The big GOP prize: Shelly Adelson’s war chest

It’s a reprint from The New Republic. The message spreads.

Then there’s this, in the WaPo:

Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson’s family is bankrolling Gingrich super PAC

No! Not his family, too. Really? Because that’s so unheard of from Obama donors. Oh. Wait.

So why do they keep pounding Adelson?

Because it’s working.

Adelson tried to bring to Nevada Republicans’ attention the fact that Saturday caucuses, by their nature, exclude religious Jews from participating. It was interpreted as trying to mess with the caucuses. End result:

Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson distanced himself Monday from a Clark County Republican decision to hold a special presidential caucus after sundown Saturday for observant Jews, saying through a spokesman he and his wife “had no involvement” in the arrangement.

The statement seemed designed to counter concerns by several presidential campaigns that the GOP was giving special consideration to Adelson, who backs presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. Adelson and his wife, Miriam, have donated $10 million to a pro-Gingrich Political Action Committee.

They’re forcing him to back off from supporting the candidate of his choice because they’ve made him the story.

The casino magnate also has become concerned that he is overshadowing Mr. Gingrich’s campaign, according to people close to Mr. Adelson.

“He [Mr. Adelson] realizes that when you make a contribution it does become an issue and he wants the focus to remain on Newt,” said Andy Abboud, vice president of government relations at Las Vegas Sands Corp., an Adelson company. The two men will maintain a distance in Nevada this week, he said, but their paths might cross at some point. Mr. Gingrich is staying at Mr. Adelson’s Venetian casino, said Dan Burdish, who is working for Mr. Gingrich in Nevada.

(Okay, come on, let’s not pretend their paths aren’t going to cross. Really?) But still, the fact that the media have forced Adelson to back off of Newt is pretty pathetic. They did no such thing when Haim Saban was telling Harry Reid what to do.

“Let me give you an example of this access, and why it’s completely O.K.,” Saban responded. “I hosted the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, in my home. I was informed that he refused to sign a letter to Obama, which was signed by most of the senators, supporting Israel, before the speech in Cairo. . . . I got the message on Saturday and he was at my house on Sunday. I asked him, ‘Why didn’t you sign?’

“So he said, ‘Because I don’t sign other people’s initiatives,’ as the leader, as head of the Democratic Party.

“I said, ‘So send a letter of your own.’ ” And, Saban added, smiling, and with hesitation, as though he did not like to boast, “He did.”

And he bragged about it. Do you remember that New Yorker profile? Yeah, me neither. It’s from May, 2010. But although Saban’s views on Israel are pretty close to Adelson’s, we don’t hear about his “Israel-firster” attitude–because he donates to Democrats.

Double standards? But of course. That’s the way the left works. And the “objective” media.

Jewish conservatives continue to spend significant amounts of effort and money to swing American and Israeli politics to the far right. Most visible is gambling billionaire Sheldon Adelson, whose funding of Israeli media affected the 2009 Israeli election and who is now spending a fortune to equate American “support for Israel” with support for Israel’s far-right wing.

Similarly, William Kristol’s “Emergency Committee for Israel” plays on Jewish fears to garner Republican votes. And Eric Cantor, House minority whip, is one of the most vocal proponents of Tea Party ideology — the same social Darwinism dressed up as American populism that brought us the 2008 financial crisis.

Note that he starts with a false charge, that Adelson is trying to equate American support for Israel with supporting only the Israeli far right. Now that Jay Michaelson has set the false tone, he then goes on to say that those progressive Jews who are saying that conservative Jews are not following “Jewish values” are wrong. Conservatives can be Jewish, too. I know, I know, you’re shocked. And as a Jewish centrist who has shocked her very liberal Jewish friends by voting for George W. Bush and John McCain, it’s nice to know that I’m just as Jewish as the Obama Fan Club in every synagogue. Why, just look at this philosopher’s reasoning process as to what progressives think of people like me:

The second response has been to argue that Jewish conservatives just don’t get it. They’re misreading Jewish history and tradition. They’re traumatized, bigoted or confused. Whatever the reason, it may be that Jewish conservatives are just plain wrong in their interpretation of Jewish tradition.

Relatively few progressives come out and say this directly, because to do so violates a cardinal progressive principle, that of pluralism and toleration. (Of course, conservatives don’t hesitate to make these claims, painting critics of Israel as self-hating Jews, or social progressives as rebels against the Torah.) So, some make a softer claim: that conservatives get it, but get the wrong it. Yes, there are reactionary elements within Judaism, but these are just barnacles stuck onto the side of the Jewish ship. Yes, the Cantors and Kristols of the world can find some nasty Jewish traditions to draw from, but they miss the real point, which is Judaism’s progressive social agenda, or love of peace, or whatever.

