memeorandum: Bloomberg: Who Wins, Who Loses? (National Review)

6:00 PM ET, June 20, 2007

Top Items:

Barack Obama wins Politico.com Straw Poll — Senator Barack Obama scored a victory among progressive activists Wednesday, winning the Politico.com Straw Poll of attendees at the Take Back America Conference in Washington. — Obama received 29% of the 720 votes cast in the straw poll …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Booman Tribune, theGarance.com, MyDD, The Swamp, TalkLeft, TIME and MSNBC

Byron York / National Review:

Hillary Clinton Booed Again — Sen. Hillary Clinton was booed again this morning at the Take Back America conference, sponsored by the lefty activist group Campaign for America's Future here in Washington. At this same conference last year, Sen. Clinton was booed for her position on the war in Iraq.

Discussion: Firedoglake, BobGeiger.com, Macsmind and Wizbang

Bill Scher / commonsense.ourfuture.org:

What The Boos Were About — Sen. Hillary Clinton being booed during her remarks is likely to be the big story coming out of Day 3 of Take Back America. What the boos were actually about is likely to be misreported. — Byron York at the National Review writes that the boos began after Clinton said …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Hullabaloo, MyDD, The Carpetbagger Report, TIME: Swampland, Hot Air, Seeing the Forest and JammieWearingFool

Quinnipiac University News and Events:
June 20, 2007 - Clinton Tops Giuliani, Bloomberg In New York State …

Discussion: culturekitchen, City Room, The Swamp and TIME

USA Today:

Tribes help U.S. against al-Qaeda — BAGHDAD — More than 10 Iraqi tribes in the Baghdad area have reached agreements with U.S. and Iraqi forces for the first time to oppose al-Qaeda, raising the U.S. military's hopes that a trend started in western Iraq is spreading here.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Power Line, Let Freedom Ring and The Strata-Sphere

Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:
The Battle of Iraq - 2007 — Baghdad and the Belts.

Discussion: Multi-National Force, Neptunus Lex and Maggie's Farm

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
U.S. Seeks to Block Exits for Iraq Insurgents

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Lawyers, Guns and Money, American Footprints, The Atlantic Online, The Strata-Sphere, The Heretik, Kiko's House and The Swamp

Ahmed Yousef / New York Times:

What Hamas Wants — THE events in Gaza over the last few days have been described in the West as a coup. In essence, they have been the opposite. Eighteen months ago, our Hamas Party won the Palestinian parliamentary elections and entered office under Prime Minister Ismail Haniya …

Discussion: CNN, FP Passport, A Blog For All, Wizbang, Liberty Street, Israel Matzav and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Ahmed Yousef / Washington Post:

Engage With Hamas — GAZA CITY, Palestine — The Palestinian National Authority apparently joins the list of elected governments targeted or toppled over the past century by interventionism: nations that had the courage to take American rhetoric at face value and elect whomever they would.

Discussion: New York Times, The Debate Link and Conflict Blotter

Little Green Footballs:
New York Times Shills for Hamas (Again)

Discussion: Pajamas Media and The Jawa Report

Sinfonian / Blast Off!:

Digby speaks — The remarkable wisdom of Digby now has a public face. — Here are her remarks last night at the Take Back America 2007 conference in Washington. — In case you can't view the video, or if you just want it, here's a transcript: — Thank you very much, Ned. That is overwhelming.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

"Fringe liberal bloggers" — When establishment journalists speak of the liberal blogosphere, it is virtually an article of faith that it represents the "far left," that it is composed of the radical and fringe elements of liberalism. This week, the increasingly dishonest Fred Thompson castigated Harry Reid …

Discussion: Eschaton, MaxSpeak, Tom Watson, culturekitchen and Firedoglake

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:

GIULIANI FOLLOWUP....Remember that Newsday story from yesterday about Rudy Giuliani getting kicked off the Iraq Study Group because he couldn't find the time in his busy schedule to attend their meetings? You could be excused if you don't, since apparently no one in our press corps considered either …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Outside The Beltway, The Atlantic Online, Newsday, TalkLeft and TBogg

Media Matters for America:
Politico largely ignored Giuliani-ISG story, still flogging Edwards' haircuts

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, TalkLeft and Suburban Guerrilla

PewResearch.org:

Bloomberg Well Known, But of Limited Appeal for Now — Michael Bloomberg has created some excitement in the political world about a possible run for the presidency by dropping his Republican affiliation. But a recent nationwide Pew voter survey found that while the New York mayor is relatively well known …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN Political Ticker and The Swamp

New York Times:
Bloomberg Severs G.O.P. Ties, Fueling Talk of '08 Bid

Michael Calderone / New York Observer:

Times Undertakes Multi-Bureau Rupert Murdoch Investigation — EDITION OF THE NEW YORK OBSERVER. — The New York Times is currently undertaking a major news investigation, led by managing editor Jill Abramson, into News Corp.'s business dealings throughout the world, according to a source with knowledge of the project.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Tammy Bruce and TPMCafe blogs

The Blotter:

Slim Chance Of Finding an Arabic Speaker at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad — Jonathan Karl and Maddy Sauer Report: — Of the 1,000 U.S. employees at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, only 10 have a working knowledge of Arabic, according to the State Department.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Moderate Voice, The Carpetbagger Report, bustardblog and The Impolitic

National Review:

Bloomberg: Who Wins, Who Loses? — NY Mayor Mike Bloomberg's decision to quit the Republican party does raise the likelihood that he will mount an independent presidential run. Who would win, who would lose from such a bid? — The first loser would be Mike Bloomberg himself.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, News Bloggers Blog and Eunomia

Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:

The World In America — Here's a great map from a great blog, Strange Maps. Each state is represented by a foreign country with the same GDP. I'm struck by one obvious thing. The District of Columbia has the same GDP as New Zealand. Now imagine if no one in New Zealand were allowed …

Discussion: The Newshoggers and Outside The Beltway

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:

In N.C., GOPer Raises, Then Lowers, Voter Fraud Alarms — On June 5, less than thirty minutes before the North Carolina State Senate was scheduled to vote on a bill that would allow voters to register up until three days before an election (down from 25), the Republican state auditor sent …

Discussion: Charlotte Observer, Talking Points Memo, Facing South and The BRAD BLOG

Mark Leon Goldberg / UN Dispatch:

Numbers of Refugees on the Rise — Today, June 20, is United Nations World Refugee Day. And for the first time since 2002, the number of refugees and displaced persons around the world is actually increasing. According to a new report (pdf) by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Think Progress and Global Voices Online

Yochi J. Dreazen / Wall Street Journal:

The Prison Poets Of Guantanamo Find a Publisher — Military Security Clears 22 — After Checking for Code; — What's Lost in Translation — Inmates at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, used pebbles to scratch messages into the foam cups they got with their meals.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Jules Crittenden and SamSederShow.com

Maddy Sauer Reports / The Blotter:

New Taliban Leader Had Been in Afghan Custody; Released in Hostage Deal — Maddy Sauer Reports: — The Taliban military commander who led the "graduation ceremony" for 300 suicide bombers was one of five men released from an Afghanistan prison earlier this year in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist.

Discussion: AMERICAblog