January 23, 2012

Dog v. Tail

The NYT's top story tonight is:
Backer Pumps $5 Million Into Pro-Gingrich ‘Super PAC’ 
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE42 minutes ago 
The Gingrich campaign got a significant influx of cash from the wife of Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino owner who contributed $5 million to the campaign earlier this month.

One interesting trend is that that these heavy hitter mega-donors like Dr. Miriam Adelson and Haim Saban, a major Democratic contributor, are often dual-citizens who are also big players in Israeli politics. The Adelsons, for example, started a newspaper in Israel that is given away for free to promote Likud. It's now the biggest newspaper in Israel.

I don't pay much attention to Israeli politics because I am not an Israeli, but it sounds pretty fascinating, more exciting than American politics. I wonder if the Adelsons see supporting Netanyahu as being good for Gingrich or whether, for them, it's more that getting Newt elected President would seem good for Bibi. (Personally, I find Bibi more impressive than Newt, but I don't know how the Adelsons feel.)

Clausewitz said that war is the continuation of politics by other means, but increasingly American politics resembles Israeli politics continued by other means. It would be interesting to ask the Adelsons which country, in their view, is the dog and which is the tail. 

60 comments:

Whiskey said...

The Dog is the US, and Israel is the tail. Adelson IIRC has mega investments in the US, and also Macau. Saban is of course Mr. Hollywood. Israel, not so much.

If you follow the money, you find the angle. Adelson is basically screwed in the US if the economy does not recover. He'd back Obama in a heartbeat if he thought everyone would be in Vegas throwing down cash. Even if Israel got nuked out of existence under Obama's watch. Same with Saban, plus Saban is angry over the failure of Obama to push forward SOPA and PIPA. [You might argue that Saban is playing a double game, trying to along the Obama lines to select the most beatable candidate.]

After all, Steve, you yourself wrote how Obama challenged his mentor's ballot appearance, and got her tossed to run unopposed, and got the Ryan divorce records unsealed to run against ... Alan Keyes. To Obama, Newt Gingrich, fat, White, old, ugly, hated by half of America already, must be an easier opponent than Keyes.

What is interesting that Adelson is not giving money to Romney, who is at least as pro-Israel as Newt (probably more, Newt is too cozy with Dems and Al Sharpton). Or Santorum. Adelson is making a bet that Newt is the best guy to defeat Obama and bring the good times rolling. Which he desperately needs.

Whiskey said...

Let me add that you could ask the same question about Clinton and China (Charlie Trie) or Obama and the Middle East -- Hamas and Hezbollah boasted they funneled about $300 million to Obama. Of course, this being Obama, there were no investigations. Eric Cartman's law is still operating.

Anonymous said...

This article came out a couple days ago in the Wash Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/sheldon-adelson-and-newt-gingrich-one-gained-clout-from-friendship-the-other-funding/2012/01/11/gIQACvSrBQ_story.html

"The way casino magnate Sheldon Adelson remembers it, he and his wife, Miriam, met then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1995 in the majestic Capitol Rotunda as they made their way through the building while lobbying for a bill to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Nearly two decades later, Gingrich, on the campaign trail, has promised that his first executive order as president would be the embassy move, long a priority of ardent Israel supporters such as the Adelsons.

It would also be a sweet jackpot for the Adelsons, who are the biggest patrons of Gingrich’s political career.

Perhaps no other major presidential candidate in recent times has had his fortunes based so squarely on the contributions of a single donor, as Gingrich has on Adelson, who has spent millions in support of Gingrich and his causes over the past five years. In a primary season dominated by the mega-spending of super PACs, Adelson’s efforts on Gingrich’s behalf provide a window into the expanding influence of the super-rich on American politics.

After putting up the seed money and ultimately $7.7 million between 2006 and 2010 for a nonprofit group that served as a precursor to Gingrich’s presidential campaign, Adelson, 78, an irascible Las Vegas billionaire, doubled down this month, giving $5 million to a political action committee run by former close aides to Gingrich."

Anonymous said...

LoL

Only in your fever dreams.

Anonymous said...

Adelson is basically screwed in the US if the economy does not recover.

He's 78 years old, and the 8th wealthiest American and 16th wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of $23.3 billion.

How is he "screwed"?

Anonymous said...

Whiskey, you get so defensive and animated whenever Steve has a post like this.

Frankly, I have no problem with your views on the Israel issue or anything else.

It's just that you should drop your whole "Scotch-Irish" shtick. It's obvious from how defensive and animated you get whenever it comes up that you care more about this than your average Scotch-Irishman would.