Shorter Michaelson: Oh, conservatives. You are so mean. But we, the Noble Progressives, rise above the meanness and give you our kindness, our tolerance, and our condescension.

Except, of course, they don’t. Note the way he started the article. “Some” Jews think this. “Some” Jews think that. He goes on to bash Jews who don’t think like him, and then he brings in the big gun for his backup: Michael Lerner. Yeah, now that’s an authority that all of Judaism considers to be a top Talmudic scholar able to make decisions about who is a Jew. And finally after being informed a dozen times that conservative Jews are wrong, wrong, wrong, we are told this:

I have my approach to Jewish values that allows me to say that Eric Cantor, Sheldon Adelson and William Kristol are wrong — pluralism is not the same as relativism, after all — but what I won’t say is that they are somehow un-Jewish.

Here’s the thing about this expert on Who’s A Jew: He’s a Buddhist.

I think I’ll stop here. ‘Nuff said.

So, is Adelson’s money buying Newt’s support of Israel?

Not hardly. One of my readers did a little research and sent me a few helpful links. (Thanks!)

Look at this article from 1998 in the San Francisco Jewish Weekly, titled Resignation of Newt Gingrich means Israel is losing a friend. For those of you readers who can’t do difficult math, that article was written more than 13 years ago, which means Sheldon Adelson’s money played no part in Newt’s opinion on Israel. So far, the best the Forward can come up with is Adelson’s money contributed to Gingrich’s group in 2006. Whoops. That’s eight whole years after we read this:

A Jewish Democratic politico said of Gingrich’s pro-Israel credentials, “I don’t think Newt is acting. I’d like to say he’s full of it, but he isn’t. Yes, he was trying to out right-wing the right-wing Jews, but he’s a true believer. Livingston may say what AIPAC wants to hear, but it’s not in his kishkes. He’s not a true believer.”

Really? A Democrat called Gingrich a right-wing Israel supporter in 1998?

But wait. There’s more! In 1998, Gingrich also called Jerusalem “the united and eternal capital of Israel”

Oh, pshaw. There must be some way Adelson’s money influenced Gingrich’s opinion. Maybe he’s so rich, he has a secret time machine and he went back in time to convince Newt to support Israel?

Or maybe Newt’s been a supporter of Israel for decades. (Also, Newt is pretty damned close to getting the Yourish.com cherished Master of Juvenile Scorn™ designation.)

Speaker Newt Gingrich said today that the White House was trying to blackmail Israel by pushing it toward the negotiating table, but President Clinton said he was only trying to bring about fruitful talks on Mideast peace.

”It’s become the Clinton Administration and Arafat against Israel,” Mr. Gingrich said at a news conference. ”The Clinton Administration says: ‘Happy birthday. Let us blackmail you on behalf of Arafat.’ ”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

The Forward itself discussed Gingrich’s ties to Israel in the 1990s (buried, of course, in page two of an article using the Gloom-and-Doom Machine profiling his ties to Adelson). On the first page, they date the Adelson-Gingrich relationship back to 2007. This, kiddies, is how you get away with saying that your article is objective because it mentioned the recent and more distant relationships. It is also what is known as “slanting.” But the most important takeaway here is just what I wrote the other day: The only reason the liberal media is jumping all over the Gingrich-Adelson relationship is because Adelson is a Jew who is supporting a conservative Republican, rather than the liberal media-slash-Jewish establishment’s approved causes–which would be liberal Democrats.

Haim Saban influencing Bill Clinton? Not a problem. Sheldon Adelson is contributing to Newt Gingrich’s campaign? OMG, he’s a conservative, somebody stop him!1!!

Your objective media, exposed.

What Sheldon’s Money Buys
Adelson Millions Ensure Gingrich Steers to Far Right on Israel

This is what Ha’aretz chose to use as the headline for the Forward jump:

Just how far can Adelson influence Gingrich’s campaign?

And yet, there have not been any such articles about how much influence someone like George Soros (funder of super-liberal attack dog Media Matters, among others) has on the Democrats. In fact, I’m betting you don’t even know who Haim Saban is. That’s because he is a Democrat, and a contributor to Democratic causes. Sheldon Adelson makes the cardinal sin of contributing to Republicans., sorry, Rethuglicans. George Soros, who has committed Lord knows how many millions to Democratic and progressive causes, hates Israel, but there are no hard-hitting exposes of how much power liberal Jews like him over the American political process.

