Free Republic

Sometimes, an image says it all. Check out the screengrab after the jump of Jeffrey Sachs. The lefty professor is manifestly miffed at Joe Scarborough. Why? Because the Morning Joe host called him out on his egregious double-standard. Sachs had labeled Republican Super PAC funder Sheldon Adelson "completely unlikable" and said he shouldn't be involved in American politics. But when Scarborough asked whose approach he prefers: Adelson's--who gives openly in his own name--or George Soros's--who funnels his money through myriad corporations to hide his influence--Sachs suddenly claimed he wasn't attacking one side or the other. Righhht. View the video here.

I recently made a private vow not to use the term “Israel Firster” again, for two reasons: it’s derogatory (and it was, initially, my vituperative response to being called “anti-Israel” by assorted neoconservative blowhards) and it’s inaccurate–most of those who are, I believe, unduly aggressive about Israel’s national security believe that the national security of Israel and the U.S. are identical. But how does one describe Sheldon Adelson, who says–tongue slightly in cheek, it seems–that he could spend $100 million to support Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign…and who also is known to have only one public policy issue on his agenda:...

This story is part of a larger profile appearing in the March 12th, 2012 issue of FORBES magazine. Sheldon Adelson plays as stubbornly in politics as he does in business. So the criticisms that he’s trying to personally buy the presidential election for Newt Gingrich are met with a roll of the eyes. “Those people are either jealous or professional critics,” Adelson tells me during his first interview since he and his wife began funneling $11 million, with another $10 million injection widely expected, into the former speaker’s super PAC, Winning Our Future. “They like to trash other people. It’s...

Sheldon Adelson plays as stubbornly in politics as he does in business. So the criticisms that he’s trying to personally buy the presidential election for Newt Gingrich are met with a roll of the eyes. “Those people are either jealous or professional critics,” Adelson tells me during his first interview since he and his wife began funneling $11 million, with another $10 million injection widely expected, into the former speaker’s super PAC, Winning Our Future. “They like to trash other people. It’s unfair that I’ve been treated unfair—but it doesn’t stop me. I might give $10 million or $100 million...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's faltering campaign is about to get another shot in the arm, CBS News has learned. Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson plans to give another $10 million to the outside group backing the former Georgia lawmaker who is running behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, a source close to Adelson told CBS News. Adleson and his family have already given $11 million to "Winning our Future," the super PAC backing Gingrich. The group, which bombarded the airwaves in South Carolina last month...

Washington (CNN) - In a move that could again dramatically shake up the Republican primary race, billionaire and major Republican donor Sheldon Adelson is expected to donate an additional $10 million to the super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich, Winning Our Future, a source with knowledge of the donation told CNN. That contribution is expected soon, before the end of the month, the source said. The timing is important because Gingirch, whose campaign has been lagging, is hoping to do well in several of the upcoming Super Tuesday states that vote on March 6 to boost his effort. His allies will...

Washington (CNN) - In a move that could again dramatically shake up the Republican primary race, billionaire and major Republican donor Sheldon Adelson is expected to donate an additional $10 million to the super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich, Winning Our Future, a source with knowledge of the donation told CNN. That contribution is expected soon, before the end of the month, the source said. The timing is important because Gingirch, whose campaign has been lagging, is hoping to do well in several of the upcoming Super Tuesday states that vote on March 6 to boost his effort. His allies will...

....Asked about the legalization of online gambling, Santorum responds: "I’m someone who takes the opinion that gaming is not something that is beneficial, particularly having that access on the Internet. Just as we’ve seen from a lot of other things that are vices on the Internet, they end to grow exponentially as a result of that. It’s one thing to come to Las Vegas and do gaming and participate in the shows and that kind of thing as entertainment, it’s another thing to sit in your home and have access to that it. I think it would be dangerous to...

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, by far the biggest financial backer of Newt Gingrich's presidential bid, is preparing to open his wallet again. But this time, the casino magnate appears to have more than one agenda. In a bit of political chess, Mr. Adelson is ready to not only directly support the former House speaker in the Republican primary, but to use his cash to push Rick Santorum from his position atop the latest national polls, according to people to have discussed the matter with Mr. Adelson. Enlarge Image ADELSON ADELSON Las Vegas Review-Journal/Associated Press Sheldon Adelson, shown with his wife, Miriam,...

In the 13 years since he suffered a string of political setbacks and quit the third most powerful job in Washington, Newt Gingrich has been busily laying the foundation for a comeback to an even grander perch. On any given day, the former Speaker of the House can be found on a chartered jet headed to Iowa to train future GOP candidates through his American Solutions group, or in Phoenix discussing ways to lower health-care costs with drug makers through his for-profit Center for Health Transformation. He might also be in Philadelphia, narrating a film produced by Gingrich Productions, or...

While billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson may have rescued Newt Gingrich’s campaign in its early days, today, he may have just buried it. Bloomberg News reports that Adelson, who has donated $11 million to Gingrich’s Super PAC, does not plan to send any more money Gingrich’s way. Bloomberg is citing an anonymous source “familiar with their deliberations,” though an Adelson spokesman declined to comment. The move seems to be weeks in the making. After poor showings by Gingrich in the last several races and the re-resurgence of Rick Santorum, the former House speaker has once again been pushed to the...

I’ll post the Nevada results later. Romney won big there in 2008 (51.1%) because of the heavy Mormon turnout at the caucuses and is expected to do so again. The big story was the revelation in The NY Times that the Romney campaign, both directly and through Jewish emissaries, has been trying to convince Sheldon Adelson to cut off further funding of a pro-Newt SuperPAC:

LAS VEGAS — Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino executive keeping Newt Gingrich’s presidential hopes alive, has relayed assurances to Mitt Romney that he will provide even more generous support to his candidacy if he becomes the Republican nominee, several associates said in interviews here. The signals from Mr. Adelson, whose politics are shaped in large part by his support for Israel, reflect what the associates said was his deep investment in defeating President Obama and his willingness to play a more prominent role in the Republican Party and conservative causes. The assurances have been conveyed in response to a highly...

– The Newt Gingrich campaign held a meeting with approximately 60 donors Friday in Las Vegas, including casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, a source with knowledge of the session told CNN. Gingrich, who attended the meeting, had a brief discussion with Adelson at the session, the source said. The long-time friends are legally barred from speaking about the Adelson family's $11 million contributions to the super PAC supporting Gingrich's White House bid.

Mr. Adelson, by some estimates worth as much as $22 billion, presides over a global empire of casinos, hotels and convention centers whose centerpiece is the Venetian in Las Vegas, an exuberant monument to excess with canals, singing gondoliers and acres of slot machines. That fortune is a wellspring of financial support for Mr. Gingrich, who has benefited from $17 million in political contributions from Mr. Adelson and his wife, Miriam, in recent years, including $10 million in the last few weeks that went to a “super PAC” supporting him.

Abraham Foxman, the amiably chatty director of the Jewish civil rights group, the Anti-Defamation League, has a story to tell about his friend, the 78-year-old multi-billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. Adelson, who is America's eighth richest man and has given millions of dollars in support of Newt Gingrich's presidential bid, was having dinner with Foxman in Las Vegas several years ago. Foxman let slip that he was having to miss an invitation to the White House from the then president, George W. Bush. Foxman explained it was impossible to get a commercial flight. Adelson replied: "If the president of the...

With contributions coming in, allies of Newt Gingrich have just purchased $6 million in advertising in Florida, to further build up the former House Speaker after his victory in South Carolina. The first ad labels Romney as "the inventor of government run health care" suggesting he is allied with President Obama. The ad is paid for by "Winning Our Future," a "super PAC" aligned with Gingrich. The organization has received $10 million in donations from one couple, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, who have backed Gingrich since they met him in 1995 when legislation important to Israel passed the House.

[Bad] G. Soros VS [Good] Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson Liberal hypocrisy is on display again, when they (MSNBC first leading it, than picked top by CNN) chastise, moan about S. Adelson’s support for Newt Gingrich. Just as MSNBC hammered on the Koch brothers for supporting the Tea Party. My question in this imbalance is. Is there any equivalence of this, by hammering Soros on our part? Thank you Mr. Adelson and Koch Brothers for your love for God and country and the Judea-Christian culture, May God bless you.

A longtime supporter of Newt Gingrich has donated $5 million to a super PAC backing his presidential bid, providing a major boost to Mr. Gingrich’s ailing campaign in the critical lead-up to Tuesday’s presidential primary in New Hampshire. The donation, reported on Saturday night by The Washington Post, came from Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino mogul who has long been a generous patron of Mr. GIngrich’s political career. The “super PAC,” Winning Our Future, was formed last month by Becky Burkett, who served until earlier this year as chief development officer for American Solutions, a political action committee that...

Israel - Las Vegas gambling magnate Sheldon Adelson is a significant figure in Republican politics — the 13th richest man in America and one of the GOP’s biggest donors. But he’s an even bigger player in Israel, where he’s a key backer of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Yet Adelson’s sharpest transformation of the political landscape may be through his ownership of Israel Hayom (“Israel Today”), a three-year-old free daily newspaper that quietly became the most widely distributed daily in the country this summer. It stirs passions strong enough that legislators have sought to hobble it with laws banning foreign ownership...