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Mike Allen of Politico got some face-time with Sheldon Adelson, and wrote a profile of the casino mogul and maximum GOP donor that should be of interest to those of us—which means all of us—who might be affected by the man’s views.
According to Allen, Adelson himself ticked off five reasons he’s giving so heavily this year. The first and most interesting is probably “self-defense;” he thinks the Obama administration is conspiring to take down his business empire and maybe send him to tennis prison. Another way of putting it, of course, is that the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have exhibited a keen interest in his vast operations in Vegas and (especially) Asia, which involve places and enterprises where skullduggery is not exactly unknown.
A second rationale cited by Adelson is very well-known: he hates unions, and loves a particular brand of right-wing Israeli politics (indeed, he is arguably more influential and controversial in Israel than here, thanks to his ownership of Israel Hayom, a free, high-circulation pro-Netanyahu newspaper.
A third reason for Adelson’s hyper-activism involves what Allen describes as a high level of annoyance with inefficiency on the American Right:
Adelson has played a previously unreported role that has helped maximize the outside groups’ muscle. He has insisted that they coordinate their efforts, making the spending more efficient. “If word got back to him that a group wasn’t cooperating, he’d cut them off,” said a top official at one of the groups, who deals personally with Adelson. “It’s to maximize the dollars. You don’t want repetition. You don’t people doubling up. He doesn’t want to feel like his money is wasted.”
It appears Adelson is using his leverage to herd conservative organizations into the strategic corral maintained by Karl Rove:
One official said many donors have been pushing for such coordination, based on Rove’s Weaver Terrace Project in 2010, a meeting that brought the big conservative spenders together. “Most of the major donors have become sophisticated,” said one top Republican official. “They have a line of people out their door wanting checks, and the first question they ask is: Are you working with these groups? Sheldon is very pointed about it.”
The other two factors cited by Adelson in motivating his mega-donations are a strong concern for the future of small businesses (yeah, that’s real convincing!) and then just his personal dislike of Obama. According to Allen, Sheldon seems to have taken a deep draught of the right-wing Kool-Aid he’s paid for, and finds it tasty as well as useful as a political narcotic.
While I hope we don’t get to find out what sort of influence Adelson might have with a Romney White House (he claims he doesn’t need access, and would get it anyway without the checkbook being so wide-open), the picture Allen draws is alarming enough: a billion-dollar ad campaign whose strategic centerpoints are Adelson’s money and Bush’s Brain (Rove’s nickname during the Bush administrations in Austin and Washington). Any progressives needing additional motivation going into the stretch run of this campaign should contemplate the shadenfreude they would experience from a very bad night for these two particular gents on November 6.
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jpeckjr on September 24, 2012 4:01 PM:
"Boys and girls, we all want you to have a positive self-image, like our friend Sheldon, whose self-image is so positive, no one else in the entire world matters."
kindness on September 24, 2012 4:04 PM:
I think 'Turd Blossom' is a more apt nickname for Rove.
SadOldVet on September 24, 2012 4:06 PM:
I frequently marvel at the 'definition' of small business.
I once worked for a privately held corporation that had about 40 employees paid directly by the corporation. Is that a small business?
This corporation, with about 40 employees, was the holding corporation that owned about 100 other incorporated entities employing a total of more than 50,000 people. Is this a 'small business'?
MuddyLee on September 24, 2012 4:10 PM:
Sounds like Sheldon is more pro-Israel (the right wing of Israel) than pro-American. And if he doesn't want any regulation of "business" (how many get ruined by gambling compared to the jobs created?), he can self-deport to somewhere over the rainbow where there are no regulations instead of trying to buy the presidency for the republicans (remember it was Newt first, now it's Mitt - will it be Lyin Ryan in 2016?).
dalloway on September 24, 2012 4:19 PM:
Adelson wants a get out of jail free card and a war with Iran. Defeat the bastard this year and hope his ancient ass no longer pollutes this planet in 2016!
