Patriots Survive At Fedex Field

In a matchup that on paper looked like a blowout, the New England Patriots beat the Washington Redskins in a game that was too close for comfort. For the second straight week, the Patriots played down to the level of the competition. Performances like yesterday's vs. the Redskins and last week's vs. the Colts, really makes one question the makeup of this Patriot roster as well as whether they are legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

The Patriots secondary, for a lack of a better word, is a MESS. Devin McCourty had another erratic afternoon. McCourty was scorched several times early, but had a few nice plays in the second half. As the anchor of the secondary, if McCourty isn't playing well, the Patriots have difficulty in defending the pass.

What does Bill Belichick see in James Ihedigbo? He is TERRIBLE. Ihedigbo does nothing positive on the field that I can see.

Fortunately, the Patriots have Tom Brady, Wes Welker, and Rob Gronkowski to bail the defense out. Brady had a rough game (by his standards), but still threw for 3 TD passes. As good as the passing game can be, wouldn't the Patriots be better off trying to run the ball more and keep their own shoddy defense off the field?

Regardless of the game plan, this Patriot team doesn't seem ticketed for a Super Bowl championship. For the fourth straight season, the defense has too many holes that Belichick seemingly is incapable of filling. Same issue, different year.

Red Sox at the Rangers

Based on their history, I've always taken the Texas Rangers lightly. However, they are a tough baseball team., with good pitching and thunder throughout the lineup. Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Adrian Beltre, and Mike Napoli - all guys who can hit the ball out of the park. As for the pitching, they have a starting rotation of featuring CJ Wilson (who the Red Sox can't touch) , along with lesser known guys like Matt Harrison and Alexi Ogando.

There's a reason they made the World Series last year. They're GOOD. I need to take them more seriously.

Democrats and the Economy

President Obama has embarked on a bus tour this (amusingly described by GOP candidate Mitt Romney as the "Magical Misery Tour"), to tout his plans and ideas to get Americans back to work. Feel free to laugh.

When President Obama and the Democratic led House and Senate pushed through an $800 billion Stimulus bill in 2009, the promise was made that it would bring unemployment down to 8%. The Democrats were wrong. What the Stimulus bill did was save some public employment jobs, because the states used the money to keep from having to lay public workers off, as well as spark up "shovel ready" public works projects all over America.

What President Obama and Democrats fail to realize is that it is the PRIVATE sector that is the key to hiring, not the Federal Government. Since taking office in January 2009, the Obama Adminstration has passed along regulation after regulation onto private sector businesses. These new costs have made small businesses and corporations uneasy about expanding and hiring people.

Las Vegas mogul Steven Wynn, a highly successful entrepreneur, came out and said publicly that the Obama Administration is the biggest wet blanket when it comes to business he's ever seen. That is really a strong indictment of the lack of success President Obama and the Democrats have had in reviving the economy.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called President Obama a "food stamp President". Newt is right. Despite his repeated failures on economic issues, don't expect President Obama to change course, the way President Clinton did when faced with a Republican House and Senate. President Obama is a true believer in wealth redistribution, high government spending, and high taxes. It is a system that has failed in Europe and is now failing here.

Considering that Standard and Poors downgraded the US credit rating, due to the crushing debt and budget deficit you would think the Democrats would think twice about spending more. Their answer? Demonize Standard and Poors for their decision, raise taxes to provide more revenue and keep spending on programs that don't work.

November 6th, 2012 cannot come soon enough.