It's time to embrace American royalty  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  We're obviously hungry to live with royal and aristocratic families so we should really just go ahead and formally declare it: … They should convene a panel for the next Meet the Press with Jenna Bush Hager …

Cheney calls the Dems soft on defense  —  Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday called Democrats soft on national defense while standing up for his administration's actions in the war on terrorism.  —  In a pre-recorded interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace from his home in Wyoming …

Ridge backpedals on pressure to raise terror alert level  —  WASHINGTON — Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge, speaking for the first time about accusations made in his new book, says he did not mean to suggest that other top Bush administration officials were playing politics …

Palin gets 1,070+ invitations  —  Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin this week will begin accepting and rejecting the more than 1,070 invitations she has received for paid speeches and political appearances since she resigned as Alaska governor, aides said.  —  Twenty speakers' bureaus made offers to represent her.

Experts see double-digit Dem losses  —  After an August recess marked by raucoustown halls, troubling polling data and widespread anecdotal evidence of a volatile electorate, the small universe of political analysts who closely follow House races is predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in 2010.

Boston Globe: Now That Ted's Out of the Way, Hurry Up With That Cape Cod Wind Farm  —  On the very day Ted Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery near his two brothers, a Boston Globe editorial argued to undo part of his legacy.  —  The pertinent portion of Mr. Kennedy's legacy …

Tea Party Express cruises through Nevada  —  ELY, Nevada (CNN) — Hundreds of people turned out for a series of weekend events as the Tea Party Express cruised across northern Nevada.  —  The caravan of tour buses, RVs, cargo trucks and SUVs kicked off a cross-country tour Friday in Sacramento …

Senate field hinges on Kennedy decision  —  With Massachusetts having paid its final respects to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the politics of succession begins in earnest this week - candidates will emerge, a race will take shape, and the Kennedy clan will have to reveal whether it wants to keep the seat in the family.

Keep your self-righteous fingers off my processed food  —  By demanding we all pay more to fund their agendas in these harsh economic times, foodie snobs and lefty social critics may as well tell us to eat artisanal cake.  —  Just in time for the worst economic downturn since the Depression …

An Ivy League Huey Long  —  Washington is seriously unserious.  —  From the magazine issue dated Sep 7, 2009  —  In August our ubiquitous president became the nation's elevator music, always out and about, heard but not really listened to, like audible wallpaper.

Dodd says Obama needs to ‘step up’  —  Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) says President Barack Obama needs to “step up” and give Congress more of a framework to work with on health care reform.  —  “I think the president's got to decide,” Dodd said Sunday, “to step up and really frame this again for us.”

Fighting Health Care Overhaul, and Proud of It  —  SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Senator Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who predicted that President Obama's effort to overhaul the health care system would become his “Waterloo,” is doing his best to make that happen.