself as something else entirely? Because you…
What I’ll Be Watching Tonight
It’s election day. The day on which all right thinking people walk a few blocks through crisp autumn air, kicking through the maple leaves, to join their neighbors in person to participate in a sacred rite (and also right) of democracy. Okay, so most of us don’t vote at a neighborhood polling place any more.…
Gems from the MU Poll
Before I get to today’s topic, let me just say, BREWERS WIN! BREWERS WIN! BREWERS WIN! The latest Marquette Law School poll, and the last one before the election, is out and, as per usual, it’s packed with interesting stuff. For example: Crowley’s lead grows. David Crowley increased his lead over Tom Tiffany from 3%…
Why It’s Ok Not to Vote in Every Race
Last week, when I wrote that I hoped Abdul El-Sayed would lose the Michigan Senate race, the comments section was set ablaze with righteous indignation. To put it in the most clinical terms (which they did not) my correspondents claimed that I had two choices and they were El-Sayed and a potential Democratic Senate majority…
The Quote & Quiz for 10/24/26
This week’s quote comes to us from none other than the Pentagon, which in an official statement about Defense Secretary (unless you want to call him War Secretary) Pete Hegseth’s staff busting Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s globe, said: “Accidents happen, we are grateful no one was harmed, and the globe is being repaired. It is unsurprising…
Empty Glass
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning the Madison City Council did the right thing. It fired interim Police Monitor Aeiramique Glass. Glass harassed a Madison police officer to the extent that she now faces criminal charges for it and she irresponsibly called for the city to be “burned down,” but she was actually fired…
What Government Can Learn From the Brewers
Maybe the Milwaukee Brewers can teach us something about government spending. The Brewers’ payroll ranks 19th among the 30 Major League clubs. Their World Series opponents, the Tampa Bay Rays, rank 28th. And the team that the Rays dispatched for the American League pennant, the Cleveland Guardians, ranked dead last. Meanwhile, the LA Dodgers’ payroll…
My Opponent in November: Populism
I’m a Democrat who would like to see some Democrats lose in November. At the top of that list is Abdul El-Sayed, the socialist-lite who is running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan. According to a recent story in the Free Press: “Progressives believe El-Sayed will be a bellwether for the future of the Democratic…
The Quote & Quiz For 10/17/26
This week’s quote comes to us from none other than Donald Trump who, in recounting a conversation with his new (now former) press secretary Katie Zacharia, said: “Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider. Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this.” How long was Zacharia on the job? A) Long enough…
You Gotta Like the Dems’ Chances
It’s October and there’s a whole lot of politics goin’ on. If control of the Wisconsin governor’s and attorney general’s offices, both houses of the Legislature, and both houses of Congress weren’t enough, the Madison mayor’s race is, all of a sudden, an actual race with a crowded field of credible candidates. We’ll leave the…
Rubio’s Speech
One of the more important moments for the future of American democracy will occur in the summer of 2028 when Republicans decide how to move on after Trump. Will they continue with his brand of blood and soil Christian nationalist populism or return to the roots of the party? The contest shaping up now appears…
Why the Hard-Left Is So Insufferable
Zohran Mamdani is learning what every candidate elected with support from the left learns eventually: you can’t win. Last week on the third anniversary of the October 7th massacre, Mamdani issued a statement that he probably thought was carefully balanced between lamenting the attacks while also hitting Israel for its response. He made sure to…
The Wrong Scandal
The games were exciting enough. I watched every inning of the Brewers’ four game series with the San Diego Padres and it was maybe the best string of baseball games I’ve ever witnessed. But during the late night broadcasts from the West Coast, one of the ads caught my attention. At first I thought maybe…
Dems Need Humility
If Democrats do as predicted and do well in November, they need to be serious about what that means. It means they have two years to get in position to take back the White House in 2028. Everything they do should be focussed on that. And from this follows the one word that should guide…
My Kind of Democrat
Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is my kind of Democrat. The Blue Dog from Washington state keeps winning in a district that Donald Trump has carried… three times. To learn more about one of the few moderates in a party that’s gone off the rails, check out this interview in one of my favorite online publications,…
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