NCSteve on September 24, 2012 4:26 PM:
You know, it's a funny thing. These would-be oligarchs spend all this money because they think it buys them influence and protection, which is why they used to spread it around.
But if that's true, aren't they, by betting it all on Red, basically sending Democrats the message that there's nothing to for them to lose and much to gain politically by using the power of government to crush them? Aren't they basically telling Democrats, "if you guys don't dust off the Sherman Act, break up the big banks and and reenact the Glass-Stengel regime and break us up, you're crazy?"
Steve LaBonne on September 24, 2012 4:31 PM:
why yes, NCSteve, they are. Let's hope Obama is getting that message.
c u n d gulag on September 24, 2012 4:34 PM:
Not enough bad sh*t can happen to Adelson and Rove.
And sadly, not enough bad sh*t will...
st john on September 24, 2012 4:41 PM:
At the risk of sounding anti-Semitic, which I am not and don't care what you think, where are the observant Jews who stand for integrity and honor for the Torah, which includes The Ten Commandments? I am of the opinion that Adelson has violated directly or indirectly, several of them. Jews, who some say control everything, should have the voice to stand up to Adelson. Where are they? Of course, the same could be said of Romney and the Mormons, but I don't care to go there.
SadOldVet on September 24, 2012 5:03 PM:
@ st john...
I'll go there. Lying 'to advance the causes of the church' is part of the doctrine of the Mormontology Cult. If you have ever done business with ones owned by Mormons, you will find they have a very loose interpretation of 'to advance the causes of the church'. But, Mormons are not supposed to lie to other Mormons so when President Mittens has converted you to the Mormontology Cult he will stop lying to you. Of course, you will get excommunicated if you tell anyone that Mittens has told you the truth and he is lying to them. Then you will not be a Mormon and he can lie to you again.
Diane Rodriguez on September 24, 2012 6:45 PM:
The 5 Supreme's ala Citizen's United, gave Adelson and Rove their free tickets to try and buy the election. Without the Supremes, they might have been annoying footnotes. And yes Adelson may be in deep shit over his Macao holdings.
AndThenThere'sThat on September 24, 2012 6:52 PM:
"He doesn’t want to feel like his money is wasted."
This from someone who pissed away millions on a bad Newt Gingrich bet.
Both Adelson and Romney are walking poster children for why it's much better to be lucky than smart.
coralsea on September 25, 2012 12:03 AM:
You've overlooked THE #1 motivational factor behind this mondo-dangerous prick: he's an uber-likudnik; NuttyYahoo's main man.
Should all the myriad nefarious illegal electoral-thieving tactics succeed, and we awake on 7 November to a RMoney victory, we will be so screwed. The insane "settlers" will go on a mosque-burning pogram almost immediately...
And we will be at war with Iran before Groundhog Day.
Kathryn on September 25, 2012 9:17 AM:
Will our inattentive swing voters realize in time that Romney/Ryan do not care in the least what American public opinion is on Medicare, Sociall Security and more war in the Middle East? in order, leave Medicare as it is, no coupon care, keep Social Security as is with guaranteed payouts, no dabbling in Wall Street schemes, and we're sick of stinking wars in the Middle East that kill and maim the small percentage of Americans that fight for us and don't improve anything for those countries or us, not to mention, bankrupt the USA.
Rommey/Ryan/Adelson/Rove/Netanyahu/Santorum/Scalia will do an they damn well please if they win this election, buyer beware.
dianaw on September 25, 2012 11:55 PM:
I think the GOP response to Adelson says more about the party than it does about Adelson. He's just a megalomaniac old white guy, that wants people to kiss his ring and ask him for money. What's sickening is that the Repugs have rallied around this guy like he's the second coming. They'd rather spend all their time and energy with the 1% than have any interaction with real people who might be affected by the policies they support. It's actually obscene. A porn show would be cleaner.