No, no, no. The teachers don't know squat. It's better for the federal government to dictate these things. You know how the Republicans are always saying that the federal government knows better than local and state districts about what's best for their children. Isn't that what they're always saying?



I agree completely. I think moving towards more standardized testing is a strategic mistake. The American school system prepares students to be workers, not thinkers, and this is a disadvantage in a global market, especially in the areas of science and critical thinking.



The GOP and their supporters simply have no credibility when it comes to the stimulus. They don't care about waste now any more than they did the past 8 years when they might as well have been setting big piles of cash on fire.

The stimulus bill, as Eagle would say if it were being passed by Republicans instead of Democrats, isn't perfect but it's unfortunately necessary. And it would be a pill much easier to swallow had his party not exploded the debt and left us in this giant financial hole. But they did, and we just have to deal with it.

Btw, about the unpopularity of the stimulus and how Obama totally miffed it:

Oh how convenient that you fail to mention:

The stimulus bill started with over 70% approval and Obama's was over 80% before information on its specifics started coming out. AKA, they've been plummeting as people learn more.

Actually, I'd say that now anyways. It is a necessary bill, I agree with the idea, heck I agree with about 50 to 60% of the implementation, but that doesn't excuse the remaining spending that could have been better allocated elsewhere.

The Republican party's hand-picked challenger to Obama in the Illinois senate weighs in:

I have not seen a poll that showed the approval of the stimulus over 70% or Obama over 80%. The trend lines are fairly steady.

Here's a Gallup poll going back to January:



He's "plummeted" from 68% to 65%. And here's Gallup on the stimulus:



That trend is virtually flat.

The bottom line remains that most Americans support the stimulus and even more think it will help. The GOP is simply out of touch. No surprise there.

You're hilarious.







I couldn't find the poll had around a 70% approval, but I know there was one right when it was first announced. Either way, it's dropped significantly since Gallup started polling due to more information coming out.

You can show graphs all you want, but neither Obama OR the stimulus have been flat when it comes to approval. BOTH have dropped, and BOTH dropped because of the irrelevant spending in the bill.

Obama never had a 80% approval. He had a 70% the day after his inauguration but that isn't really surprising. I am not sure how you can 67% is plummeting when few presidents in modern times stay over 60%.

Edit I think that 83 was from back in December with how he was managing his cabinet choices. The poll I saw on CNN had him at about 72% after his inauguration.

So I quote Gallup and provide graphs, and you post random quotes from...who knows where with no links of any kind. And you're doubting MY facts?



Oh, you KNOW that, do you. Given your credibility on facts and reality, you'll have to forgive me for taking your word for it with a grain of salt.



First, the graph CLEARLY shows that they didn't. I mean, it's right there in your face.

And even if it DID plummet, which it didn't, it's pure speculation to blame it on the thing that YOU object to. If that were the case, then why would the GOP's polls be stuck in the basement?

This is simply more desperate mendacity that we've come to expect from your repugnant, morally and intellectually bankrupt party of cretins.

When you're talking about plummeting poll numbers, you have to compare trends within the same poll. On any given day, polls can and do show different numbers.

The trend line in the Gallup poll is unmistakable. From inauguration to the last poll taken, Obama's numbers have remained fairly steady. So have the numbers for the stimulus.

And so too have the numbers for Eagle's party, which remain in the toilet.

Haha, you genius, the 83% is a Gallup poll number!

Here you go, based on Gallup numbers. So how HAS it stayed flat? You can't just look at 3 data points that show what you wish to believe.

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=83 ... id=3510203



Moreso, how HASN'T there been a downward trend? It went from 83 to 68 to 64 to 62, all gallup numbers, all heading south.

Gallup's original number was 68. I remember because Nate Silver was surprised it was under Kennedy's. 83% may have been his approval as President-elect, but 68 is as high as he's been as President.

Here's Gallup's first poll. He started his job with 68% (according to Gallup).

Yeah, his first week in office is when he saw the 15 point drop, the 83 is from right before he took office.

I haven't been paying attention to Gallup I was quoting the CNN polls. The highest that got was 72% they actually mentioned that this morning. He has mostly lost just Republican support. I think he had over 50% of that one time but I am not surprised he has lost that. This country has been very partisan since Jefferson and Hamilton first created parties.

Yeah, too partisan. More worrisome than the approval rating is the ever raising number of people who think he's doing a BAD job. It started around 16% and is up to almost 30%, which I'm sure is mostly Republicans.

That's the real underlying stench of this bill, it took a country that was closer to bipartisan politics than ever before, and drove it back to the hell hole it's been for the past decade. Not that Obama deserves all the blame for that, because he doesn't.

You mean since the beginning we have never had bipartisan in politics, except maybe during WW 2. This is nothing reading about politics in the early 19th century and how Henry Clay called Jackson a bigamist.

Any two party system is always going to be partisan, nature of the beast. However, over the last decade, things have gotten pretty bad, the split is pretty deep, people are very divided, and most of them don't even know why or what for.

Well it has gotten bad, but I think this goes in cycles you could bring up the same period from 1796-1810, 1828-1840, 1861-1875, and right before the Great Depression. We are just going through one of those cycles.

I like your knowledge, Jedi. Are you a history major?

I'm thinking of doing my Final project for History comparing the deep divisions. I know the 1824 election was ruthless, but as far as I know no senators accused one of the nominees as not being a citizen.

Was it Thomas Jefferson or John Adams that was a "low-born mongrel"?

It was Alexander Hamilton Adams called him, "the bastard brat of a Scotch peddler." And yes I am a history major working on getting a museum studies MA right now.