The New Yorker wrote a 12-page profile of Haim Saban, the entertainment billionaire who contributes millions to Democratic causes and apparently has President Clinton in his pocket. The article pretty much leads with his influence over the Clintons, and talks about how he wants to protect Israel by strengthening U.S.-Israel ties. But the tone of the article is quite different, and the gist of the article never made its way into the wire services. I don’t recall seeing any scary warnings about how Haim Saban influenced the Clintons and was one of the major figures behind Hillary Clinton’s run for the presidency.

The contrast is stark. This story is told fondly:

“Haim said, ‘Let me make a phone call—maybe I can get something done here,’ ” Chernin told me. “He was extremely helpful in getting Clinton to help. Clinton called the President of Brazil.” Matt Krane recalled how Saban described to him what had happened: “Saban had called the Fox Family attorney in Brazil and asked, ‘How long will it take?’ It was months. He said he asked the lawyer, ‘Who is your finance minister?’ The attorney understood, and he said, ‘There is no political pull available in this process.’ Saban called Bill Clinton and asked, ‘Can you help me?’ ” Soon afterward, the approval came through.

What a great guy! He used his influence with the former president (this was in 2001) close a deal that enabled him to walk away with $1.5 billion. (He paid no taxes on that–then. The IRS is after the firm he used to avoid paying those taxes and was in the process of collecting back taxes from him.)

As Krane began to explore the tax-shelter world, he learned that major accounting and investment-banking firms—including K.P.M.G., Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and many others—were involved in creating tax-shelter products. He selected one that was developed by the Quellos Group, a financial boutique based in Seattle; he integrated this shelter with a tax plan of his own, and, with the combination, made it possible for Saban to pay no taxes on his $1.5-billion gain.

And while the profile mentions Saban’s strong Zionism, it mentions it favorably, with glowing anecdotes like this:

As Saban has said, “I’m a one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel.” When Bill Clinton was President and Ehud Barak was Israel’s Prime Minister, Saban, who was close to both men, says that occasionally he provided a back channel for communications. In July of 2000, shortly before the start of the Camp David negotiations, Israel’s planned two-hundred-and-fifty-million-dollar sale of an airborne radar system to China—furiously opposed by many at the Pentagon and in Congress—threatened to derail congressional support for a peace deal. Saban said, “I just called Ehud and told him, ‘In the middle of this peace thing, it’s impossible for Israel to do things that are perceived in the U.S. as against the interests of the U.S. I understand the financial aspect, I understand that it may not be really a security concern for the U.S.—it doesn’t matter. There’s a much bigger picture here, and you really should seriously consider.’ ” Barak suspended the sale. “How much impact my call had, I have no idea,” Saban added. During Camp David, he continued, “I was involved, but only on the periphery. If Barak could not say some things to Clinton to his face, he would ask me to convey a message, and vice versa.” At one point during the negotiations, Clinton, accompanied by his national-security adviser, Sandy Berger, had to go to Japan. “When they came back, I spoke to Sandy Berger, and gave him my two cents about dealing with issues. ‘Is that really super-important?’ ‘Well, why can’t Arafat give up on that?’ ” He laughed. “The usual!”

Compare and contrast.

It is safe to say that without multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s help the chances of Newt Gingrich becoming the Republican nominee for president would be zero — and consequently the race itself, going into Florida at the moment, would not be the competitive, drag-out fight it has become. Adelson, the hotel and casino magnate, has kept Gingrich alive, first through an infusion of $5 million into a super PAC, which allowed the former speaker to defend himself against attacks by Mitt Romney and led to Gingrich’s thumping victory in South Carolina. And now we know that Adelson’s wife, Miriam, has committed another $5 million to the cause of Newt.

One of Adelson’s passions — and a reason for his desire to play such a big role in American politics — is undoubtedly Israel. And his positions are unambiguously right-wing and hawkish to the extreme.

Cue scary music. OMG! The Jews are controlling the Republican candidate for president!

Yep. Your love for Israel is only a menace if you’re a Republican or, worse–a conservative.

Way to go, Forward. Keep on spreading those tropes about powerful Jews controlling American politics. The denizens of Stormfront thank you for it.

