memeorandum: After Eric Cantor ‘earthquake,’ stunned House GOP seeks direction (Byron York/Washington Examiner)

12:40 AM ET, June 12, 2014

Top Items:

Kevin McCarthy makes his move — On June 19, Kevin McCarthy was scheduled to headline a birthday fundraiser for his friend Eric Cantor on the rooftop of 101 Constitution, a swank office building with sweeping views of the Capitol. — Instead, that day will be all about McCarthy.

Discussion: Diane Ravitch's blog

Garance Franke-Ruta / Yahoo! News:

David Brat campaign manager scrubs Facebook page after election — The campaign manager for the tea party-backed Republican who ousted House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in one of the biggest upsets in congressional history is a 23-year-old class of 2013 Haverford College graduate who posted …

Discussion: Gawker, New York Times, The Raw Story, Joe. My. God., Roll Call, Talking Points Memo and NPR, more at Mediagazer »

Michael Laris / Washington Post:

Brat didn't go to Princeton Univ. — Economics professor and political giant killer David Brat appears to have done a little biographical inflation on his campaign website. — One of his “About Dave” selling points: “that he tested his rural values against the intellectual elite while at Princeton.”

Discussion: The Stranger …, The Daily Beast, PoliticusUSA, Dave Brat for Congress, Talking Points Memo and National Review

Mother Jones:

David Brat, the Libertarian Who Beat Eric Cantor, Doesn't Believe in the “Common” Good — Brat has called for slashing Social Security, Medicare, and education spending and says “rich” nations don't have to fear climate change. — When tea party challenger David Brat sent Rep. Eric Cantor …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Climate Desk, The Dish, Daily Kos, Liberaland, Liberal Values and American Thinker

Ezra Klein / Vox:

11 political lessons from Eric Cantor's loss — Eric Cantor's shocking defeat at the hands of David Brat is that rarest of things in American politics: a genuine earthquake. And like with real earthquakes, the damage will be much greater because so few were prepared. A few provisional thoughts:

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Business Insider, Washington Post, Bloomberg View, Guardian, Balkinization, Alas, a Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Real Clear Politics, New York Times, American Spectator, Weekly Standard and Talking Points Memo

Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:

Elites Beware: Eric Cantor's Defeat May Signal a Populist Revolution — Democrats and Republicans need to ask themselves:'What side of the barricades am I on?' — WEST CHESTER, Pa.—Expecting House Majority Leader Eric Cantor to win his GOP primary in Virginia, I spent Election Day in Pennsylvania …

Discussion: Politico, Businessweek and Smart Politics

New York Times:

Cantor's Loss a Bad Omen for Moderates — WASHINGTON — The House Republican leadership, so solid in its opposition to President Obama, was torn apart Tuesday by the defeat of its most influential conservative voice, Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader …

Robert Tracinski / The Federalist:
Why We Fired Eric Cantor

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air, American Spectator and Hit & Run

Josh Zumbrun / Wall Street Journal:
David Brat to Bernanke: Don't Underestimate the Value of Protestants

Discussion: Daily Kos

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
The seismic political consequences of Eric Cantor's stunning loss

Discussion: American Prospect, Mediaite, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh and Gawker

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:
White House: Cantor's Problem Was Cantor, Not Immigration

Discussion: Real Clear Politics and Hot Air

Jia Lynn Yang / Washington Post:
Why Cantor's loss is especially bad news for big business

Discussion: The Federalist, The New Republic, The Daily Beast, The Moderate Voice, New York Times, The Atlantic Online, Politico, The Daily Caller, The Dish, Wall Street Journal, Political Insider blog, Talking Points Memo and Hot Air

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
After Eric Cantor ‘earthquake,’ stunned House GOP seeks direction

Discussion: RedState, Power Line, Fox News and The Daily Caller

Timothy B. Lee / Vox:
Eric Cantor's loss is bad news for the NSA

Discussion: NPR, The Daily Caller, emptywheel, The Atlantic Online, Techdirt, The Hill and Belmont Club

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
The guy who beat Eric Cantor penned a scathing, seemingly unpublished book about the economics profession

Discussion: Washington Post, neo-neocon, New York Times and Guardian

Scott Clement / Washington Post:
Did Democratic votes doom Eric Cantor?