Anonymous said...

Adelson is basically screwed in the US if the economy does not recover.

If he's screwed, what happens to the rest of us that aren't mega-billionaires and among the top 10 wealthiest Americans and top 20 wealthiest people on Earth? Soylent Green?

Anonymous said...

America is Israel's bitch.

Anonymous said...

I really hope Ginrich wins, because he has promised to send more American boys to fight and die in Middle Eastern wars (e.g,. Iran)to protect Israel.

Here in Iowa, I know that it is vitally important for America to stick our noses into that Jewish vs. Muslim hornets nest. I have only 3 children, but I hope and pray that they can all die fighting so that Israel can continue to ethniclly cleanse the Palestinians from thier former homes and orchards.

Isralis much prefer that Americans boys die to protect Israel than their own boys. Israel also prefers that America pay for it.

Sure, another war will bankrupt the USA and send the price of oil to stropheric levels. But that is what Israel wants us to do.

Anonymous said...

Gotta love those Scotch-Irish.

AC said...

OT but did you catch the question in the R debate tonight to Santorum about whether what our relationship with China would be like if we had 80,ooo Chinese dissidents living in an important swing state? iSteve was just blogging about the comparison of the anti-Cuban lobby. I gues with the FL primary a lot of people were probably writing about it, but still the question seemed a little bit iStevey and a little bit on the verge of crimethink. If we can start substituting ethniciities and nationalities in what ifs, what next? Pitchforks no doubt.

Zhora Misha said...

***It's just that ["Whiskey"] should drop [his] whole "Scotch-Irish" shtick.***

I agree. He should drop the Anglo-Celtic drag and be rechristened, as it were, Manischewitz.

TGGP said...

Moving the embassy is one of those pointless symbolic moves I'd be happy to make for a few million.

Anonymous said...

"I agree. He should drop the Anglo-Celtic drag and be rechristened, as it were, Manischewitz."

Whiskey thinks that all the women have been vacuumed into harems for the alphas, and that all white women are dripping wet with Jungle Fever.

He could very well be just what he says he is: a deluded Scotch-Irishman with a silly obsession with Israel.

Anonymous said...

Adelson's interest in our relations with China may supercede his interest in Israel: "Through its majority-owned subsidiary Sands China Ltd, the company owns several properties in Macau, including The Venetian Macao, The Plaza Macao, Four Seasons Hotel Macao and the Four Seasons-branded apartments at the Sands Cotai Central development, as well as the Sands Macao on the Macau peninsula. The company is currently constructing a 6,400-room complex at the Sands Cotai Central, which will feature the Sheraton, St. Regis, Holiday Inn, and Intercontinental hotel brands."

And though it's probably all bark, Romney has been talking tough on China.

Anonymous said...


He's 78 years old, and the 8th wealthiest American and 16th wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of $23.3 billion.

How is he "screwed"?


Lol. Well, that's why whiskey's posts are read for entertainment value only.

The truth is his outbursts are provoked by the sinking feeling that Israel is going, going and all but gone. And so it should be.

Silver

yawn said...

Hmm, uh, yeah, that's real interesting. Maybe they'll get Meryl Streep to play "Dr. Miriam Adelson" in the ripped-from-the-headlines film version.

Anonymous said...

A fact that I always find astonishing is that the founding population of the USA, the Anglo-Saxons, the people who gave the USa its laws, its customs its language, the people who actually conquered it and carved it out of the wilderness are by and large maginalized today, and there seems to be very little sympathy or concern with Britain 'the mother country' of the USA, whilst congress seems to be controlled by representatives of a nation that didn't exist prior to 1948 and which never had a significant presence on American soil until 100 years ago.

Anonymous said...

The USA must bite the bullet and ban donations to political parties by individuals, groups etc.In fact all donations apart from membership dues should be banned.
However repulsive it might seem at first the Scandinavian model of state funding of political parties based on votes cast should be implemented.
The alternative, which unfortunately the USA revels in, absolutely stinks to high heaven.Basically dirty politicians are literally bought by rich men.This is disgusting and infinitely worse than feudalism.It's not democracy.It's political prostitution.
And Gingrich is the bum-boy whose ass is for sale.

Anonymous said...

I have read Steve's stuff for a decade, and began when I was at (high)school.

I tick possibly every box that Whiskey would want ticked. I am Jewish, an army officer and have a black girlfriend. I also hate those who use personal details to attempt social proof.

