NY Times - "Embracing Sheldon Adelson" Re Romney's New Sugar Daddy

[TomCADem]

It is breathtaking the amount of sheer audacity of the wealthy in their efforts to buy the 2012 election.

http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/embracing-sheldon-adelson/

There are two things that set Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign apart: his caution and his secretiveness.

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So what was this ever-so-guarded, moralistic (“I want to clean up the moral pollution on TV and the Internet”) politician doing at a $50,000-a-couple fundraiser in Jerusalem with Sheldon G. Adelson — proprietor of one of the largest, if not the largest, gambling and casino operations in the world — seated in the honored position at his side?

Adelson and his company are under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice on allegations of foreign bribery. In addition, the United States Attorney’s office in Los Angeles is investigating whether Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. failed to alert authorities to millions of dollars transferred to casinos in violation of money-laundering laws, the Wall Street Journal reported on August 4.

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The Adelsons are the largest donors to the Romney PAC. They have providing just over 12 percent of the $82.2 million Restore Our Future has raised so far. Romney’s personal wealth is an estimated $250 million, but the former governor is determined not to self-finance his quest for the presidency.

[Brother Buzz]

1. Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Sands, the casino being investigated for potential money laundering?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/report-justice-department-probes-sands-casino-chain-in-potential-money-laundering-case/2012/08/05/f69f8346-df2d-11e1-8d48-2b1243f34c85_story.html

[tibbiit]

2. R Wing response to this

George Soros, George SOros, George Soros!!!!!!!!!!!
tib

[Scuba]

3. Sheldon has two objectives: maximizing his wealth and war with Iran.

Mitt's his bitch. (Hope this is acceptable use of "bitch". Let me know if not and I'll change.)

[progressivebydesign]

4. 82 MILLION for the "Restore our future" PAC. That's obscene. The "our" is the billionaire's future.

of course. They use those fake-ass names to sound like they're grass roots.

[bemildred]

5. Report: Adelson asked Romney to publicly demand release of Jonathan Pollard

Sheldon Adelson, the American Jewish billionaire and close friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has asked U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to publicly demand the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, according to the U.S. website The Daily Beast.

Romney refused the request, saying he “could not consider the Pollard situation because he doesn’t have access to the classified information,” the report said, quoting an unnamed source.

According the report, Romney has also refused other Israel-related requests from Adelson, who reportedly also asked Romney to state that the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are a waste of time because the Palestinians are unwilling to make peace, and also to make a firm commitment to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

Romney has not said that the talks are a waste of time, and with regard to moving the embassy, he said he would make that move only in consultation with the Israeli government. Many believe that moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem would be widely seen as de facto recognition of Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/u-s-elections-2012/report-adelson-asked-romney-to-publicly-demand-release-of-jonathan-pollard-1.456378