A few weeks ago, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee accused top Republican donor Sheldon Adelson of personally approving and profiting off of prostitution at his Macau casinos. It wasn’t the smartest move, since their charge was based on unsubstantiated allegations from a disgruntled employer who’s been suing Adelson for years. The casino mogul’s attorney immediately slapped the DCCC with the threat of a defamation suit, and now the group has backed off and apologized, according to The Hill:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee issued an apology to casino mogul and prominent Republican donor Sheldon Adelson on Thursday, after the billionaire threatened to sue the organization over comments insinuating he profited from prostitution at his Chinese resorts.
“In press statements issued on June 29 and July 2, 2012, the DCCC made unsubstantiated allegations that attacked Sheldon Adelson, a supporter of the opposing party,” the DCCC said in an e-mail released Thursday. ”This was wrong. The statements were untrue and unfair and we retract them. The DCCC extends its sincere apology to Mr. Adelson and his family for any injury we have caused.”
That could not have been an easy apology for the DCCC, but clearly it didn’t want to get tied up in a defamation suit and spend massive sums defending itself during an election year when it can least afford it.
This all could have been avoided if the DCCC was just a little bit more careful in its statements on Adelson. Now that the group had to retract its comments, it pretty much takes the Macau prostitution controversy off the table for Democrats for the rest of the election cycle. Anytime it’s brought up, all the GOP would need to do is point out that the DCCC was forced to apologize after repeating the allegations. Adelson just inoculated himself from one of the only damaging lines of attack Democrats had against him.
By the way, this isn’t the first apology Adelson has received from a Democratic attack group this season. The NJDC also backed down from its claim last month that Adelson’s money was “dirty” because of the Macau casino allegations, after Jewish American leaders blasted the campaign as partisan and unfair.
Too bad DCCC. The damage has been done. You have tainted Adelson. I hope he bankrupts you and your organizations and your whole subscriber base.
Adelson should sue them anyway since the allegation, once made, will remain is the public sphere forever. Keep in mind that the allegations used to attack Adelson meant that all the organizations that Adelson supports were contaminated by "dirty money". Since Adelson is the major supporter of Birthright Israel, the NDJC and the DCCC did, in effect, attacked that organization as well since they accepted his money. In effect, Adelson would be protecting the integrity of that organization besides his own personal reputation.
Why stop at Adelson; if they are going to apologize for the untrue things they said; they need to apologize for everything they said, wrote or done in the last 30/40 years
It's not that what they said about Adelson was untrue, it's that what they said about him was untrue and defamatory, hence probably actionable. Had it simply been untrue (e.g., that he was born in NYC, when in fact he was born in Boston), it would have been of no legal consequence. The fear of a successful and costly libel lawsuit against them explains the apology, not some desire to be truthful for the sake of being truthful.
The campaign season is not looking to good for Democrats. In fact I score it 3-0 right now. 1. For Charles Krauthammer over the Churchill bust. 2. For DCCC vs Sheldon Adelson. 3. Some democrat Camarillo vs the Romney Horse, whatever its name is. Desperation breeds bad behavior. Fear makes bad decisions.
oh great, now they tell us! that ticket to macau was non-refundable