memeorandum: GOP race down to the wire in Mississippi (CNN)

3:00 AM ET, June 4, 2014

Top Items:

Michael Warren / Weekly Standard:

Senate Democrats Go AWOL — On Sunday, Senator Claire McCaskill gave a full-throated defense of the president's decision to release five Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo prison in exchange for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. “We saved this man's life. The commander-in-chief acted within …

Discussion: Mediaite and Hot Air

Massimo Calabresi / TIME:

White House Overrode Internal Objections To Taliban Prisoner Release — Pentagon, Intelligence officials used Top Secret intelligence to prevent previous release of Taliban Five, officials tell TIME. — To pull off the prisoner swap of five Taliban leaders for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl …

Discussion: American Thinker, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, protein wisdom, The PJ Tatler and Ed Driscoll

The Lead with Jake Tapper:

Bergdahl's team leader: Intercepted radio chatter said he sought talks with the Taliban — (CNN) - Former Army Sgt. Evan Buetow was the team leader with Bowe Bergdahl the night Bergdahl disappeared. — “Bergdahl is a deserter, and he's not a hero,” says Buetow. “He needs to answer for what he did.”

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Mail, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, CNN, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Independent Journal Review, ParaPundit, The PJ Tatler, Outside the Beltway and ThinkProgress

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

WH apologizes to Senate intel chief for prisoner swap secret — The White House has apologized to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for failing to alert her in advance of a decision to release Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hinterland Gazette, The Moderate Voice, Business Insider, Viking Pundit and National Review

Fred Kaplan / Slate:
What People Don't Understand About the Bergdahl Deal

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Firedoglake, BuzzFeed, The Dish and Washington Monthly

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Former POW McCain: Bergdahl Prisoner Swap A ‘Mistake’

Discussion: Washington Post, BREITBART.COM, ThinkProgress and Mediaite

Brian Beutler / The New Republic:
Conservative Critics of the Bergdahl-Taliban Swap Have Some Explaining to Do

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

John Parkinson / ABC News:
John Boehner Demands Answers From Obama on Bowe Bergdahl Prisoner Exchange

Discussion: Politico, ABC News, The Daily Beast, Hot Air and National Review

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:
Republican Strategist Helped Organize Bergdahl Critics

Discussion: Washington Post, American Spectator, Mediaite, PoliticusUSA, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Guardian, National Review, The Daily Caller, Gawker, The Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo, NPR, The PJ Tatler, Washington Free Beacon, The Hill and Patterico's Pontifications

Elahe Izadi / NationalJournal.com:
Dianne Feinstein Disappointed Lawmakers Not Given 30-Day Notice on Bergdahl Swap

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Roll Call, BuzzFeed, Obsidian Wings, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, Hot Air and The PJ Tatler

Todd C. Frankel / Washington Post:
For father of released POW, growing a beard and studying captors defined the years

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Power Line, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Fox News Insider, The Raw Story, RedState, The Huffington Post and Right Wing Watch

Abby Phillip / Washington Post:
The curious case of Bob Bergdahl's apparent tweet to the Taliban

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, PoliticusUSA, Power Line, News Desk, The Week, Washington Times, The Agonist, The Daily Caller and Weekly Standard

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Fox Host: Bergdahl's Dad Looks ‘Like A Member Of The Taliban’ (VIDEO)

Discussion: Washington Post

Fox News:
Wartime messages to parents, fellow soldiers reveal troubled Bergdahl

Discussion: Washington Times, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Washington Post, Mercury Rising, Fox News Insider, protein wisdom, The PJ Tatler, Patterico's Pontifications, Politico, The Dish and Facebook

The Clarion-Ledger:

LIVE BLOG: Election Day in Mississippi — With less than 30 minutes left for Mississippians to vote in the GOP primary, state Sen. Chris McDaniel took the stage at his campaign event in Hattiesburg to thank his supporters. — “This was never about me, this was never about Senator Cochran,” McDaniel said.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

CNN:

GOP race down to the wire in Mississippi — Jackson, Mississippi (CNN) - It's unclear how Tuesday's GOP Senate race in Mississippi will end, but the race has no doubt been close-and ugly-in the final stretch. — With 87% of the state's precincts reporting as of 11 p.m. ET …

Discussion: Politico

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:

Iowa primary sets up top Senate battle — Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) has won her primary, setting up a key Senate battle against Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa). — The Associated Press has called the race for Ernst, who had 53 percent of the vote with 24 percent of precincts reporting.

