# Sheldon Adelson: is he Romney's "bankroller"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 30, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847 "2012-07-30T14:01:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/41 "2012-07-31T11:59:56Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Give 'em all equal shares of free airtime and ban any other advertising; problem solved. Why should only candidates get air time? What if Michael Moore wants airtime to advertise his anti-Romney movie? What if MSNBC wants to run an hour long attack piece on Mitt Romney? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/42 "2012-07-31T12:05:38Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Mitt isn’t taking it. Adelson is supporting him independently. Boy, the campaign finance discussion has become Orwellian. Orwellian? That would be dismissing a [$100 million pledge to Romney’s superPAC](http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/06/14/499513/billionaire-adelson-pledges-unlimited-campaign-contributions-to-mitt-romney/) as mere “support”. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/43 "2012-07-31T12:08:34Z")
The Super PAC is independent. Supposedly. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/44 "2012-07-31T13:53:36Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Well, you’d have to do more than that. You’d have to give them funds to pay campaign staff, campaign travel, and so on. But even so, that doesn’t make the campaigns free. They’re just paid for by the government. Fine, fine; the government **ain’t** gonna spend a billion per candidate or anything totally insane like that. (That kind of insanity is reserved for defense spending.) ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/45 "2012-07-31T13:56:00Z")
How about limiting campaigns to, say, three months? Is any important purpose served by allowing them to detract from the general business of politics for years? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/46 "2012-07-31T13:57:30Z")
How can you prevent people from campaigning? We do have a 1st amendment. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/47 "2012-07-31T14:31:39Z")
Reinterpret the Amerndemtn for the purpose of political campaigning - I dunno. It’s not exactly serving democracy, is it. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/48 "2012-07-31T14:35:06Z")
The whole point of the 1st amendment was political speech. Might as well just repeal it. I can’t see the value in a society that protects art as sacred, but regulates political speech. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/49 "2012-07-31T15:16:57Z")
Calling spending money on a campaign equal to speech may be settled law, for the time being, but far from philosophically settled. There are vast swathes of Constitutional law that were ‘settled’ for a long period of time until, fortunately, the inherent harms to life and liberty were recognized and old Constitutional interpretation was overturned. Unfettered spending on political campaigns is doing more harm to democracy than it is helping. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/50 "2012-07-31T15:20:10Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The whole point of the 1st amendment was political speech. Might as well just repeal it. I can’t see the value in a society that protects art as sacred, but regulates political speech. You have a very archaic or plain bizarre way to use language. You may have a point somewhere but .. it’s like not really worth the effort. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/51 "2012-07-31T15:46:42Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Calling spending money on a campaign equal to speech may be settled law, for the time being, but far from philosophically settled. There are vast swathes of Constitutional law that were ‘settled’ for a long period of time until, fortunately, the inherent harms to life and liberty were recognized and old Constitutional interpretation was overturned. Technically, spending money on speech is covered under freedom of the press, not freedom of speech. Well, that’s not constitutional law, I’m just speaking philosophically. Freedom of the press is the right to use technology(which at the time, the pinnacle was the printing press), to spread a message around. That always costs money, so the act of paying for speech does not take away its protections. if paying for speech did take away its protections, then all speech that reaches the masses can be censored by a mere act of Congress, without court review. Because all speech is paid for except that which comes out of your own mouth, without the aid of amplification. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/52 "2012-07-31T15:48:03Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > You have a very archaic or plain bizarre way to use language. You may have a point somewhere but .. it’s like not really worth the effort. Do you think freedom of speech applies to say, violent movies, but not political speech? ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/53 "2012-07-31T18:33:15Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Do you think freedom of speech applies to say, violent movies, but not political speech? Is that how it works in the USA; you distort a statement into something the person didn’t come close to saying, and then ask a question based on the distortion - what are you, aged seven again? Go away - no one needs puerile intellectual dishonesty. It’s embarrassing. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/54 "2012-08-01T09:11:30Z")
Congress can define people, determine which types of speech are [political and apolitical](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone) and determine which speakers are favoured or disfavoured? [Why I never](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003)! ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/55 "2012-08-01T09:21:43Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > Is that how it works in the USA; you distort a statement into something the person didn’t come close to saying, and then ask a question based on the distortion - what are you, aged seven again? Go away - no one needs puerile intellectual dishonesty. It’s embarrassing. You made a rebuttal that wasn’t a rebuttal, just a “Me no likey!” The words I put in your mouth were much more intelligent. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/56 "2012-08-01T09:23:36Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > Congress can define people, determine which types of speech are [political and apolitical](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone) and determine which speakers are favoured or disfavoured? [Why I never](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003)! Their ability to do so has to pass strict scrutiny. A pretty high bar. Free speech zones are allowed because it doesn’t infringe on anyone’s speech. It allows the protesters to speak, and the speaker they were trying to drown out to speak. Anti-spam acts are regulations on commercial speech, which does not earn the same protections as political speech. Trying to ban actual political speech? very hard, pretty much impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/57 "2012-08-01T10:55:16Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > That’s surely got to be a contentious issue for some; any foreign doror could be a front for a foreign state or other interests seeking to influence policy? I don’t think foreign donations are allowed in the US either. The fundraisers in London and Jerusalem were for Americans only. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/58 "2012-08-01T12:30:08Z")
What legislation are you relying on? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/59 "2012-08-03T03:04:05Z")
> [@prettyvacant](#): > > what legislation are you relying on? 2 usc 441 e: > [@](#): > > (a) prohibition > it shall be unlawful for— > (1) a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make— > (a) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a federal, state, or local election; > (b) a contribution or donation to a committee of a political party; or > (c) an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication (within the meaning of section 434 (f)(3) of this title); or > (2) a person to solicit, accept, or receive a contribution or donation described in subparagraph (a) or (b) of paragraph (1) from a foreign national. > (b) “foreign national” defined > as used in this section, the term “foreign national” means— > (1) a foreign principal, as such term is defined by section 611 (b) of title 22, except that the term “foreign national” shall not include any individual who is a citizen of the united states; or > (2) an individual who is not a citizen of the united states or a national of the united states (as defined in section 1101 (a)(22) of title 8) and who is not lawfully admitted for permanent residence, as defined by section 1101 (a)(20) of title 8. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847/60 "2012-08-03T03:25:09Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 That’s actually the preferred formula – Italian-American, Irish-American, etc. – and has been for more than a hundred years now. African-American, too, lately, and at their own leaders’ insistence. I’ll confess, I was a bit confused by that objection as well and have never heard anyone object to that. For the record, I have no problem being referred to as an “Iranian-American” or “Muslim American.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheldon-adelson-is-he-romneys-bankroller/629847.md?page=4)