The Soros Threat

The American Enterprise ^ | 12/20/03 | James K. Glassman

[bdeaner]

Forward Observer
By James K. Glassman

The Soros Threat

George Soros, the 38th richest person in the world according to Forbes, says that defeating President George W. Bush in 2004 is "the central focus of my life." In an eye-popping interview recently with the Washington Post, he argued that "America under Bush is a danger to the world."

"When I hear Bush say, 'You're either with us or against us,' it reminds me of the Germans." It evokes memories, he says, of the Nazi rhetoric of his childhood in Hungary.

This wild antipathy toward the President is making Soros--who earned his $7 billion as a hedge-fund buccaneer--the single biggest funder of efforts to get Bush out of the White House. The Post figures he has spent over $15 million so far, and he is ready to give more. The 2004 Presidential race, he told the Post, is "a matter of life and death."

In early November, Soros and a partner donated $5 million to the liberal, anti-Bush MoveOn.org. He also gave $10 million to a similar organization, America Coming Together, which aims to mobilize voters in 17 battleground states. And he has promised $3 million to the
Center for American Progress, a new Democratic think tank started by former Clinton aide John Podesta.

Soros has always fancied himself an intellectual as well as a moneymaker, and he wants desperately to be taken seriously.
His first attempt came in 1997 with a weird, discursive article in the Atlantic Monthly called "The Capitalist Threat." He argued that "the spread of market values into all areas of life" is now the main threat to "open and democratic society."

The man-bites-dog nature of the anticapitalist article from the capitalist mogul brought it attention, but it was so appallingly stupid that it provoked the ire of even the typically mild-mannered, centrist journalist Robert Samuelson of Newsweek. He called Soros "a crackpot" and his essay "gibberish" akin to the "Unabomber's manifesto in its sweeping, unsupported, and disconnected generalizations."

Now Soros is back in the Atlantic with a piece called "The Bubble of
American Supremacy." Here the problem is not so much incoherence as hysteria: "The Bush administration proceeded to exploit the terrorist attack for its own purposes," he writes of the 9/11 terrorist murder of innocents. "It fostered the fear that has gripped the country…and it used the war on terrorism to execute an agenda of American supremacy."

What does Soros propose? Not military action, but "preventive action of a constructive and affirmative nature. Increased foreign aid or better or fairer trade rules," and, of course, "international cooperation."

All of this would be harmless if Soros didn't have billions to spend and the intention to manipulate our politics with them. In the past, it was enough for him to lavish money on leftish causes like drug legalization through the Soros Foundations Network. But a more strident, ideological tone has now become evident.

Soros dubbed his main charity the "Open Society Institute," a reference to the 1945 book, The Open Society and Its Enemies, by Karl Popper (1902-94), who was driven out of his native Austria by the
Nazis. Popper's ideas are complicated, but he stood for what Jonathan Rauch, in a perceptive essay following 9/11, called a free society's "irrepressible effervescence and astonishing durability." These truly are American traits, and ones that the Bush administration has tried to preserve and promote through the kinds of activities that Soros appears to detest: tax cuts, regulatory restraint, and yes, overthrowing tyrants in other parts of the world.

There is irony in Soros's simultaneous embrace of Popper and of the American Left. And hypocrisy in his attitude toward campaign finance regulation: In his foundation's annual report, Soros lauds the McCain-Feingold law limiting donations as an antidote to "a fundamental crisis in democratic self-government." Yet he pours millions into a loophole that lets nonparty groups accept funds without limit.

Let me be clear: Soros earned his money, and he can spend it on whatever he wants. What concerns me is the monstrous hatred Soros has developed toward the President of the United States--hatred shared by others in his social circle.

My guess is that the $15 million Soros has spent is just the beginning. Most voters are blessedly immune to dumb arguments even when they are well-funded. Nevertheless, it would be foolish to take Soros lightly. He is emerging as a great threat not just to the re-election of George Bush, but to our truly open society as well.

[observer5]

Why are all lefties such hypocrites?

