Hah - Freedom Watch Founder Adelson loses $24 Billion

[RamboLiberal]

Karmic Rebalancing

Couldn't have happened to a bigger asshole.

The American who lost the most - $24 billion - was casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, a City College of New York dropout reputed to be worth $28 billion in March.


Freedom’s Watch, a deep-pocketed conservative group led by two former senior White House officials, made an audacious debut in late August when it began a $15 million advertising campaign designed to maintain Congressional support for President Bush’s troop increase in Iraq.

...

Among the group’s founders are Sheldon G. Adelson, the chairman and chief executive of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, who ranks sixth on the Forbes Magazine list of the world’s billionaires; Mel Sembler, a shopping center magnate based in St. Petersburg, Fla., who served as the ambassador to Italy and Australia; John M. Templeton Jr., the conservative philanthropist from Bryn Mawr, Pa.; and Anthony H. Gioia, a former ambassador to Malta who heads an investment group based in Buffalo, N.Y. All four men are long-time prolific donors who have raised money on behalf of Republican and conservative causes.

http://www.eschatonblog.com/

[Demeter]

1. Fools and Money---Unfortunately, Have the GOP Run Out of Fools, or Money?

Not yet, by my observation.

[Jim Lane]

5. Freedom's Watch, at least, is kaput

According to in the Washington Times, the board of directors of Freedom's Watch decided to close it down as of the end of 2008. "The group's dependence on Mr. Adelson, one of the GOP's biggest donors, was in the end its undoing." The problem was Adelson's financial troubles (I mean, he's still a billionaire, but he's lost more than $20 billion so I guess that counts as troubles).

The story drew a lesson from the incident:

At its founding, Freedom's Watch touted itself as an answer of sorts to the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org.

. . . .

But where Freedom's Watch was seen as a top-down organization reliant on a few wealthy donors, MoveOn is seen as a bottom-up, grass-roots organization that draws its support from a massive e-mail list of more than 4 million members. It uses the list to raise money and to organize support or opposition on policy battles.

[lutherj]

2. .

:nopity:

live by the sword, die by the sword

[monmouth]

3. John Templeton, was he the very close friend of Jackie Onassis before

and during her illness. Am I thinking of someone else? She was seeing a very nice man, kids liked him, and I'm sure his name was Templeton...

[ellenfl]

4. close . . . his name was Maurice Tempelsman. eom

[monmouth]

6. HA! Right church, wrong pew...Thanks ellen and happy new year!

[ellenfl]

7. happy new year back atcha! eom