Gingrich’s biggest benefactor is a casino mogul, a hardliner on Israel and very, very rich

It has since been changed to one that is a little less overtly anti-Jewish:

Gingrich donor is casino mogul, Israeli hardliner

It is unbelievable grist for the neo-Nazi, Israel-firster, and anti-Zionist mills. It’s ostensible premise is that influence-peddling is back since the Supreme Court threw out donor limits with Citizens United, but the angle is entirely “Ohmigod, scary Jewish billionaire is buying a candidate for his hard-line views on Israel!!”

He’s an ardent supporter of Israel. A megabillionaire casino mogul whose Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) is under federal investigation. And the self-proclaimed “richest Jew in the world.”

Sheldon Adelson is also, far and away, the biggest patron of Newt Gingrich’s surging Republican presidential bid. Adelson and his wife, Miriam, have pumped $10 million into a political action committee backing Gingrich that is run by the former House speaker’s onetime aides. Campaign finance experts say the two $5 million contributions are among the largest known political donations in U.S. history.

No other candidate in the race for president appears to be relying so heavily on the fortune of a single donor. It’s been made possible by last year’s Supreme Court rulings – known as Citizens United – that recast the political landscape by stripping away restrictions on contributions and how outside groups can spend their money.

Watch how the writer manages to take every instance and turn it around on how this one person is using his money and influence to make sure that Newt’s stance on Israel is in line with his own.

Sheldon Adelson is Citizens United come to life.

“The bottom line is that it creates that potential for one person to have far more influence than any one person should have,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of the campaign finance watchdog group Democracy 21.

When any candidate is beholden to a single donor for so much money, Wertheimer said, “it opens the door to corruption and influence peddling.” Wertheimer said the infusion of cash would raise questions about any decision Gingrich would make that touches on gambling, for example. And similar questions could be raised about Gingrich’s Mideast policies.

We are supposed to be calmed by this instance of journalistic objectivity, which assures us that both Newt and Adelson have “hardline” stances on Israel. But still, the insistence that Newt is now bought and paid for by the Zionist Occupational Government (and won’t THAT line get me all kinds of neo-Nazi search hits) is rampant throughout the article.

Friends say Adelson and Gingrich met when Gingrich was House speaker and Adelson was lobbying to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Gingrich backed the legislation and the two bonded over a shared hardline stance on Israel.

In Cocoa, Fla., Gingrich on Wednesday called Adelson “very deeply concerned about the survival of Israel” and the threat of a nuclear Iran. Asked if he had promised Adelson anything, Gingrich replied that he pledged “that I would seek to defend the United States and United States allies.

Yeah, sure. You lousy Israel-firster, you. We know you pledged yourself to Israel’s needs over America’s.

The article also takes a look at what Adelson’s money goes for. Okay, Yad Vashem, cool, but wait–what’s this? Birthright Israel? And a right-wing newspaper that supports Netanyahu? ISRAEL-FIRSTER! ZOG! JEWISH MONEY INFLUENCING THE WORLD!

Last year, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Israel, said it received its largest private donation ever – a $25 million gift – from Adelson. Since 2007, he has donated more than $100 million to Birthright Israel, a group that sends young adult Jews from the United States and other countries on 10-day trips to Israel.

Adelson is an outspoken supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and owns a widely read, right-wing Israeli newspaper, Israel Hayom, which is distributed at no cost throughout Israel and is supportive of Netanyahu.

The hefty donations to Gingrich’s presidential bid aren’t the first checks he’s written to help the former Georgia congressman. He ponied up more than $7 million to help get Gingrich’s conservative political group American Solutions for Winning the Future off the ground.

Some of you may think that I’m exaggerating the subtext of this news article. Maybe just a little bit. But it hits all the chords that anti-Semites have hit over the centuries. It profiles a rich Jew who is using his money to influence the politics of his country to support Israel. He is using his money to get American Jews over to Israel via Birthright Israel, presumably to create a stronger bond between them and Israel. And the candidate is marching to the billionaire’s drum. Witness:

In December, Gingrich proclaimed the Palestinians “an invented people.” Israel’s Haaretz daily reported later that month that Adelson approved of the remarks. And Gingrich has said that one of the first executive orders he would sign if elected president would move the American Embassy to Jerusalem.

This is how modern anti-Semitism works. In the shadows of the mainstream press, with the wink-wink nudge-nudges of innuendo and reading between the lines. Sheldon Adelson has bought and paid for a candidate who is running for president, and it’s clear that the quid pro quo will be Israel. Watch for Andrew Sullivan and his progressive brothers-in-arms to wave this news article like a flag on how Israel is controlling America.

