memeorandum: Iraq crisis: al-Qaeda forces seize Mosul and Tikrit

10:25 PM ET, June 11, 2014

Top Items:

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 …

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, Roll Call, Joe. My. God., 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: Dave Brat for Congress, The Stranger …, PoliticusUSA, The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo and National Review

Politico:

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.

Reid J. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:

David Brat's Writings: Hitler's Rise ‘Could All Happen Again’ — David Brat, the Virginia Republican who shocked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) Tuesday, wrote in 2011 that Hitler's rise “could all happen again, quite easily.” — Mr. Brat's remarks, in a 2011 issue of Interpretation …

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

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, Liberal Values and Liberaland

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, Balkinization, Business Insider, Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Alas, a Blog, Weekly Standard and Guardian

Shane Goldmacher / NationalJournal.com:

Eric Cantor's Pollster Tries to Explain Why His Survey Showed Cantor Up 34 Points — This was not the first time Cantor pollster John McLaughlin has been wrong. — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's own polling showed him with a wide lead before he lost his primary. (Liz Lynch)

Josh Zumbrun / Wall Street Journal:

David Brat to Bernanke: Don't Underestimate the Value of Protestants … Ben Bernanke got it wrong because he forgot to account for God, or at least for the Protestant way of worshiping him. — That's the basic argument of David Brat, the Virginia Republican who toppled House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) Tuesday.

Discussion: Daily Kos

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

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

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

Discussion: American Prospect, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, Gawker and The Raw Story

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

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, NPR, Washington Monthly, Hit & Run, Daily Kos, The Week, Mediaite, Joe. My. God. and The Daily Banter

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

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

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

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

Discussion: NPR, The Daily Caller, The Atlantic Online, emptywheel, 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

Jonathan Chait Follow / New York Magazine:
Eric Cantor's Shocking, Richly Deserved Primary Defeat

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Bloomberg View, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Guardian, neo-neocon, New York Times, Real Clear Politics, NBC News, American Spectator, National Review and Wall Street Journal

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Poll: Immigration didn't doom Eric Cantor

Discussion: ABC News, CBS DC, ThinkProgress, Hot Air, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN, ABC News, The Huffington Post, The Week, The New Republic and RealClearPolicy

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

Discussion: Politico, msnbc.com, The Daily Beast, Sister Toldjah, CNN, The Hill, ABC News, Washington Post, The Daily Banter, Fox News, Guardian and American Spectator

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Eric Cantor to Step Down as House Majority Leader

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

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

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

John B. Judis / The New Republic:
Dave Brat and the Triumph of Rightwing Populism

Discussion: The Dish, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, BREITBART.COM, New York Times and Hot Air

Reid J. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:
Rand Paul on Immigration Reform: 'Amnesty Is a Word That's Trapped Us'

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Nate Cohn / New York Times:
Midterm Calculus: Did Democratic Voters Defeat Eric Cantor? Probably Not

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Jay Newton-Small / TIME:
How Eric Cantor Lost

Discussion: RedState, Hot Air, Grist, Slate, The Mahablog, The Week, The Daily Beast, The Dish and Washington Monthly

Politico:
Eric Cantor to leave leadership post

Discussion: Newsday, New York Times, Mashable, Diane Ravitch's blog and NPR

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, The Gateway Pundit and The Long War Journal

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.

Associated Press:

ISLAMIC GUNMEN PUSH INTO IRAQ'S SUNNI HEARTLAND — BAGHDAD (AP) — Al-Qaida-inspired militants pushed deeper into Iraq's Sunni heartland Wednesday, swiftly conquering Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit as soldiers and security forces abandoned their posts and yielded ground once controlled by U.S. forces.

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

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

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

New York Times:
Iraq Said to Seek U.S. Strikes on Militants

Discussion: The Stranger …

CNN:
Iraq open to American airstrikes on radical militants, U.S. officials say

Discussion: ThinkProgress, iom.int, BBC and KFOR-TV

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”, Fox News Insider and The PJ Tatler

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, Gawker, Liberaland, CBS DC, The Daily Beast, Blazing Cat Fur and NPR

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

Discussion: Washington Post and NPR

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

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Gohmert Uses House Hearing To Debate Whether Non-Christians ‘Go To Hell’ (VIDEO) — Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Tuesday repeatedly confronted a faith leader — who also happens to be a noted church-state separatist — about his Christian beliefs during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on religious freedom.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs