Tom Friedman is an over rated hack journalist.
One of the bigger memes out there is that only the GOP has big donors (read = Koch brothers), they fail to mention the many billionaire donors faithful to the Democrat party that shell out the big bucks for special consideration later.
Indeed, I have a strong suspicion that if Adelson were funding the same political causes and/or organizations as, say, George Soros, he would not have come in for censure.
The same is probably true regarding Warren Buffett, Haim Saban, S. Daniel Abraham or any one of the almost 170 billionaire benefactors of the US Democratic Party.
Into the fray: The magnate and the mullah, A Friedman fantasy
Tom Friedman’s anti-Adelson diatribe shows how intellectually corrupted the discourse on the Israel-Palestinian issue has become.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman (L) and US casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Photo: REUTERS
Truth be told, Tom Friedman can be a pretty astute and articulate journalist – except when he writes about Israel.
Then his work degenerates from the astute to the inane and from the articulate to the incoherent.
But even by his usual misleading sub-standards, his recent piece, “Sheldon: Iran’s Best Friend” (The New York Times, April 5), was a doozy.
Full Disclosure
In it he makes a puerile attempt to draw a parallel between the danger that the rabid anti-Israel mullah Ali Khamenei and the avid pro-Israel magnate Sheldon Adelson pose for the Jewish state.
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In any event, there is not a hint of disapproval from Friedman regarding the influence brought (or bought) to bear on the political process from fat-cats who happen to share his political predilections in general, and on the Israel-Palestinian issue in particular.
I would bet long odds that if Adelson was pouring money into the coffers of the Democratic Party or J Street or the New Israel Fund, that would be just fine and dandy with Tom.
Friedman’s true focus is not ensuring the expression of vox populi, uncorrupted and undistorted by big bucks protecting personal interests or promoting pet projects of munificent magnates.