Discussion: Politico and CNN

David Weigel / Slate:
Thad Cochran and the Age Issue That No One Wants to Talk About

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Yahoo! News, Wall Street Journal and American Spectator

madmagazine.com:

Barack Obama's Unfortunate New Movie — Recently, President Obama exchanged five Taliban leaders for an American POW, Bowe Bergdahl. One prisoner for five is an iffy trade to begin with — but even moreso when it was revealed that Bergdahl had deserted his post.

Discussion: Power Line, Ed Driscoll and NewsBusters

Allen West / Allen B. West:

The case for impeachment of Barack Hussein Obama — This morning on WMALs “Morning on the Mall” radio show with hosts Brian and Larry I was asked a simple question relating to the Taliban prisoner release and impeachment of the president. I responded yes that in this current case …

Discussion: Washington Post, TPNN and Daily Mail

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
Conservatives Go From Zero To Impeachment In Record Time On Bergdahl

Discussion: Daily Mail, PoliticusUSA and Daily Oklahoman

Politico:
5 questions for the White House on Bowe Bergdahl

Discussion: Hot Air, Daily Kos and Questions and Observations

Peter Baker / New York Times: Obama Defends Swap of Taliban for American P.O.W.

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

THE BERGDAHL CHRONICLES: WELCOME HOME, CREEP … Over at the intersection of Unemployable Boulevard and Legacy Hire Way, the kidz and their recess monitors are busily fashioning a yellow ribbon into a noose for Bowe Bergdahl, whom they congratulate for being home so that they can calumnize him …

Discussion: National Review and Hullabaloo

Andrew McCarthy / National Review:
The Taliban Swap and ‘High Crimes and Misdemeanors’

Discussion: NPR and Washington Free Beacon

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Don't Harsh Our Mellow, Dude — The caramel-chocolate flavored candy bar looked so innocent, like the Sky Bars I used to love as a child. — Sitting in my hotel room in Denver, I nibbled off the end and then, when nothing happened, nibbled some more. I figured if I was reporting …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Gawker, Balloon Juice, National Review, The Latest Word and Firedoglake

Jonathan Chait Follow / New York Magazine:

Conservatives Searching for New Reasons Not to Save Planet — They are on the cusp of a breakthrough. — The Wall Street Journal editorial page today has a predictably scathing take on President Obama's climate-change plan. In a brief aside to the main argument — regulation baaaaad …

Discussion: Hot Air, Grist, Legal Planet, The Week, Guardian, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg View

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

‘Repeal and replace’ has been replaced by GOP strategists — here's why — CONGRESS OBAMACARE REPUBLICAN PARTY HEALTH CARE 2014 ELECTIONS CAMPAIGNS PENNAVE — The Republican shift away from “repeal and replace” rhetoric on Obamacare may not signal the change in actual policy that some Democrats assume.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Washington Post

Aaron Blake / Washington Post: Republicans have a mandate for their Benghazi probe

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Mandate By Poll — In reporting on a finding in the latest …

Discussion: Hot Air, Booman Tribune and National Review

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Wolf leads Corbett by 25, PA supports gay marriage — PPP's first poll of the general election for Governor in Pennsylvania finds a race that isn't remotely competitive. Democratic challenger Tom Wolf leads Republican incumbent Tom Corbett 55/30. Wolf's 25 point lead has more than doubled …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, PoliticusUSA and Daily Kos

www.wftv.com:

Brevard judge tells attorney, 'I'll beat your ass,' allegedly throws punches — BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Court deputies had to break up a physical fight between a Brevard County judge and a public defender after an argument during a hearing on Monday. — Judge John Murphy is accused …

Discussion: Florida Today, a public defender, LewRockwell, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Daily Banter, Mediaite, ThinkProgress, Gawker, The Week, The Raw Story, Yahoo! News and TalkLeft

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Relatives of Victims of Drone Strikes Drop Appeal — WASHINGTON — The relatives of three United States citizens killed in American drone strikes without trial, including Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric, have decided not to appeal a federal judge's dismissal of a lawsuit they filed against Obama administration officials.