Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's involvement in electoral politics has never made a whole lot of sense -- after all, before he was bankrolling Mitt Romney's effort, he was bankrolling Newt Gingrich's effort to destroy Romney's candidacy.
But I wasn't entirely clear on the extent to which Adelson made no sense until he gave an interview to The Wall Street Journal , in which he announced his support for a whole bunch of liberal policies, including some super-liberal policies. Like, Canadian socialist stuff:
“Number one, I’m supporting stem-cell research,” he said, pointing to a chart of a new Adelson medical research foundation that is funding some stem-cell based science.
“I’m pro-choice,” he said, explaining that Republicans are pro-life, but he and his wife are not pro-life in politics.
“You can take your own religious beliefs … and live your life with your own beliefs. But to make it a portion of the government’s policies?” He shook his head.
“Abortion shouldn’t be brought up as a political issue,” he said.
Mr. Adelson continued on his list of liberal leanings.
On immigration: “I’m pro-Dream Act, I’m pro the Dream Act. My parents were immigrants to this country,” he said. “What are we going to do? Listen, I’m sure a lot of my parents generation …..snuck onto the ship and they came into the country.
Oh, but wait, this gets better/weirder!
Finally, he said casually: “And by the way I’m in favor of a socialized-like health care.”
Asked if he was sure he was in the right party, he and his wife laughed.
“Look, nobody agrees with 100% of their planks” in the GOP platform, he and Dr. Adelson both said.
Oh, ha, ha, ha, sure, sure -- but seriously, Sheldon, are you even aware of what any of the planks in the GOP platform actually are? Because you've just run down a bunch of policies you like with The Wall Street Journal, and you've not come within a time zone of the GOP platform. What you've elucidated, in the space of a few paragraphs, is the platform of the average Daily Kos diarist.
According to Adelson, he used to be a Democrat (which makes sense, because he seems to support all of the party's policies even today) but quit supporting Democrats because when he attended the 1988 Democratic Convention, he "was appalled at the self-interested politicians he says were all over the place." (He must have not been paying attention to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's 2016 nomination-acceptance speech, which Christie gave at the 2012 Republican National Convention.)
In actuality, Adelson's fealty to the GOP stems primarily from the fact that his "Las Vegas Sands Corp. is being scrutinized by federal investigators looking into possible money-laundering in Vegas, and possible violation of bribery laws by the company’s ventures in China, including four casinos in the gambling mecca of Macau." That's from a lengthy story in POLITICO about the mogul by Mike Allen, who I shall officially give props to for this line: "Adelson (pronounced ADDLE-son) is the dominant pioneer of the super PAC era." (Emphasis mine.)
Adelson "spent nearly $150 million on Republicans during the 2012 elections," and even though that money went to ensure that all the policies he claims he wants to see enacted will never, ever happen -- not ever! -- he is planning on doubling his donations in 2016 so that the things he claims he wants will not happen even harder and faster, according to another report in The Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Adelson's 2012 donations were double what he spent in 2008, and looking ahead, he said, he was ready to again "double" his donations.
"I'll spend that much and more," he said in his first extensive postelection interview. "Let's cut any ambiguity."
Yes, that will definitely make things less ambiguous.
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