memeorandum: Rudy's Justification For Blowing Off Iraq Study Group Shown To Be Bogus (Greg Sargent/Election Central)

8:00 AM ET, June 20, 2007

Top Items:

Sewell Chan / City Room:

Bloomberg Leaving Republican Party — Michael R. Bloomberg, a longtime Democrat who switched to the Republican Party to run for mayor of New York City in 2001, announced this evening that he is changing his party status and registering as an independent. — Mr. Bloomberg maintained that …

Discussion: The Reaction, MyDD, Outside The Beltway, Comments From Left Field, D-Day, The Gun Toting Liberal™, All Spin Zone, The Swamp, Jules Crittenden, The Rachel Maddow Show, Crooks and Liars, The Agonist and Gothamist

Marcia Kramer / WCBS-TV:

Bloomberg Leaves GOP — Now Independent, Will He Run For President? — Reporting — (CBS) NEW YORK New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is leaving the Republican party and will remain unaffiliated with any political party, CBS 2 HD learned Tuesday night.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, MyDD, Don Surber, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, TIME and Comments From Left Field

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Mike Bloomberg: Registered Independent — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is changing his party affiliation from "Republican" to "unaffiliated", a move certain to fuel talk that he is preparing for an independent run for president in 2008. — "Although my plans for the future haven't changed …

Discussion: Donklephant, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, A Blog For All, State of the Day, Iowa Independent and Central Sanity

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Bloomberg Switches ... Again

Discussion: Hot Air and Macsmind

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Bloomberg Quits G.O.P., Stirring Talk About '08 Race

Discussion: Don Surber and ImmigrationProf Blog

Azi Paybarah / New York Observer:
Bloomberg No Longer a Republican

Discussion: The Politico

ABCNEWS: Bloomberg Presidential Buzz Grows

Josh Gerstein / New York Sun:
Bloomberg: U.S. 'Is in Trouble'

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Google Public Policy Blog, Gothamist, MSNBC and New York Times

Tapscott's Copy Desk: Headlines Say NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is 'Leaving' the GOP ...

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

The new Hillary Clinton video is a take on the last scene of "The Sopranos." — It's clever, the way the video uses the jukebox business from the last "Sopranos" episode to remind us of Hillary's theme song contest. In case you care, I'll just tell you that the winner is "You and I," …

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:

Hillary Clinton Spoofs The Last Scene Of The Sopranos — This Hillary Clinton video spoofing the last scene of The Sopranos is a masterful use of American culture. Can you spot the real cast member from The Sopranos? — http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=9BEPcJlz2wE

Discussion: The Democratic Daily

INSTAPUTZ:

Sometimes an Onion Ring is Just an Onion Ring — Ann Althouse looks at the new Hillary Clinton ad and writes … By all means, Ann, let me be the first. — And Ann, so long as you're discussing symbolism: what does your facial expression in the above photo — which is kinda reminiscent …

Discussion: Think Progress, Sadly, No! and Majikthise

Crystal Patterson / HillaryClinton.com:

And the Winner Is..... I LOVE this "Sopranos" spoof video!!!! It is wonderful and I really enjoyed it. Although your song isn't what I picked, I am glad you made your decision! — by Thomas Senecal — Great build up, and I like how much excitement was generated! — Thomas Senecal

Discussion: Dean's World

TRex / Firedoglake:
Late Nite FDL: Because a Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste

Discussion: The Gun Toting Liberal™ and Taylor Marsh

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

Ladies and Gentlemen, Digby — From the Take Back America conference — Joe Wilson, Digby, Rick Perlstein. — No Trackbacks to "Ladies and Gentlemen, Digby" — dakine01 says: … SeamusD says: … Joe Klein's conscience says: … Jane Hamsher says:

Discussion: The American Street and NO QUARTER

The State:

State treasurer indicted on drug charges — State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent distribute cocaine, federal and state authorities said at a news conference at SLED headquarters this afternoon.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Drinking Liberally …, Done With Mirrors, The Palmetto Scoop, Roger Ailes, AMERICAblog and Cliff Schecter

Brian Hicks / Post & Courier:
Governor suspends state treasurer after cocaine indictment

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and National Review

Nicole Gaouette / Los Angeles Times:

House Republicans introduce their own immigration bill — The measure, a rebuke to Bush, would bar amnesty for illegal immigrants and require legal-status checks for all workers. — WASHINGTON — In a sharp rebuke to President Bush, House Republicans unveiled legislation Tuesday …

Discussion: Comments From Left Field, All Spin Zone, Tammy Bruce, michellemalkin.com, Hot Air and Associated Press

Deb Riechmann / Associated Press:
Bush to veto stem cell bill

Discussion: Democratic Underground …

Dan Sabbagh / Times of London:

News Corp explores swap of MySpace site for Yahoo! stake — News Corporation has discussed swapping MySpace, its internet social networking unit, with Yahoo! in return for a 30 per cent stake in the enlarged group. — The discussions remain tentative and could collapse after the departure …

Discussion: BuzzMachine

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:

SiCKO....Andrew Tobias does a movie review today: … It's true that I wish Michael Moore were a wee bit more scrupulous with the facts in his films, but I sometimes wonder if he doesn't insert random distortions into his movies deliberately. With rare exceptions, after all …

Discussion: Andrew Tobias, Redstate and TPMCafe blogs

National Review:

Rudy & The ISG — The Giuliani campaign forwarded me the following statement:

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Taylor Marsh and MyDD

Greg Sargent / Election Central:
Rudy's Justification For Blowing Off Iraq Study Group Shown To Be Bogus

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Eunomia, The Politico, The Anonymous Liberal, Obsidian Wings, Angry Bear, Talking Points Memo, The Carpetbagger Report, Comments From Left Field and Newsday

Guardian:

China overtakes US as world's biggest CO2 emitter — China has overtaken the United States as the world's biggest producer of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, figures released today show. — The surprising announcement will increase anxiety about China's growing role in driving man …

Discussion: BBC, Right Wing News and NewsBusters.org

David Millward / Telegraph:

Passport checks threaten chaos at airports — Holidaymakers were warned yesterday to expect summer holiday travel chaos as the first signs emerged that the Government's new border controls are causing significant delays at airports. — The introduction of sophisticated scanning machinery …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway and Tim Worstall

Associated Press:

Geronimo Great-Grandson Wants Bones Back — SANTA FE, N.M. — Legend has it that Yale University's ultrasecret Skull and Bones society swiped the remains of American Indian leader Geronimo nearly a century ago from an army outpost in Oklahoma, and now Geronimo's great-grandson wants the remains returned.

Stephen Labaton / New York Times:

Microsoft Will Alter Vista Operating System — Microsoft has agreed to make changes to its Windows Vista operating system in response to a complaint by Google that a feature of Vista is anticompetitive, lawyers involved in the case said on Tuesday. — The settlement, reached in recent days …

Discussion: The RBC and The Atlantic Online