[observer5]

"The man-bites-dog nature of the anticapitalist article from the capitalist mogul brought it attention, but it was so appallingly stupid that it provoked the ire of even the typically mild-mannered, centrist journalist Robert Samuelson of Newsweek. He called Soros "a crackpot" and his essay "gibberish" akin to the "Unabomber's manifesto in its sweeping, unsupported, and disconnected generalizations."

Says it all...

[jocon307]

I quite agree, this Soros has become quite frightening. He shows an increasing tendency to demigogory. In combination with the fascistic tendencies of those he funds their success could be devastating.

[CWOJackson]

Soros...the sugar daddy for the pro-dope crowd.

[bdeaner]

Why are all lefties such hypocrites?

Because they only have one principle: Power at all costs.

[Conservateacher]

"Most voters are blessedly immune to dumb arguments even when they are well-funded."

Wish I could agree with this. At least the "most" part. However, this is a society where whoever has the most yard signs wins.

[bdeaner]

However, this is a society where whoever has the most yard signs wins.

Yes, unfortunately, we live in a society where the great majority of people are clueless when it comes to politics. Fortunately, there is a trend in the opposite direction, as recent research has suggested.

[fortunecookie]

Why are all lefties such hypocrites?

They just want to h'ep us, don't ya know. Blech. What is it about massive amounts of money that corrupts so deeply?? Perhaps it's the Faustian bargains they make to acquire the money that pushes their behavior.

[fortunecookie]

Because they only have one principle: Power at all costs.

And absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[Conservateacher]

"Fortunately, there is a trend in the opposite direction, as recent research has suggested."

I see this too. It's good news. But I am always amazed by intelligent friends who are totally oblivious where it comes to politics.

Ask them about entertainment or sports and they are "up to speed". Politics - forget it.

[wizardoz]

It's funny, I'm reading a book called "Wittgenstein's Poker" right now. It's an account of the one-time, highly emotionally charged confrontation between the charismatic, subjectivist Wittgenstein and the low-key, objectivist Popper at Oxford University's philosophy club's weekly meeting. It was October 25th, 1946, and the two had a face-off. Wittgenstein may have brandished a poker at Popper, depending on whose account you hear. It's a fascinating book.

I'm only a quarter of the way through it, but from what I'm understanding so far, Popper and Soros are NOT compatible. I suspect Soros isn't terribly intellectual.

[Prodigal Son]

These millions Soros is pouring into this draws into question his competency as an investor because this is a sure loser if I ever saw one. He is p!$$ing his money away here.

[wizardoz]

WHOOPS! Not Oxford, King's College at Cambridge. Sorry, all!

[cars for sale]

this Soros thing is of no surprise. The Devil needs
people in the field , we know this or as they say
"it is written". Soros is today's face of deceit and intent
insulated with enuf money to provide lifetime protections.

The bigger sadness is the bread crumbs trail of
birds who eat his offerings.

[aculeus]

1. Popper is revolving in his grave.
2. AINO ping.

[Grampa Dave]

This is a superb article with a short history of this dangerous and evil/vile anti American, George $oreA$$.

Thanks for posting it, and I have bookmarked it.

My tagline shows a little of how I feel about this evil/vile POS, who should be flushed into the cesspool of those who have hated America and failed.

[MonroeDNA]

Rich useful idiot bump!

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for the ping about this vile/evil AINO POS!

[MarMema]

Soros has no room to talk. He himself reminds me of the Nazis. Typical sociopath....he uses his own accusations against others.

Soros is the single largest menace to the world. I am waiting for his transition to the next life with great impatience.

Soros funded more death culture activity in his lifetime than we can overcome in ten lifetimes.

[Grampa Dave]

An excellent and short summary on $oreA$$!

[Grampa Dave]

Notice who presents, Howard the Dean? None other than George $oreA$$. He probably bankrolled two other unknown governors who hated America into being our Presidents, Carter and Clintoon.

[Grampa Dave]

For more on the illegal involvement of $oreA$$ in helping Canada and ? to fund the Dean and Clark campaigns go to the story/link below.

"Brewing MoveOn Scandal Over Foreign Contributions Involves Dean, Clark Campaigns"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1042082/posts

Brewing MoveOn Scandal Over Foreign Contributions Involves Dean, Clark Campaigns
Talon News / GOP USA ^ | Dec. 16, 2003 | Jimmy Moore


Posted on 12/17/2003 7:31:29 AM PST by prairiebreeze


SPARTANBURG, SC (Talon News) -- Liberal online political group MoveOn.org as well as two major Democrat candidates for president are in the midst of a brewing scandal over potentially improper online contributions received from European citizens who have been encouraged to send money to the group to help defeat President George W. Bush in next year's elections.

In an article posted last week in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, the headline read, "Now you have the chance to leave your mark on Bush."

The story tells Europeans that they have "a chance to defeat [Bush] -- even if you are not an American."

"One dollar for every European citizen would raise more money than the entire official Bush campaign budget for his election in 2000," the website proclaims. "Compare this price to the cost of having Bush in the White House."

[Indie]

the great majority of people are clueless when it comes to politics. Fortunately, there is a trend in the opposite direction, as recent research has suggested.

This may well be true of the educated and enlightened such as found on our esteemed pages of FR, however, when the AZTlaners and LaRaza (and others) have publicly stated "We will outbreed you," I think it is clear that we will eventually lose this race. And the open borders only add gasoline to the fire.

[MarMema]

Evil and vile are very true words to use in this case. But none of the post talks about his other pet, Project on Death in America. Soros has spent the last ten or so years attempting to personally transform the medical field and he has made a good impact.
What he has funded makes me ill. Initiatives where chronic-illness kids are kept in hospices instead of being hospitalized when they are sick. Using various overt causes like less stress with less hospital time, what he is really doing is causing the kids to die much sooner and giving them less chance at recovery.

Additionally, thanks to Soros and his buddy at Princeton, Peter Singer, the new movement is toward using very sick kids for organ donations, and letting them die after the organs are removed in surgery I suppose.

Soros said he wanted to transform the culture of death in this country. What he has done is advanced the medical field toward utilitarianism and depersonalization.

[Chi-townChief]

"Soros has always fancied himself an intellectual as well as a moneymaker, and he wants desperately to be taken seriously."

The boy sure has a strange way of going about it.

[Flux Capacitor]

----I suspect Soros isn't terribly intellectual.----

People who consider themselves to be intellectuals typically aren't.

-Dan

[RabidBartender]

Of course, isn't spending money what helps stimulate the economy? To make those ads, they have to hire actors, writers, producers - plus purchase ad space, giving newspapers more revenue to hire more people and spend more. All this leads to a stronger economy, which makes President Bush look good.

Thanks, Evil George (Soros)!

[MarMema]

Dean and Soros are in full agreement on issues like euthanasia and killing sick kids for their organs. I am not surprised to see them working together. And I believe I know their master.

[international american]

"it would be foolish to take Soros lightly. He is emerging as a great threat not just to the re-election of George Bush, but to our truly open society as well."

Soros will fail this time, as the candidates are hopelessly incompetent. He is a REAL threat in 08.

[Grampa Dave]

I was not aware of this death push by $oreA$$. However, his pushing of legalization drugs, wide open abortion, and other schemes to rid the planet of what he feels are undesirables, makes him a true prince of Death.

I was not aware of the relationship of $oreA$$ and America's Prince of Death to Children, Peter Singer. Singer is another evil one, who should stuffed into the $oddomite's spider hole with $oreA$$ and have the hole sealed up steel.

[StriperSniper]

These millions Soros is pouring into this draws into question his competency as an investor because this is a sure loser if I ever saw one. He is p!$$ing his money away here.

Maybe with the amounts so far, but his MO is to 'take positions' so large they change the fundamentals.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

[Kevin Curry]

The 2004 Presidential race, [Soros] told the Post, is "a matter of life and death."

So what's the Dope Pope saying? That's he's going to off himself if Bush wins reelection?

