# A Question For Fellow "Liberals" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 8, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-fellow-liberals/278814 "2004-12-08T21:04:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-fellow-liberals/278814/61 "2004-12-09T18:50:49Z")
The proposal of the Temporary Worker Program showed some semblence of a heart. He has consistently (and I think without calculation) placed minorities and women in high cabinet positions. He’s one of the only politicians I’ve seen who can throw a ceremonial pitch over the plate without bouncing it or looking like a total spaz. That’s about it. He mostly sucks. ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-fellow-liberals/278814/62 "2004-12-10T00:33:11Z")
> [@goofyfish](#): > > Well… > > What I was looking for here was some means of finding a common ground between the > two camps on this issue. It this thread demonstrates that it is grossly obvious it probably > won’t happen. If two sides cannot communicate to each other they will only draw farther > apart. Thanks to all who posted. There are plenty of Republicans who have done good and worthy things. Chuck Grassley consistently stands up for fiscal and governmental responsibility. I may not agree with some of his social ideas (as I am pro choice, pro big goevernment) but he is honest and intelligent. We liberals CAN communicate with Republicans. Just not the radical Bush crowd with their crony politics, reverse Robin hood policies, smugness, and “with us or against us, screw the world” attitude. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-fellow-liberals/278814/63 "2004-12-10T01:14:48Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I support No Child Left Behind. There are problems with it, but the aim behind it is good. There are plenty of GD threads about it, so I won’t start another debate here. Well, since this is in the pit now, I have only moderate qualms about saying (as a former public school student: There are very, very few truly good things about NCLB. Yeah, the aim is good: Make public schools better. In practice, what it does is give public schools an excuse to focus solely on the results of standardized testing and little else. In my school district in NJ, _all_ students had to meet the same standards on the tests in order to be considered ‘proficient’. This included severely emotionally/learning disabled kids, and ESL students (one of whom, I know for a fact, spoke very little English and had moved from Korea one month prior to the exam). Also, NCLB encourages people to leave low-performing schools. This is a band-aid solution. They should be trying to fix the root of hte problems and figure out why the school’s not doing well, not taking the ‘good’ students out of it. No Child Left Behind sucks. My answer to the OP? Nope. I honestly cannot think of anything supported in both idea and methodology. Yeah, ridding the world of terrorism is great, but it seems we ought to be turning our guns on ourselves, soon. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-fellow-liberals/278814/64 "2004-12-10T01:14:50Z")
The problem is that all the intelligent and reasonable Republicans are being sidelined into irrelevance. Either that, or they reaffiliate themselves as “moderates”, and thus fall off the Republican radar. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-fellow-liberals/278814/65 "2004-12-10T01:19:37Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Well, since this is in the pit now, I have only moderate qualms about saying (as a former public school student: There are very, very few truly good things about NCLB. Yeah, the aim is good: Make public schools better. Ugg… The NCLBA is one of the worst pieces of legislation in the country’s history. First off, it contains zero lit review. Zero. There have been thousands of articles and hundreds of studies conducted over the last century to determine how to best serve our public schools. They didn’t look at any of that. Instead they latched onto high stakes testing and a production-based-paradigm as a model of how schools should work. The NCLBA itself was based on the “Houston Miracle” ; a massive fraud designed to make the HISD look good at the expense of truth, and of its students. Moreoever, when you look at what is actually going down, NCLB ammounts to an attack upon the very structure of public schooling. Grrr. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-fellow-liberals/278814/66 "2004-12-10T04:20:24Z")
1. He seemed to cheer up the recovery teams at Ground Zero. 2. Under his administration, we dropped some food in to refugees in Afghanistan. 3. He appointed Colin Powell Secretary of State. 4. … ---
**Author:** ![leroy\_the\_mule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6a8cbe/32.png) [@leroy\_the\_mule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leroy_the_mule)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-fellow-liberals/278814/67 "2004-12-10T07:36:36Z")
**Has President Bush accomplished anything in office of which you approve?** > [@goofyfish](#): > > Well… > > What I was looking for here was some means of finding a common ground between the > two camps on this issue. 1. Bush is nice to his mother. 2. He does not soil his trousers in public, but instead waits until he can use the restroom. 3. He did not burst into laughter at Reagan’s funeral. 4. He has not personally reduced the American beer supply. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-fellow-liberals/278814.md?page=3)