Running mates? Gambling Billionaire Sheldon Adelson and Newt Gingrich

 

At first glance, it was extremely odd that Newt Gingrich chose to have a Latino outreach event in New Hampshire on Sunday and engage in intense Hispandering -  including a direct endorsement of Amnesty:

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said today that the country is not “heartless” and should allow undocumented immigrants to remain here if they have already laid down roots.

“We are not going to go into those churches and those neighborhoods and tear apart those families. The American people aren’t heartless,” Gingrich said before a packed crowd at a Latino outreach event held at Don Quijote’s Mexican Restaurant in Manchester.

“We have to end the period of having people in the shadows,” he said. …I want to find a path that gets us to a system where four or five years from now 99.99 percent of everybody in the United States is here legally and we’re comfortable with it.” (VDARE.com emphasis)

Gingrich Doubles Down on Immigration at Latino Event By Matthew Jafffe and Jordan Fabian ABC News Jan 8 2011.

According to Wikipedia, only 1.6% of the residents of New Hampshire are in Spanish speaking households. There are more Hispanics in the next Primary state, South Carolina (although probably not many more voters) but there is also much more awareness of the damage done to the American born by the recent immigration deluge. That is why the South Carolina government is in a brawl with the Obamacrats about its effort to enforce Federal immigration laws.

Gingrich’s move makes no electoral sense.

But it makes huge financial sense. Also this past weekend the news broke Billionaire Adelson gives millions to Gingrich Super PAC by James V. Grimaldi The Washington Post January 7 2011

Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has given $5 million to an independent committee supporting GOP presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich… the initial check was intended to keep Gingrich competitive in the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary.

On Christmas Eve I suggested his opponents

….should be asking Gingrich to account for the influence over him of his largest financial backer: Sheldon Adelson ‘Crazy Jewish Billionaire’ Tikun Olam June 25th 2008. (See also The Brass Ring By Connie Bruck The New Yorker June 30, 2008, which is the source of the above characterization of Adelson by President Bush). As I recounted in Why Would Anyone Pay Newt Gingrich $55 Million? the evidence points to Gingrich being willing to associate with very scary people (provided they pay): Gingrich Praises Extremist Marchers In Jerusalem Who Chanted “Slaughter The Arabs’ By Ali Gharib and Eli Clifton Think Progress Jun 13, 2011

(It seems clear that the irresponsible and tendentious remarks Gingrich made on the Palestinians were under Adelson’s influence: he also spends heavily on right wing politics in Israel, where this line is standard. See Sheldon Adelson to Birthright group: Gingrich is right to call Palestinians 'invented people' By Revital Blumenfeld Haaretz.com 26.12.11)

The chances of a Sheldon Adelson, a large scale operator of labor-intensive Casino hotels, not being a member of the Cheap Labor Lobby are negligible. This kind of support probably explains the lavish activities described in Newt Gingrich: The Aspiring Americano President.

Where are the Patriotic Billionaires?