Adelson Plans To Give $20 Million To Palestine-Denier, Gingrich – OpEd
Politico reports that billionaire uber-Israel gambling tycoon, Sheldon Adelson plans to give independent PACs acting on behalf of Newt Gingrich $20-million as early as this week. This jibes nicely with the post I wrote a few days ago which predicted precisely this sort of mega donations flowing into the Palestine denier’s campaign. I predicted this based on the huge subsidy Adelson provides for Yisrael HaYom, which Bibi himself credits for bringing him to power and keeping him there. Though Adelson doesn’t own a U.S. newspaper or TV station that can offer that sort of support for Gingrich, for now a huge infusion of unregulated cash offers a great substitute.
It should be noted that Adelson is quite prickly and demanding and that he has been reputed to have funded previous far-right organizations with which he became disenchanted and turned off the spigot. So we’ll have to watch this one to see if the romance with Gingrich maintains its ardor throughout the campaign. Further, if the romance develops I’d expect that this would be only a downpayment from the pro-Israel hawk, as it will be used almost solely to buy ads for the Iowa caucuses. I wouldn’t be surprised to see total gifts in the $100-million range for the entire primary and election campaign (if there is one for Gingrich).
Now, the question is what will the Jewish Republican donors do who support Romney. Will they rise to the occasion and open their pocketbooks or sit back and let Sheldon steal the show? I’m guessing that no one will want to get into a “mine’s bigger than yours” contest with Sheldon as he has one of the biggest wallets when it comes to supporting his hand-picked candidates.
What does $20-million buy? It buys a candidate’s Israel policy for sure. You can be sure that every word out of Newt’s mouth from here on concerning Jews and Israel will be personally pre-approved and scripted by Adelson. As far as the latter is concerned, Newt is the best candidate money can buy. If you think denying Palestine was wild, just wait to see what comes next. Hearing Sheldon Adelson’s views regurgitated by a major American presidential candidate should be a mind-altering experience.
I’m looking for a picture of Newt and Sheldon together. If anyone has or knows of one please let me know. It’s gonna be a long campaign and these guys will no doubt be in the news again, repeatedly. H/t Paul Mutter.
This article appeared at Tikun Olam