Nonetheless I will now use those details to comment for the first time in a decade. Why? I have never read such an obnoxious shill for Israeli interests as Whiskey.

His schtick is to take the 60% true pick-up play of Roissy et al. and lend its practability derived credibility to his unfocussed perceptions. Simply put: if 'game' picks up chicks then game related theory is proven in the real world.

This is three times a mistake. 'Game' is a wide ranging term that in reality is no more than the empirical method applied to flirtation and it is not an agreed upon set of prescriptions. Where it is more defined as in Roissy it works only on a certain minority of ladies; and finally but crucially Whiskey's theories have no more relation to 'game' than any other.

Whiskey, you are peddling your cr*p as astrologers use astronomy, and are in relation to Roissy what the horoscope writer is to Galileo, and considering the relation of Roissy to Galileo...that is not good.

Now, reference your comment above. Adelson gives priority to Israel. Possibly because he loves both Israel and America but feels Israel is more endagered, who knows? That is not irrational. He pays for young Jews, and paid for me (thank you), to visit Israel and go on what is essentially an identity forming course for ten days. It was quite fun and Israel truly is a modern miracle founded on a very interesting history; however you do not pay for Jews from all round the world to, let us face it, visit the fatherland if you do not have a passionate love for said fatherland.

Obviously I am no anti-semite, self-hating Jew, beta man, sanitised liberal or Nazi affiliate or any label you can throw at me but Whiskey your comments enrage me completely. What you are selling you sell in the manner of the stereotypially terrible used car salesman. No technique, trick or lie is too base if you can convince people of your underlying interests. Those interests are of a cartoon hypocrite Jew so two dimensional that sometimes I wonder whether you are actually a deranged Nazi out to slander the Jews. Some part of me wishes you were.

Anonymous said...

"And Gingrich is the bum-boy whose ass is for sale."

Never a truer line said...

If Gingrich gets the nomination then America can and will go to hell. At least Mcain had an appealing personal story.

Ed said...

It could be that a certain faction in Israeli politics is using the notable predilection of American politicians for baksheesh to increase their influence in the U.S., which they then leverage to increase their influence in Israeli politics. At the end of the day, if you are powerful in the U.S., you can be really powerful in Israel, but it doesn't work as well the other way round.

But that doesn't mean that this tactic doesn't have a huge impact on American politics. Both American and Israeli democratic institutions are in serious trouble, with Israeli skidding somewhat farther along down the tubes.

Incidentally, the original, long dead 1975 campaign finance legislation was opposed from the left as well as the right. The idea on the left was that the only way a left-wing candidate could get funded was if an eccentric billionaire funded his entire campaign. Well, now you are seeing this with Gingrich, his entire campaign is funded by an eccentric billionaire. At it turns out he came out with a long and visible piece of advertising which, as Alexander Cockburn put it, would have made Ken Loach proud. So maybe there as something to that theory.

Svigor said...

America is Israel's bitch.

There are two main senses to the word, "Israel." The truest sense, sadly, has faded under the rise of the newer sense.

In that older sense, yes, Israel dominates America. Of course, if you let someone else dictate to you what "dominate" means (and thus you use a comic book definition), it can be hard to grasp this fact. But then, it can be hard to grasp much of anything of importance under those conditions.

Anonymous said...

If you follow the money, you find the angle. Adelson is basically screwed in the US if the economy does not recover. He'd back Obama in a heartbeat if he thought everyone would be in Vegas throwing down cash.


Blah blah blah. So why is he pumping millions of dollars into helping Gingrich defeat Romney?

Anonymous said...

I suggest every candidate be required to speak on national TV for 30 minutes once a week. Only the candidate could speak and there would be no visual aids. The government would pay or possibly the networks would be required to provide the time for free in return for their monopoly.

The candidates could say anything they want but they would probably realized that they had to provide something substantial. They'd look pretty silly giving the same speech we got the week.

They'd have to say something substantial, they couldn't say nothing over the course of 30 minutes.

Of course they'd respond to what the other candidates had said the previous week and during the same week earlier.

Campaign contributions of course could still continue and there would still be lots of ads. But they'd have to be responsive to what the candidates themselves had actually said.
Robert Hume

Polichinello said...

Personally, I think Adelson wants Obama to win. Why else would you see to it that such a surefire loser as Gingrich will be is nominated?

Anonymous said...

"A fact that I always find astonishing is that the founding population of the USA, the Anglo-Saxons, the people who gave the USa its laws, its customs its language, the people who actually conquered it and carved it out of the wilderness are by and large marginalized today, "

Not quite that bad. Clinton, Bush, Romney, Paul, Reid, McConnell.
Robert Hume

anony-mouse said...

What's the excitability here? Gingrich obviously will never be elected President.

America hasn't elected a man with a full head of completely white hair since Truman (who was already in office)

America has elected maybe 3 fat guys (Cleveland, Taft, Harding-nobody since). Being thin is a big plus in Presidential elections-and that was even before TV.

America hasn't elected a man who's last political job was in the House since Garfield.

America has never elected a man on his third wife.

In the TV age the better looking guy almost always wins the Presidential election.

There's gotta be another reason for people's excitability here, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Rainforest Giant said...

Whiskey gets so many responses here that Steve would need to resurrect him should he ever pass on. Just by looking at the comments, he is by far the most responded to poster and must be driving a fair amount of traffic to the site all on his own.

Some one said...

Amazing what happaned to the USA and much of the western world since the '60s...

Is not only the future is "Camp of the Saints" like, but that the West will die fighting for other population ethnic interests...

Truly Amazing...

anony-mouse said...

Oops forgot Teddy (Didn't forget Pres. Elvis-he was trim when first elected)

Baloo said...

Jonathan Pollard is packing. Another bull's-eye, Steve. Linked and commented HERE by, you guessed it, EX-ARMY.

Your Correspondent said...

Adelson is a unique individual, like anybody else. He probably has strong feelings about issues in the US and Israel, especially.

Obama's near-austerity program is not working, but any of the Republicans would be worse for the economy. On the other hand, Obama is fiddling while the most of the middle east is moving into the radical Islamist camp.

A lot of strong Zionists have a policy of ABO (Anybody But Obama). Gingrich, with his open marriages, has got to be Obama's favorite opponent.

Likudniks would have to favor Romney, I'd think. But it clearly doesn't matter, Obama will win re-election.

Pennyroyal said...

"AC said...

OT but did you catch the question in the R debate tonight to Santorum about whether what our relationship with China would be like if we had 80,ooo Chinese dissidents living in an important swing state? iSteve was just blogging about the comparison of the anti-Cuban lobby. I gues with the FL primary a lot of people were probably writing about it, but still the question seemed a little bit iStevey and a little bit on the verge of crimethink."

I noticed it, too, and it spawned a "what if" moment for me as well. There are many cogs in the machine and it is possible that someone found it profound and it moved its way up.
BTW, Santorum, who is the best family guy and great on so many things, was so insufferable during that question. He prides himself on being a staunch Catholic, but he agrees less with the Pope than the Baptist, Ron Paul. During the pro-life forum in South Carolina, Paul gave credit to the Church's philosophy for helping shape some of his views on life, war, etc.

sabril said...

I sure wish Israel would move its embassy to Washington, our designated capital.

And I wish Israeli politicians would stop publicly calling on the US to give independence to Puerto Rico.

And I wish Israeli politicians would stop calling on the US to negotiate with Mexican drug lords.

And I wish Israel would recognize American sovereignty over what the Israelis call "Alta California"

Sheila said...

Stellar post and line ("increasingly American politics resembles Israeli politics continued by other means"), Steve.

Most of the comments (particularly Whiskey's) will thus be from the William Faulkner school of thought.

Sheila said...

Hey Steve - great minds: read Vox's take on "Israel Firster's here.

Anonymous said...

Contrary to all appearances, the Jews do not own the Republican Party. The old WASP elite still own it. They have used the right-wing Jews to sell a pro-Israel foreign policy because such a policy plays well with their base of evangelical Christians and trailer-trash patriots. It also aligns well with their desire to expand American hegemony through free-market globalism. I would not object to such a policy if I were certain it was being implemented by intelligent and patriotic Americans. But I am not. George W. Bush was certainly not such a man.

All in all, it was probably a mistake to welcome the right-wing Jews into the party that has been the traditional home of the military-industrial complex. Especially just at the time when the collapse of the Soviet Union meant that waging war could be as profitable as preparing to do so had previously been.

Alcalde Jaime Miguel Curleo said...

Good article up by Jon Last re: Mitt's speaking fees. One of those perorations was delivered by remote feed... Nice

Anonymous said...

that neurotic bore at the atlantic is at it again :

A Straight Line From Lindbergh to 'Israel-Firster'

notice how goldberg always closes comments, as svigor famously said "me have bullhorn, me talk, you listen"

Anonymous said...

Whiskey gets my vote for Roissy's Beta of the Year. He's built a whole theory of geopolitics around this betaness.

Dutch Boy said...

The late Joseph Sobran used to comment that those who accused Jewish Americans of having dual loyalties failed to realize that that would be an improvement.

Sheila said...

Dutch Boy - LOL. I hadn't heard that one.

no name said...

All in all, it was probably a mistake to welcome the right-wing Jews into the party that has been the traditional home of the military-industrial complex.

The American Empire/Permanent Warfare State was created by FDR and Truman. Also recall that it was a GOP POTUS who decried the growing influence of "the military-industrial complex."

Hunsdon said...

We are all familiar with the old definition of chutzpah: a man who murders his parents and then pleads for leniency from the court, since he is an orphan.

A new definition of chutzpah? Jeffrey Goldberg, Atlantic columnist and IDF veteran, denouncing assertions of dual loyalty as baseless anti-semitism.

Bourbon said...

Whiskey: "He'd back Obama in a heartbeat... Even if Israel got nuked out of existence under Obama's watch."

Sheldon Adelson: “I really don’t care what happens to Iran. I am for Israel.”
http://tinyurl.com/5h8gxu

Whiskey: "If you follow the money, you find the angle. Adelson is basically screwed in the US if the economy does not recover."

Las Vegas Sands Investor Presentation (p.5): "Composition of 2Q11 EBITDA - 45% Singapore; 43% Macau; 10% Las Vegas; 10% Las Vegas; 2% Bethlehem"

http://tinyurl.com/7de66w6

Bourbon said...

Sorry for the typo in my first comment. Obviously, Las Vegas is only 10% of Las Vegas Sands EBITDA, not 10% twice.

The point is that, contra Whiskey's assertion, Adelson's company is primarily dependent on Asia (88% of EBITDA), not the U.S.

Also, he's a BETA.

Anonymous said...

The political class are 90% corrupt and paid by people like Adelson to support
- Israeli foreign policy
- mass immigration
- balkanization
and have been since the 60s.

Propeller Island said...

Steve, why are you so sure this has something to do with Israel? Occam's razor tells us that Adelson owes Newt Gingrich a favor, and that favor has something to do with Adelson's business.

I know that those who think that everything in the world has to do with Israel won't be convinced, but--

Reading between the lines of this Wash. Post article (toward the end), this is what likely happened. Adelson put a bid to open a casino in China. At the same time Republicans in Congress prepared to pass resolution condemning China for human right abuses. the Chinese thought this resolution would hurt their chances for hosting the 2008 Olympics. Adelson had Gingrich call Tom DeLay and the resolution was suppressed. Adelson took credit for this in his talks with the Chinese, so they awarded him the contract. This is how Newt helped Adelson make some of his billions.

Anonymous said...

"Personally, I think Adelson wants Obama to win. Why else would you see to it that such a surefire loser as Gingrich will be is nominated?"

Cos Obama doesn't want to attack Iran.

Anonymous said...

Casino owners, distrust of the last WASP, Rockefeller Republican in the race, serial monogamy no longer an issue, and geopolitics based on evangelical heresies. The country has gone white trash, no looking back. Eventually to be counted as a conservative you'll have to have one or more of the following:

a receipt for your latest donation to John Hagee ministries, an illegitimate grandchild, a son with more than one neck-tattoo, two or more Paula Dean cookbooks, and at least one nephew or cousin who died in an accident involving their "stang."

They should have never let some folks come in from the cotton fields (i.e. all the post WW2 M.I.C. spending in the Southeast and TX); they could have stayed out there, loosening their anger on their hapless children, and not dragging the rest of us down with them.

Hunsdon said...

Sheldon Adelson distributes, free of charge, Israel's largest circulation newspaper. From Wikipedia:

Israel HaYom has been criticized for its right-wing political slant, with its content being described as "propaganda." While in the Prime Minister's office, Ehud Olmert criticized Adelson's leaning toward's Benjamin Netanyahu.[5][6] Ben-Dror Yemini has described it as "a danger to democracy".[7][8] A study conducted by Moran Rada showed that while competing newspaper's coverage of Netanyahu was "not especially fair", Yisrael Hayom's coverage was biased in favor of Netanyahu in most editorial decisions, that the paper chooses to play down events that don't help to promote a positive image for Netanyahu, while on the other hand, touting and inflating events that help promote Netanyahu and the Likud.[9] Oren Frisco reached the same conclusion after the 2009 Knesset elections, writing that throughout the campaign, Yisrael HaYom published only one article critical of the Likud, and tens of articles critical of Kadima.[10]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Hayom

But yeah, Whiskers is probably right. Adelson would love to see Israel nuked.

NOTA said...

Perhaps backing Gingrich over the years is a low-probability, high-payoff bet. Newt isn't the world's most appealing candidate, and many things could stop him endng up in the white house, but there is a nonnegligible chance he could actually end up as president. And if he did, he would have had a long friendship and a huge amont of support from Adelson, which must be a huge asset if you want to have an effect on the world. I mean, just think about how much it's worth to be able to spend an hour or two a month chatting with the president, who sees you as the guy who stood by him when nobody else would, and who has always recognized him for the genius statesman he knows himself to be. You won't get him to reverse major policies,but you can probably have a lot of influence around the edges--convincing him what tack to take with the current Israeli govenment, exposing him to your take on the right way to tax or regulate your industry, proposing people you know and trust for political appointees.

TomV said...

Anonymous army officer & Svigor:

Don't worry about Whiskey. He's not at all harmful to the reputation of the Jews at large simply because he's so obviously insane. People here presumably know enough about statistics not to interpolate from an outlier.

Far more disreputable are people like "anony-mouse" and Sabril, who seem reasonable otherwise but are like a brick wall when it comes to all things Jewish. Do they really see nothing wrong with having two half-foreigners so intimately involved in American politics, especially when they are very active in that foreign country's politics as well? Would it help if the dual-citizens in question were Chinese instead of Israeli? How about Saudi?

But no, since this is Holy Israel we're talking about, there's nothing wrong at all. Any suggestion to the contrary ("excitability"!) is motivated by anti-semitism. They, on the other hand, are motivated by truth and justice. And don't you dare suggest otherwise, or risk facing double counts of anti-semitism.

Their judgment is clouded by their obsession with a certain ethny. For them to deny it would be understandable. But they don't just deny; they accuse you of that very obsession (in reverse) if you so much as notice it. Even to notice it in some high-profile public figures is too close to home for them. They lump themselves into it, but they accuse you of lumping. See the pattern?

I don't quite know what to call this blatant knucklehead Bizarro projection, but it isn't hypocrisy. It's far more infuriating. And despairing.

Dennis Dale said...

Cockburn on Newt: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/20/here-he-comes-again/

Anonymous said...

"But they don't just deny; they accuse you of that very obsession (in reverse) if you..., etc."

Dude, you just wrote a 250-word comment on blog. No, you are not obsessed at all...

sabril said...

"Do they really see nothing wrong with having two half-foreigners so intimately involved in American politics, especially when they are very active in that foreign country's politics as well? "

Why would you assume I see nothing wrong with it? The question on the table is who is the dog and who is the tail. The fact is that the US is constantly sticking its nose into internal Israeli affairs far more than vice versa.

And for the record, I don't think it's appropriate for people who are loyal to foreign interests, including those of Israel, to take part in and attempt to influence American politics on the part of those interests.

And the same holds true in Israel. There are a plethora of foreign-funded left-wing NGO's in Israel and I wish this practice would stop.

Svigor said...

Whiskey gets so many responses here that Steve would need to resurrect him should he ever pass on. Just by looking at the comments, he is by far the most responded to poster and must be driving a fair amount of traffic to the site all on his own.

Yes, Whiskey is the Hitler of iSteve.

Anonymous said...

Sabril,

Excuse my presumption, but I don't think Steve, R. Paul, or most non-interventionists would disagree with you. They just want out of the mess.

Speaking as a non-interventionist who has discussed the matter with people, in the world of manichean dichotomies it is hard to convince people that one is truly neutral or apathetic.

If only we could magically divide the country. But then again I fear even if we did have a non-interventionist, non-diverse country the hordes (left and right, foreign and domestic) would just follow us.

SFG said...

"Reading between the lines of this Wash. Post article (toward the end), this is what likely happened. Adelson put a bid to open a casino in China. At the same time Republicans in Congress prepared to pass resolution condemning China for human right abuses. the Chinese thought this resolution would hurt their chances for hosting the 2008 Olympics. Adelson had Gingrich call Tom DeLay and the resolution was suppressed. Adelson took credit for this in his talks with the Chinese, so they awarded him the contract. This is how Newt helped Adelson make some of his billions."

Old-fashioned political corruption? I'll buy that for a dollar. AIPAC makes a lot of trouble, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.