Looks like I won’t be giving up this blog anytime soon. The Jew-haters won’t let me.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. The Palestinians are refusing to so much as enter the room to negotiate with Israel, so of course, the EU is trying to get Israel to offer concessions (read: bribes) to get them back to the table. Because that’s always worked before. Oh. Wait.

Okay, THAT was awesome: The Navy Seals did it again, killing Somail pirates and rescuing an American hostage, as well as a Danish one.

Early on Wednesday, two teams from SEAL Team 6 – the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden – parachuted under the cover of darkness out of an Air Force C-130 transport plane into the Somali city of Cadaado.

From there, they hiked nearly two miles to an encampment, where nine pirates were killed. The SEALs suffered no injuries. Army helicopters then picked up the SEALS and Buchanan and Thisted and flew them safely to the African nation of Djibouti.

Great job, guys!

The media has a new, scary Jewish billionaire to excoriate: A story on Sheldon Adelson gets the Negative Portrayal of the Month award for this AP profile of the billionaire donor behind Newt Gingrich, replete with shades of “Israel first” and ZOG hints, all couched in the pretty phrasing of the mainstream media. I will take this one apart later and show you how the AP manages to make it seem like Jews are behind the Gingrich campaign, and it’s partly the fault of the Citizens United decision. In the tank for Obama? All the way, you say.

Hillary and Bill Clinton got rich quick after leaving the White House, pulling in $111 million in total income from 2000 through last year, according to tax documents posted Friday evening on her presidential campaign’s website.

From the combined $358,000 they reported in 2000 to the $16 million they earned in 2001, their income increased by nearly 50 times in the first year after Bill Clinton left office, highlighting the lucrative opportunities awaiting former presidents.

The speaking circuit was especially good to Bill Clinton, who earned nearly $52 million from it, including millions in foreign income. And the two books each penned yielded more than $40 million, including an eye-popping $15 million advance paid to Bill Clinton for his 2004 autobiography, “My Life.” That’s $3 million more than what had been previously reported – which at the time was believed to be the largest book advance ever.

Hillary got over $10 million for her two books.

I don’t care that Romney’s taxes were in the 14-15% bracket. My effective tax rate for 2010 was 10.94%. That’s down from 11.65% the year before, and in 2007, the last year I was not a homeowner (and I was a contractor, paying all of my Social Security tax), my effective tax rate was 12.65%. So the rich dude is paying more, percentage-wise, than this firmly middle class taxpayer. I make more than the median income, but I’m far from rich. And I don’t have any issues with Mitt’s taxes. I want someone in office who isn’t there to make connections and become a mega-millionaire. The Obamas will be raking it in like crazy once he’s out of office. Wait for it. And I’m sure they’ll be using offshore accounts, too.

The Romney tax issue is sophistry, pure and simple.

Ew, Jew cooties! Algerians are rounding up the evil made-in-Israel clothing that they’re finding mixed in with the presumably non-kosher clothing. But worry not, the Algerian inspectors are on the case:

A source told the newspaper “we cannot rule out the possibility that an international ring smuggled the Israeli clothes into the country and that its operatives are being assisted by Algerian vendors based in several districts.”

Gasp! No! An international Israeli clothes smuggling ring! It’s the end of civilization as we know it! Damn those horrible Israelis, wanting to clothe people for profit! Damn them all!

Nu? Two Jews won the World Talking Championship? Two Israeli men won the World Universities Debating Championship. Really, talkative Jews? I had no idea that my people talked so much. None whatsoever. Not at all. Jews? Talky? Oh, come on. Shirley you jest.

Our drone’s better than your drone: If Israel’s drone is so sucky, then howcome Turkey didn’t shoot it down, even though they said they almost shot it down (and I almost one $200 million in the lottery the other week, too). Really? They called up two F-16 jets and couldn’t find it and shoot it down? Ya think maybe they’re–I don’t know–lying? Yeah, me too. Their drone is so much better than Israel’s that it manages to identify fuel smugglers as terrorists and murder dozens of them. But don’t worry, they’re going to pay compensation to the families.

Don’t worry, CAIR (and the NY justice system) is still going to call these hate crimes: The guy who threw molotov cocktails at various Hindu and Islamic buildings in New York is a nutjob who swore he’d get even because the proprietor of the store stopped him from stealing, and the other places wouldn’t let him use their bathrooms. Yeah, that sounds like a Muslim-hating freak to me.

