Sheldon Adelson has become famous as Newt Gingrich's check-writing pimp daddy, and he's about to dump some more money into the Gingrich campaign so they can take aim at new Republican semi-frontrunner Rick Santorum. But the Corner linked to a Wall Street Journal report that suggests Adelson might have a different goal in mind:

If Mr. Gingrich could afford to continue campaigning, one of those people said, he might be able to draw off conservative and evangelical voters from Mr. Santorum, improving the chances of Mitt Romney, who Mr. Adelson believes has a better chance to win November’s general election.

If this is true: What a magnificent bastard! Adelson is smart enough to know that Romney smearing Santorum isn't going to work—Santorum's likability is way, way higher than Romney's—so he's turning Gingrich into a kamikaze bomber? The problem with this scenario is that Gingrich is smart enough to know he's being used. So either he believes he can foil Adelson's plans by being an effective candidate, or his ego is blinding him to the fact that he's a pawn. Can Gingrich really be manipulated this easily, just because he needs money so damn desperately? How much soap opera is too much?

Still, we should note: This kind of internecine conspiracy is great to see in the Republican Party. Keep it up, boys!