

Mel Sembler with Lynne Cheney at

American Enterprise Institute gala ’09, at David Frum’s blog

Romney backer Mel Sembler, a real estate guy, is a giant supporter of Israel. He’s on the board of the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute. He chaired a defense committee for Scooter Libby. He took Mitt Romney to Israel in 2007–and is pictured with Romney and that other megarich Israel-backer Sheldon Adelson at that link.

You might think that when The New York Times covered Romney’s Super PAC the other day, the machine called “Restore Our Future” that crushed Newt Gingrich, the Times would say something about Sembler’s game, and Adelson’s?

You would be wrong. Reporters Nicholas Confessore and Jim Rutenberg:

“Restore Our Future has been very important,” said Mel Sembler, a top Republican donor and a member of Mr. Romney’s Florida finance team. “They’ve had an impact, there’s no question about it.” … The group’s backers appeared to be briefly spooked when word circulated that Sheldon Adelson, a wealthy casino magnate who is close to Mr. Gingrich, had committed $20 million to a super PAC supporting him. One of Restore Our Future’s donors called Mr. Sembler in a panic, he said, and asked him to call Mr. Adelson — the two men are friends — to find out if it was true. “I did call Sheldon,” Mr. Sembler said. “And he said, ‘I’m not only not giving $20 million, I haven’t given any money at all.’ ”

The Times article also mentions Sam Fox as a Romney backer, without saying what the Republican Jewish Coalition will tell you: he’s their former chairman, he was an ambassador for George Bush who accompanied Bush to Israel. I.e., he too is the Israel lobby personified.

I’m a Times subscriber. And I wonder how much of Mitt Romney’s backing comes from pro-Israel Jews– and how much of his fencing with Obama on Iran is about fundraising. But the best newspaper in the country is silent on these important issues.

Paul Stanley, in the Christian Post last fall, is far more informative about the nexus of religion and politics: