I know it’s been a while, been meaning to post something but work and stuff seemed to get in the way. A few thoughts to pick up the pieces from the last week or so:

There are those who would argue one way or the other about who would make a better president, but I doubt Barack Obama could even come close to what Mitt Romney has done personally on behalf of others. It’s a great read, wonder why the Romney campaign seems so hesitant about sharing this with the American people.

I hope the New England Patriots learned something about that debacle in Foxboro yesterday. I don’t care who you’re playing in the NFL, you can’t just show up and expect to win. It was embarrassing.

Bobby Valentine continues to not impress as a manager, and I sure hope the Sox deep-six him as soon as the season is over. Look, I can stand watching over-matched teams when they’re young or their roster is depleted by trades and injuries; what I can’t stand is to watch players miss cutoffs, not work pitch counts, and basically go through the motions, which is what this Red Sox team is doing. Blame the players all you want, but fundamentals and good baseball start with the manager.

Forget about the polls and the stupidilydaily narratives the mainstream dino-media is putting out to prop up President Obama and his pathetic record, both domestically and – as last week showed – internationally. The guy has been a disaster in every way you can imagine. Still, I think there’s just as good a chance the guy wins as not, and I think John Hinderaker of Power Line blog is onto something:

So, when you put those elements together, it seems that fewer and fewer votes are up for grabs. I can relate: it is difficult to imagine circumstances that would cause me to vote for a Democrat for any office. For better or worse, and for good reasons or bad, an enormous number of Americans feel that way. The result is that there are many millions who would rather vote for four more years of failure than vote for a Republican. More evidence of incompetence, whether on the economy or foreign policy, doesn’t sway their determination to vote Democrat.

The conventional wisdom is that the presidential debates are the next events that could shift significant numbers of votes. Maybe, but I doubt it. I will be surprised if the debates have more than a small and transient impact. Given the reasons why most voters align with one party or the other, something as mundane as a discussion of public policy isn’t likely to have much effect.

I would also add this: people are tired and worn down, not just because of the economy, but because this election season seems like it has gone on for as long as anyone can remember. The country is polarized beyond belief – and for that you can thank Barack Obama. Fact is, it really wouldn’t have taken much for the guy to have been ahead in the polls by a dozen points or more. A little more outreach to the GOP, a little more willingness to trim the size of government and spending by eliminating obvious waste and I think enough people would have cut him some slack to allow him to coast to a second term. A little Clinton-esque triangualtion would have gone a long way. Instead, it will be up to each campaign’s ground game and who gets the most folks to the polls. Either you like Barack Obama or you don’t, and nothing that will happen between now and November will change a thing. Hell of a way to run a country…