memeorandum: IN THE MAIL: Col. Buzz Patterson's War Crimes: The Left's Campaign … (Glenn Reynolds/Instapundit.com)

8:55 PM ET, June 23, 2007

Top Items:

Atrios / Eschaton:

Indeed — Via email:

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The American Street, The Huffington Post and Ezra Klein

The Raw Story:

Dems plan to cut Cheney out of executive funding bill — Following Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that his office is not a part of the executive branch of the US government, Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) plans to introduce an amendment to the the Financial Services …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Newshoggers, The BRAD BLOG and Middle Earth Journal

Peter Baker / Washington Post:

White House Defends Cheney's Refusal of Oversight — The White House defended Vice President Cheney yesterday in a dispute over his office's refusal to comply with an executive order regulating the handling of classified information as Democrats and other critics assailed him for disregarding rules that others follow.

Discussion: The Politico, The Atlantic Online, Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard, Scholars and Rogues and TalkLeft

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Rule Of Law? — I haven't followed the kerfuffle over Dick Cheney's handling of classified material very closely, mostly because it looked like one of the mountains that Cheney's critics like to make out of molehills. However, this issue does hold a political if not legal vulnerability …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Newshoggers, Dependable Renegade and Outside The Beltway

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:
DICK CHENEY AS A LEGISLATIVE OFFICIAL: Ed Morrissey is not impressed …

Discussion: Silent Running

Faiz / Think Progress:
Olbermann Fact-Checks White House, Finds No Special Exemption For Cheney

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Next Hurrah, White House, Liberal Values, The Impolitic, Threat Level, The American Street, Talking Points Memo, War and Piece, First Draft and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Michael Duffy / Time:
The Cheney Branch of Government

Discussion: Left in the West, The Rachel Maddow Show and TPMCafe blogs

Julia Malone / Boston Globe:
Cheney asserts he's part of the legislative branch

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Unqualified Offerings

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:

STAB IN THE BACK WATCH....Here's the latest from Instapundit, in its entirety: … Oh yes indeedy, I too expect we'll be hearing more of this in the future, especially if things go badly in Iraq. Lots more. — You can almost smell the stink of desperation from the pro-war crowd.

Discussion: INSTAPUTZ

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:

IN THE MAIL: Col. Buzz Patterson's War Crimes: The Left's Campaign to Destroy Our Military and Lose the War on Terror. — I don't think that the left wants to lose the war on terror, exactly — they just want Bush to lose the war on terror. I suspect, however, that Patterson's theme …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Newshoggers and Oliver Willis

Thomas B. Edsall / Huffington Post:

HuffPost Exclusive: More Lobbyists On McCain Staff Than Any Other 08 Candidate — John McCain, who made his name attacking special interests, has more lobbyists working on his staff or as advisers than any of his competitors, Republican or Democrat. — A Huffington Post examination …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Brock Vergakis / Associated Press:

Romney objects to campaign attacks — SALT LAKE CITY - Mitt Romney said Saturday that criticism of his Mormon religion by rival GOP presidential campaigns is happening too frequently. — "Clearly, any derogatory comments about anyone's faith — those comments are troubling.

Washington Post:
Fundraising Gap Likely to Persist For Campaigns

Discussion: The Caucus, MyDD, GregsOpinion.com and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Stephen Singer / Associated Press:

Obama says some have 'hijacked' faith — HARTFORD, Conn. - Sen. Barack Obama told a church convention Saturday that some right-wing evangelical leaders have exploited and politicized religious beliefs in an effort to sow division. — "Somehow, somewhere along the way …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Macsmind and Corrente

Tanta / Calculated Risk:

A Tale of Two Hedge Funds — We begin to get some backstory on the Great Bear Hedge Fund Meltdown of 2007, courtesy of the New York Times. The leitmotif, which I prophesy will become the Unshakable Story That Everyone Will Stick To, is that this is all directly and apparently unproblematically related to subprime mortgage loans:

New York Times:
$3.2 Billion Move by Bear Stearns to Rescue Fund

Discussion: The Agonist and Obsidian Wings

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Everyone we fight in Iraq is now "al-Qaida" — Josh Marshall publishes an e-mail from a reader who identifies what is one of the most astonishing instances of mindless, pro-government "reporting" yet: … That the Bush administration, and specifically its military commanders …

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Confederate Yankee, Atlas Shrugs, NO QUARTER, Big Brass Blog, The Impolitic, Captain's Quarters, Middle Earth Journal, A Blog For All, Prairie Weather, Macsmind, The Mahablog, TBogg and Corrente

John Ward Anderson / Washington Post:
17 Insurgents Killed Near Baqubah

Discussion: CNN

Adam Nichols / NY Daily News:

Christie blasts Rudy on WTC air — Former Environmental Protection Agency boss Christie Whitman says she urged Ground Zero workers to wear respirators, but then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani blocked her efforts. — She also said city officials didn't want EPA workers wearing haz-mat suits because they …

Discussion: Gothamist, The Right's Field and Rising Hegemon

Media Matters for America:

"Media Matters"; by Jamison Foser — A Tale of Two Studies — Two new studies released this week examine the news media, in quite different ways and with vastly different efficacy. The Center for American Progress and Free Press teamed up to release The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio …

Discussion: TalkLeft

Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:

Crackdown on Dissent Is Under Way in Iran — Iran is in the throes of one of its most ferocious crackdowns on dissent in years, with the government focusing on labor leaders, universities, the press, women's rights advocates, a former nuclear negotiator and Iranian-Americans, three of whom have been in prison for more than six weeks.

Discussion: Hot Air

The Atlantic Online:

Early Warning … Okay, this is a subject I know virtually nothing about. I do, however, know that FDR became president in 1933 after winning the 1932 election. The war in Europe didn't begin until 1939, and the United States didn't enter the war until 1941.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Carpetbagger Report

Michael J. Sniffen / Associated Press:

Judge criticizes warrantless wiretaps — WASHINGTON - A federal judge who used to authorize wiretaps in terrorist and espionage cases criticized President Bush's decision to order warrantless surveillance after the Sept. 11 attacks. — Royce Lamberth, a district court judge in Washington …