Discussion: The Daily Beast, NPR, Wall Street Journal, Hit & Run, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Week and Mediaite

Jay Newton-Small / TIME:
How Eric Cantor Lost

Discussion: Hot Air, RedState, Grist, The New Republic, BREITBART.COM, Slate, The Mahablog, The Week, The Daily Beast, The Dish and RealClearPolicy

Reid J. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:
David Brat's Writings: Hitler's Rise ‘Could All Happen Again’

Discussion: The Mahablog, Rush Limbaugh, NewsBusters, Vox, Talking Points Memo, Althouse, The Raw Story, Twitchy, Little Green Footballs, Ed Driscoll, Gawker, Liberaland and The PJ Tatler

Shane Goldmacher / NationalJournal.com:
Eric Cantor's Pollster Tries to Explain Why His Survey Showed Cantor Up 34 Points

Washington Post:
Eric Cantor to step down as majority leader at end of July, backs McCarthy as successor

Discussion: Daily Kos, Hot Air, Real Clear Politics, Politico, msnbc.com, Trail Blazers Blog, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, NPR, Outside the Beltway and The Huffington Post

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Cantor Resigns Leadership Post in Effort to Smooth House Transition

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, OpenSecrets.org, BillMoyers.com, NPR, Politico, JustOneMinute, The Raw Story, RedState and Wall Street Journal

Laura Vozzella / Washington Post:
Chaos erupts at Cantor's election night headquarters after his departure

Discussion: WTVR-TV, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Taylor Marsh, The Gateway Pundit and The Raw Story

John Cassidy / Rational Irrationality:
Cantor Loses, and Washington Goes Ape

Discussion: msnbc.com, Politico, The Daily Beast, CNN, Sister Toldjah, New York Times, The Hill, The Daily Banter, Guardian, Fox News and American Spectator

Samantha Lachman / The Huffington Post:
With Eric Cantor Defeat, Congressional Republicans Lose Only Non-Christian

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller and Lawyers, Guns & Money

New York Times:

Iraq Said to Seek U.S. Strikes on Militants — WASHINGTON — As the threat from Sunni militants in western Iraq escalated last month, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki secretly asked the Obama administration to consider carrying out airstrikes against extremist staging areas, according to Iraqi and American officials.

Discussion: Politico, Guardian, Business Insider and The Stranger …

BBC:

Iraq crisis: Militants ‘seize Tikrit’ after taking Mosul — Paul Wood: “The speed of the jihadis advance has shocked the Iraqi government and its western allies” — Islamist insurgents in Iraq have seized the city of Tikrit, their second major gain after capturing Mosul on Tuesday, security officials say.

Discussion: Telegraph, Business Insider, BBC, The Dish, Gawker, New York Times and The Gateway Pundit

Agence France-Presse:

Jihadists ‘bulldoze berm’ dividing Iraq from Syria — Baghdad (AFP) - The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant posted pictures online of militants bulldozing a berm dividing Iraq and Syria, symbolising its goal of uniting its forces in the two countries.

Raf Sanchez / Telegraph:
Iraq crisis: al-Qaeda forces seize Mosul and Tikrit - as it happened

Discussion: Guardian, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Instapundit and The Daily Caller

Associated Press:
ISLAMIC GUNMEN PUSH INTO IRAQ'S SUNNI HEARTLAND

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, The PJ Tatler, The Other McCain, NO QUARTER USA NET, BBC, iom.int, Hot Air and New York Times

Fox News:

US spy agencies heard Benghazi attackers using State Dept. cell phones to call terrorist leaders — Sept. 11, 2012: The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames during a terrorist attack.Reuters — The terrorists who attacked the U.S. consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi on September 11 …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, “The Lid”, The PJ Tatler and Fox News Insider

Stephanie McCrummen / Washington Post:

Bergdahl's writings reveal a fragile young man — Before he became a Taliban prisoner, before he wrote in his journal “I am the lone wolf of deadly nothingness,” before he ever joined the Army, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was discharged from the U.S. Coast Guard for psychological reasons …

Discussion: The Dish, Washington Free Beacon, Pat Dollard, Liberaland, CBS DC, Gawker, The Daily Beast, NPR and Blazing Cat Fur

Yahoo! News:
Bergdahl Was Discharged from the Coast Guard for Psychological Reasons Before He Joined the Army

Discussion: Washington Post

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Oklahoma GOP Candidate OK With Stoning Gay People To Death — A Republican candidate for the Oklahoma state House who boasts that he's looking forward to “applying Biblical principles to Oklahoma law” is okay with gay people being stoned to death — even if he won't legislate the practice himself.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, themooredaily.com, Mediaite and The Week

Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:
Oklahoma Tea Party Candidate Supports Stoning Gay People to Death

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Daily Banter and Joe. My. God.

Sarah Stewart / KFOR-TV:
Oklahoma political candidate expresses extreme views on homosexuality

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Right Wing Watch and The Raw Story

ABC News:

Solar Flares Disrupt Communications on Earth, Could Send Shockwave on Friday the 13th — The sun has had three major solar flares on its surface in the past two days that have affected communications on Earth and could send a shockwave through Earth this Friday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press:

Obama Holds up Technical School as Model for US — Saluting graduates as they leave the safety of high school behind, President Barack Obama held up a revitalized technical school in New England on Wednesday as a model for the United States as the nation works to prepare youngsters …

Discussion: CNN