memeorandum: Pentagon: No ransom for Bergdahl (Philip Ewing/Politico)

2:25 PM ET, June 10, 2014

Top Items:

How do Americans view the Bergdahl swap? — Shares - — Just over a week after U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was freed by the Taliban, a CBS News Poll shows 45% of Americans disapprove of the deal that saw him released in exchange for five Taliban militants, while 37% approve of it.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Business Insider, Hot Air, Scared Monkeys, Talking Points Memo, CBS DC, Politico, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Washington Free Beacon

John Parkinson / ABC News:

Hagel Made Final Call on Bergdahl Swap, Congress Told — Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel - not President Obama - executed the administration's final call to proceed with the prisoner exchange of five ranking Taliban detainees for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, administration officials told Congress today in a classified briefing today.

Discussion: Questions and Observations, Independent Journal Review, The Daily Caller, “The Lid” and The PJ Tatler

Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:
4 of ‘Taliban 5’ Will Likely Fight Again, U.S. Spies Say

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Hot Air, Wall Street Journal and National Review

Michael Warren / Weekly Standard:
Obama Administration: Bergdahl Was Chuck Hagel's Call

Discussion: Hot Air, Betsy's Page, Power Line and Washington Post

Philip Ewing / Politico:
Pentagon: No ransom for Bergdahl

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Washington Free Beacon

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

ABC News's Diane Sawyer destroys Hillary Rodham Clinton on Benghazi — A standard defense for Hillary Rodham Clinton when facing questions about Benghazi, Libya, has been to cite her commissioning of a report from the State Department's Accountability Review Board (ARB) …

Discussion: Power Line

Chris Good / ABC News:

The Hillary Clinton Interview: 21 Revealing Quotes … Hillary Clinton sat down with ABC's Diane Sawyer for an exclusive, wide-ranging interview, coinciding with the release of her new memoir, “Hard Choices.” In it, Clinton weighed in on everything from her 2016 timetable to Benghazi …

Discussion: ABC News, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, CNN and The Lead with Jake Tapper

Shushannah Walshe / ABC News:
Why Hillary Clinton Wouldn't Attack Palin ‘For Being A Woman’

Discussion: ABC News, Talking Points Memo and CNN

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Aide: Clintons ‘Have a Life and a Set of Expectations that Are Different’ from Middle Class

Discussion: Politico, Washington Free Beacon, Hot Air, National Review and Ed Driscoll

Rebecca Shabad / The Hill:
Clinton defends, clarifies debt remarks

Discussion: Politico, The Dish, Mediaite, Fox News, Hot Air and ABC News

Frank James / NPR:
Hillary Clinton: I Helped Restore U.S. Leadership In The World

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Weekly Standard

Washington Post:

Insurgents seize Iraqi city of Mosul as troops flee — BEIRUT — Insurgents seized control early Tuesday of most of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, including the provincial government headquarters, offering a powerful demonstration of the mounting threat posed by extremists to Iraq's teetering stability.

Discussion: CBS News, Yahoo! News, National Review, Hot Air, Gawker, Business Insider, WAMC, The PJ Tatler, The Other McCain and Associated Press

Hayes Brown / ThinkProgress:

One Of The World's Scariest Terrorist Groups Now Controls Major City In Iraq — ISIS fighters in Fallujah, the first city the group captured — A terrorist group that al Qaeda has deemed too radical and unpredictable now controls the second largest city in Iraq as of Tuesday …

Discussion: Full, Shakesville, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Booman Tribune and National Review

BBC:
Iraq militants seize second city of Mosul

Discussion: New York Times, BBC, The Long War Journal, Mashable and The Jawa Report

Brian Beutler / The New Republic:

Why Is the American Far Right More Violent Than the American Far Left? — Between September 11, 2001 and March 2014, right-wing extremists killed 34 people in America. If you count the three Jewish community members Frazier Glenn Cross killed in Kansas City before screaming “Heil Hitler” …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and CNN

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
How much does right-wing rhetoric contribute to right-wing terrorism?

Discussion: The Federalist, American Prospect, emptywheel, Shakesville, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller, Prairie Weather and Hullabaloo

KOIN-TV:

Student, shooter dead at Reynolds High School — TROUTDALE, Ore. (KOIN 6) — A gunman and one Reynolds High School student are confirmed dead following a shooting inside the Troutdale school. — Law enforcement officials offered few other details concerning the shooting during a 10 a.m. media update …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Pat Dollard and The Raw Story

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Morning Plum: Dems ratchet up push for expansion (yup) of Social Security — The idea has long remained outside the boundaries of acceptable Beltway discourse, but more and more Dems are coming around to it: Instead of getting drawn onto GOP austerity turf — into a debate …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Eschaton

New York Times:
Democrats See Winning Issue in Carbon Plan

Discussion: Reuters and ABC News

Joe Nocera / New York Times:

The Latest Tea Party Piñata — About three weeks ago, Representative Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from Texas who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, gave a speech to the Heritage Foundation. Hensarling is a Tea Party favorite. His core view is that better government …

Discussion: National Review and The Mahablog

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Republicans' gagging hypocrisy — The Republican-led House will reach a dubious milestone this week: It will enter the record books as the most gagged in American history. — The House Rules Committee on Tuesday plans to approve two more “closed rules” for debate — a procedure …

Discussion: The Colorado Independent and Prairie Weather

Politico:

New poll gives McDaniel 6-point lead in runoff — Rangel touts Bill Clinton endorsement on new mailer — Ernst up 5 in post-primary Vox Populi poll — Graham debates GOP challengers in S.C. — With help from Elizabeth Titus, Alex Isenstadt, James Hohmann and Tarini Parti

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

John Aloysius Farrell / Politico:

Yes, Nixon Scuttled the Vietnam Peace Talks — It's been rumored for years. Now we have real proof. — Did Richard Nixon's campaign conspire to scuttle the Vietnam War peace talks on the eve of the 1968 election to capture him the presidency? — Cruz country — Clinton's Obama challenge

Discussion: Political Insider blog and Balloon Juice

David Sirota / PandoDaily:

Gore at Southland: Snowden revealed far bigger violations than the one he committed — One of the most often-asked - and polled - questions in the whole debate about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is about his status. Is he a traitor or a hero? In the era of mass surveillance …

Discussion: Politico

Jonathan J. Cooper / Associated Press:

Ore. Senate Candidate Addresses Harassment Reports — The Republican nominee in Oregon's U.S. Senate race said Monday that disagreements with former partners that resulted in calls to the police show that she stands up for her beliefs and “will fight for Oregonians with very strong conviction.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Taegan Goddard's … and Mediaite

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

How The Worst Political State In The Country Ruined The Republican Party's Best Hope — Nikki Haley was once seen as the GOP's brightest rising star — then she got sucked into her home state's notorious political cesspool. Can she escape before 2016? — Chris Ritter

Discussion: Washington Monthly

New York Times:

More Voting Games in Ohio — Someday, after they figure out how to appeal to a broader swath of the electorate, Republicans will probably be embarrassed by how much time they have spent making it harder for Americans to vote. For now, though, the beat just goes on.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Prairie Weather