On the NBC show Rock Center the other night, Ted Koppel asked Newt Gingrich why Sheldon Adelson is funding his campaign Super PAC, and Gingrich was frank:

Koppel: There has to be a so-what at the end of it. So– if you win what does Adelson get out of it? Gingrich. He knows I’m very pro Israel. That’s the central value of his life. I mean, he’s very worried that Israel is going to not survive.

But when Rock Center reports at its website on the episode, a lengthy print version of the story, it says nothing about Adelson’s central value. Piece by Jessica Hopper:

Following Gingrich’s finish in Iowa, a Super PAC supporting the former Speaker of the House called ‘Winning Our Future,’ received a $5 million donation from wealthy casino owner Sheldon Adelson. In South Carolina, ‘Winning Our Future’ has launched anti-Romney advertisements. While Gingrich has publicly denounced the negative advertisement, the Super PAC supporting him continues to run the ad that paints Romney as a greedy businessman and attacks his record from his days at venture capital firm Bain Capital. “We’re now entering a world where until the laws are changed, every serious campaign will have one or more Super PACs. They will spend an absurd amount of money and it will virtually all be negative. That’s a fact,” Gingrich said. “Given the playing field right now, you have no choice.”

And the video on the Rock Center site includes a lot of Koppel’s interview with Gingrich, but no mention of Israel:

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Yesterday we noted that Koppel seemed to duck the question he asked Gingrich, when Chris Matthews mentioned Adelson’s concern for Israel. The real-life political question that follows from Adelson’s gift is, Why is Adelson dissatisfied with frontrunner Mitt Romney? The best answer is that he regards Romney as soft on the Israel question and Gingrich as hard-core.

Speaking of hard-core: when Rick Santorum repeatedly referred to Israel in Monday night’s debate and said that we should “remove Assad for the benefit of the Syrian people and their neighbor Israel”… and when Rick Perry said, “There should be no space between the United States and Israel. Period”…. what was their game? Are they auditioning for Adelson money?

