memeorandum: A tragic legacy — How a good vs. evil mentality destroyed the Bush presidency. (Glenn Greenwald/Salon)

1:45 PM ET, June 20, 2007

Top Items:

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, The Carpetbagger Report, Hot Air and JammieWearingFool

Patrick Healy / The Caucus:

Clinton Gets Better Reception on Iraq — Here's a totally unscientific but not unimportant measure of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's evolution from Iraq war supporter to antiwar partisan in the last year: She was booed more lightly and gently at this morning's Take Back America gathering of liberal activists than she was a year ago.

Discussion: Wonkette, Reason Magazine, AMERICAN DIGEST and Ian Schwartz

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: Seeing the Forest

David Segal / Washington Post:
Carl Bernstein, Back on the Beat

Discussion: mediabistro.com and Romenesko

New York Times:

Bloomberg Severs G.O.P. Ties, Fueling Talk of '08 Bid — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced Tuesday that he was dropping his Republican affiliation, a step that could clear the way for him to make an independent bid for the presidency. — The announcement was released during …

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:

N.Y. Mayor Bloomberg Leaves GOP — Move Fuels Speculation About Independent Bid for the White House — New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg abruptly left the Republican Party yesterday, declaring himself free of a "rigid adherence" to ideology and stoking speculation that he will use …

Discussion: Boston Globe, Washington Monthly, New York Post, The Politico, City Room, Dick Polman's American Debate and New York Times

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

U.S. Seeks to Block Exits for Iraq Insurgents — In more than four years in Iraq, American forces have been confounded by insurgents who have often slipped away only to fight another day. The war in Iraq has been likened to the arcade game of whack-a-mole, where as soon as you knock down one mole another pops up.

Discussion: The Heretik, The Swamp and Kiko's House

USA Today:
Tribes help U.S. against al-Qaeda

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere

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

Discussion: Multi-National Force

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

What "truly motivates" George W. Bush? — Salon this morning has published a somewhat lengthy excerpt from my new book, A Tragic Legacy. The excerpt is here, and it concerns the root premises which have led this country so explicitly to embrace the very policies and practices …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, DownWithTyranny!, Corrente and Firedoglake

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
A tragic legacy — How a good vs. evil mentality destroyed the Bush presidency.

Discussion: The Mahablog

Norm / normblog:

Rushdie, Self and Berlins — I don't know if Will Self's words as given here (scroll down) are complete, or accurate to what he said to the Guardian, but if they are, then they do him no credit: … Self allows an ambiguity: should Rushdie not have accepted the honour just because honours …

Discussion: National Review, alicublog and Ed Driscoll.com

Guardian:
Rushdie furore stuns honours committee

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air, Tim Worstall and INSTAPUTZ

Quinnipiac University News and Events:

June 20, 2007 - Clinton Tops Giuliani, Bloomberg In New York State, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Thompson Tops McCain Among Republicans — In a hypothetical all-New York presidential race, Sen. Hillary Clinton wins with 43 percent of voters statewide, followed by former …

Discussion: City Room, culturekitchen, The Swamp and TIME

Editor and Publisher:

GALLUP: 7 in 10 Americans Say Economy Is 'Getting Worse' — NEW YORK A new Gallup Poll will only reinforce those who claim that while the rich get richer most Americans don't feel they are sharing in the growth in our economy. The stock market may be climbing and the unemployment remains relatively low …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and All Spin Zone

Agence France Presse:

French officials want their BlackBerrys despite security warning — Top French government officials are ignoring warnings to ditch their cherished BlackBerrys — smartphones with e-mail capacity — despite warnings their messages may be intercepted by US spy agencies, a report said Tuesday.

Discussion: Say Anything and Pajamas Media

Michael D. Evans / Jerusalem Post:

Father of the Iranian revolution — We just don't get it. The Left in America is screaming to high heaven that the mess we are in in Iraq and the war on terrorism has been caused by the right-wing and that George W. Bush, the so-called "dim-witted cowboy," has created the entire mess.

Discussion: Power Line and Dr. Sanity

Steven Erlanger / New York Times:

Gazans Adjust to Power Shift as New Rulers Revel — Muhammad al-Borniah, 23, shook a little on Tuesday as he showed off the tiny cell, No. 13, where he spent five days in January as a prisoner of the Palestinian Preventive Security, the elite Fatah force that dealt with subversion.

Discussion: Michael P.F. van der Galiën and The American Mind

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: Little Green Footballs, A Blog For All, The Jawa Report, FP Passport and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Ryan Lizza / The New Republic:

RICHARDSON'S LATEST: — Yesterday at the Take Back America conference Bill Richardson attacked his Democratic primary opponents for supporting recent legislation on Iraq. Said Richardson: … What is the nefarious legislation Richardson's opponents supported?

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, The Atlantic Online and Transterrestrial Musings

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: Blue Gal, Shakesville, The American Street, The Sideshow and NO QUARTER

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

Former Sen. Allen supports Fred Thompson's candidacy — Former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) is adjusting to life after the Senate, starting a political action committee (PAC) and finding other ways to stay busy. — So busy, in fact, Allen said this week he has no interest in running for chairman …

Discussion: Power Line

National Lampoon Humor Network:

National Lampoon's 72 Virgins — Two idiot college students unwittingly join an Al Qaeda cell in order to get the 72 virgins promised to terrorists when they die. From the makers of Animal House, Van Wilder, and the Vacation movies. Join the Jihad at NationalLampoon.com!

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Little Green Footballs

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

Ed Kilgore / Strategist:

The Re-Emerging Democratic Majority — When Kevin Phillips published his brilliantly prescient book, The Emerging Republican Majority, in 1969, he couldn't have known that Watergate, the forced resignation of Richard Nixon, and the 1974 Democratic landslide would obscure the fundamental soundness of his analysis.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and TalkLeft

Christi Parsons / Chicago Tribune:

Liberals get their groove back-at least at conference — WASHINGTON — Six years ago, the Take Back America conference was just a meeting of a few dozen progressive activists held in a local office building, where they talked about how to voice their liberal views at a time of Republican domination in U.S. politics.

Discussion: The Swamp and TBogg