It's time to embrace American royalty  —  (updated below - Update II - Update III - Update IV)  —  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 …

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 …

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.

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.

As Big Banks Repay Bailout Money, U.S. Sees a Profit  —  Nearly a year after the federal rescue of the nation's biggest banks, taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid that many critics thought might never be seen again.

A Chance to Avoid Defeat in Afghanistan  —  The United States cannot win the war in Afghanistan in the next three months — any form of even limited victory will take years of further effort.  It can, however, easily lose the war.  I did not see any simple paths to victory while serving …

Why I Am Anti-Republican  —  I got an e-mail from a prominent Republican asking why I am so anti-Republican these days.  Since many of my friends ask the same thing I thought I would share my reply:  —  I think the party got seriously on the wrong track during the George W. Bush years, as I explained in my Impostor book.

HURTING DICK CHENEY'S FEELINGS.... Dick Cheney offered quite a bit of nonsense on Fox News yesterday, but perhaps the most entertaining thing was hearing him talk about how the Obama White House has hurt his feelings.  Apparently, the current president was supposed to seek out the former vice president …

The Courtship  —  The story behind the Obama-Brooks bromance.  —  In the spring of 2005, New York Times columnist David Brooks arrived at then-Senator Barack Obama's office for a chat.  Brooks, a conservative writer who joined the Times in 2003 from The Weekly Standard, had never met Obama before.

Blue Chip, White Cotton: What Underwear Says About the Economy  —  For one answer to the nation's most pressing economic question — when will the recession end? — just take a peek inside the American man's underwear drawer.  —  There may be some new pairs there, judging by recent reports …

The Daily Politics  —  In what almost should be relegated to the dog-bites-man category of political news comes an announcement today from Rep. Peter King that he will not run against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand - or seek anything other than the seat he currently holds - in 2010.

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.

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.

Japan Throws the Bums Out  —  But does the new crowd have better ideas?  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  It was inevitable that even the Japanese would eventually get fed up with patronage politics, governance gaffes and decades of economic drift.  —  Yesterday's election victory …

Save the Light Bulb!  —  Compact fluorescents don't produce good quality light.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 will effectively phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2012-2014 in favor of compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs.

A Different Kind of Liberal  —  Only 13 days separated the passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics, from the death of her brother Ted last week.  But amid the wall-to-wall coverage and the stream of retrospectives for the senior senator from Massachusetts …

A ‘Little Judge’ Who Rejects Foreclosures, Brooklyn Style  —  The judge waves you into his chambers in the State Supreme Court building in Brooklyn, past the caveat taped to his wall — “Be sure brain in gear before engaging mouth” — and into his inner office, where foreclosure motions …

Et Tu, Lefty?  Allies Critical Of President  —  Waffling on Health Care Riles His Loyal Pundits  —  It is as inevitable in Washington as sweltering summers and steamy sex scandals.  —  A president is going to be smacked around from the moment he takes office and the uplifting rhetoric …

AFL-CIO, Dems push new Wall Street tax  —  The nation's largest labor union and some allied Democrats are pushing a new tax that would hit big investment firms such as Goldman Sachs reaping billions of dollars in profits while the rest of the economy sputters.