Two! Two! Two nutjobs for the price of one: So that scumbag that was lighting cars on fire in Los Angeles? He did it because his scumbag mother was about to be deported back to Germany for being a thief. He hates America, you see, for having the nerve not to want to keep a thief, who has 19 fraud counts against her in Germany, from becoming an American citizen. Well, now he’s going to spend many years as an American resident in jail before being kicked back to Germany. Like mother, like son.

Oh, there was a primary or something yesterday? Wake me when it’s over. Especially since I have no influence over any but the Virginia primaries.

There are many of you around the country wondering, “Why Iowa?” One of the main reasons is that in Iowa people can actually meet the candidates and interact with them on issues. Candidates come to speak to relatively small gatherings and share their views on topics on topics much more specific than they would do in a larger context. Iowans take the responsibility of vetting the candidates very seriously. Whether or not the caucus results follow the eventual nomination, the caucus winner has won the nomination about half of the time, the process helps those around the nation get to know the candidates much better.

This year, with only a Republican caucus, not everyone is involved in the Jewish community. That said, I am sure that many would be surprised by the number of Reform and Conservative Jews who are. One need not pledge to vote Republican to participate in the caucus and many moderate Democrats will change their affiliation for one day so as to participate in the Republican caucus, so there are a few Democrats who will be attending and participating in the caucus.

Overall, the winner of the caucus doesn’t mean as much as being in the top three or four. Constituent groups make themselves known in Iowa and support their group’s candidate. The religious right in Iowa has been debating among Santorum, Bachman, Perry and Gingrich. Santorum seems to be the clear favorite of that group. Ron Paul has his own following of Libertarian, isolationist, and small government supporters. Gingrich is a favorite of Reaganites and Orthodox Jews. Romney seems to be the favorite among the Republican Conservative and Reform Jews, mostly because of his more moderate social views.

On Israel, all but Paul, support a strong US-Israel relationship though each has a slightly different view of it. Support for Israel will not be a problem from this group. In fact, many of the candidates seem to almost be tripping over their feet to offer public support for Israel.

At this point, it seems fairly clear that the winners of the caucus will be in no particular order:

Romney, Santorum, and Paul with Gingrich likely pulling up in fourth place. Paul would lose to most other Republican candidates by a wide margin. Iowa’s caucus system gives him and his following a voice. Santorum will mostly likely be the Mike Huckabee of 2012, the overwhelming favorite of one third of those committed to the caucus process, the socially conservative right. Romney and Gingrich have been competing for support from those whose primary concern is economic with Romney getting about two-thirds of that support at this point.

Democrats are active here as well during the caucus process. As accusations fly against the administration, Democrat activists constantly have to offer their side of issues being presented. Pundits are everywhere as are television cameras.

So here we are with the Iowa Republican Caucus tomorrow. Friday night, we hosted Shmuel Rosner, who is in town for the Caucus and spoke about the Arab Spring at my congregation. Yesterday, I was among about forty Jews, hosted by the Chabad rabbi and a Conservative Jewish supporter of Gingrich, who met with Newt for a little over a half an hour. Tonight, I will hear from Mitt Romney at a larger gathering, hosted by another Conservative Jew at his local business. Tomorrow, I will meet in a small gathering with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Chair of the DNC.

Is this political heaven? No…well, Yes! It’s Iowa at caucus time!

The terrorists come home to roost: A Syrian oil pipeline has been blown up by anti-Assad forces. Hoist by his own petard–literally. File under: Delicious, divine irony.

Yes, because that’s truly the issue, politics: Eric Holder, the man who oversaw guns supplied to Mexican drug cartels, says the real issue here is that he’s being ripped by Republicans. Never mind that thousands of weapons, which have already been traced to many murders, will cause many more murders in years to come. Hell, even CNN is no longer calling Fast and Furious a “botched” operation, choosing instead to show the Justice Department’s incompetence:

Operation Fast and Furious began in 2009, and allowed illegally purchased firearms to be taken from gun stores in Arizona across the Mexican border to drug cartels. The intent of the operation was to monitor the flow of weapons to their ultimate destination.

However, hundreds of weapons were lost or unaccounted for, and a storm of outrage erupted when two of the missing weapons were found at the site where Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in December 2010.

And oh yeah–it’s not his fault.

He continued to assert that top Justice officials were not told about the “inappropriate tactics” until they were made public.