The discussion stretched across decades, from Kraus talking about voting against Joe McCarthy at the 1954 state convention, to the students educating the oldsters on the role of Facebook in giving students an online way to support candidates.
“There’s a Facebook group called ‘Barack Obama: Fun to say and even more fun to support,’ ” Walker said.
At the same time, the students said they are suspicious of political blogs, as most are too partisan to provide reliable information. The students get their political news from subscriptions to the
Financial Times, the
New York Times, and the
Washington Post. Osiecki, who is looking at a career in television journalism, favors MSNBC and CNN.
Some political talk didn’t translate between generations. Earl noted the narrow defeats of Senators Conrad Burns of Montana and George Allen of Virginia.
“It’s interesting that the last Republicans standing were Burns and Allen,” he said, expecting laughter, but getting polite stares. “You know,” he prompted. “Like George Burns and Gracie Allen.”
But his explanation only received more stares.
Dinners On Wisconsin are held twice annually, in April and November. McCann says that WASB is looking for more alumni to host. Those who are interested should contact him at
apmccann@wisc.edu.
—
Susan Lampert Smith ’82