Three Cards honored for standout 2011 play

Three Cards honored for standout 2011 play: Albert Pujols (Player of the Year), Chris Carpenter (Pitcher of the Year) and David Freese (Breakout Player of the Year) were honored by MLB.com as the Cardinals' top performers for 2011.

Romney: Boring Enough To Win It All!

Republicans are struggling with the Mitt Romney candidacy. He's not a candidate about which activists can get passionate; but he does look like a candidate that can win.

The New York Times unwittingly provides evidence of win-ability today. Unable to dig up any personal scandal, the Times is forced to do an entire story on the fact that Romney didn't talk with a seatmate on an airplane or offer restaurant recommendations to another passenger.

Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail

Think back to the Bush re-election campaign of 2004. To the astonishment of the media, President Bush was running to the right in the general election.

Everyone knows that you run to the center in a general, right?

Pundits were forced to acknowledge the effectiveness of the Bush strategy following his win. The President was "underwater," (more unpopular than popular) with independent voters. That meant he needed to drive up his Republican turn-out, in the hopes of overcoming the lack of enthusiasm among Independents.

That means negative campaigning on steroids.

Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post says President Obama faces the same uphill climb and defines the fear and loathing strategy that is already being deployed.

Read the article to the end of a couple more interesting tidbits: Obama advisers believe any Republican will get 47 percent of the vote, they think that Romney is the tougher opponent, but also say that Perry has his advantages.

There's Reality...And There's Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian makes a living being Kim Kardashian. Everyone in their right mind knows that she and Kris Humphries married for the sake of her "reality" television show and the money from the resulting media coverage.

And now they are divorcing for the same reasons.

But the tabloids need to pretend that the relationship was legitimate...so both People Magazine and US Weekly must do articles analyzing what went wrong.

Fans of professional wrestling at least are willing to admit the story lines are fake...fans of "reality TV" must continue to convince themselves that they are watching real life. Of course, that indicates a willingness to accept a "sham" marriage as entertainment. I try not to sound sanctimonious...but this is a sad way for any entity to turn a profit.