[Grampa Dave]

You posted, Dean and Soros are in full agreement on issues like euthanasia and killing sick kids for their organs. I am not surprised to see them working together. And I believe I know their master

This makes one wonder if the records that Metro Sexual Dean has sealed up when he was governor might include some paper trail to what you posted above.

[Paved Paradise]

When I first saw this I thought it said Sore Throat.

[reed_inthe_wind]

Note to self: Amass billions of dollars, join left wing elitist court as political jester, and use power of mass media to cripple democracy. - Now that's living high on the hog. Yeeeeehaaah.

[arasina]

Soros may not have to spend much money for his anti-Bush campaign. Just look at all the people right here on Free Republic who have stated they aren't going to vote to re-elect President Bush. Dubya has to fight the dragon at its head and is meanwhile getting whomped by its tail.

All I can say is I'm glad for the truth in the statement "Money isn't everything."

[El Gato]

My guess is that the $15 million Soros has spent is just the beginning. Most voters are blessedly immune to dumb arguments even when they are well-funded. Nevertheless, it would be foolish to take Soros lightly. He is emerging as a great threat not just to the re-election of George Bush, but to our truly open society as well.

And of course Soros can still run political ads during the 30/60 day windows before the elections. Associations of the "little people", like the NRA, SAF/CCRKBA, GOA, etc. cannot.

[Grampa Dave]

SUPERB!

[Oatka]

These millions Soros is pouring into this draws into question his competency as an investor because this is a sure loser if I ever saw one. He is p!$$ing his money away here.

A timely comment. Just today Bob Novak has an article on Townhall about Soros's doubts about Dean. (my italics)

Soros Doubts
Robert Novak

WASHINGTON -- Left-wing billionaire investor George Soros, who appeared to support Howard Dean for president, now is privately expressing doubts about the Democratic Party's front-runner.

In conversations with political friends, Soros confided he has become alarmed by Dean's recent performance and wonders whether the former Vermont governor is capable of defeating George W. Bush. In one such chat, Soros suggested he is interested in retired Gen. Wesley Clark.

Soros has made clear his visceral opposition to President Bush and his passionate desire to find somebody who can defeat him for a second term. The financier has pledged $10 million to America Coming Together (ACT) and $2.5 million to MoveOn.org -- both anti-Bush organizations.

[Liz]

What concerns me is the monstrous hatred Soros has developed toward the
President of the United States--hatred shared by others in his social circle.

At last, the truth emerges about the real source of our adversaries obsessions, a truth I've been preaching for ages. People like Soros and his liberal gangs, are motivated not by principle -- except that they worship abortion -- but a deep and abiding hatred for all things Christian and conservative, personified by President Bush.

We must begin to place Soros and his cohorts' actions in their proper context: We need to wake up America to the hate crimes they are pepertrating on Bush. Individuals like these who also want to remove religious symbols are haters. They are hate-filled bigots. They hate religion. They hate religious people. They are law-breakers who are infringing on American citizens' rights.

The hidden agenda of the religio-phobic libs despite their high-sounding legal arguments, is to decimate all references to morality, and people who espouse moral principles, b/c in their small, inferior, insular minds morality equates to dreaded sectarian religious beliefs.

How very successful they have been.

Everyday we see the moral relativity pushers' results as we experience the unimaginable crimes, and the collapse of a once-thriving culture's moral underpinnings.

The haters are getting what they wanted: destruction of the moral bulwark of Western Civilization.

[Prodigal Son]

Maybe with the amounts so far, but his MO is to 'take positions' so large they change the fundamentals.

The problem for Soros (and the left in general) is that he underestimates Dubya. Let's face it, at this point George W Bush is practically a force of nature. Soros and his money will no more stand in Bush's way than a billion dollars would stop a hurricane.

My advice to Soros and those like him would be don't waste your money on a fleet of ships that would sail into the face of the gale in order to defeat it. Invest in plywood instead.

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

The "Alchemy of Finance" contains one of the most arrogant confessions I've ever seen in print, as well as some fascinating insights into how Soros used the misconceptions of economists, finance theorists, and traders who relied on them, to make his pile. Below two bios: "unauthorized" and "authorized" to provide some perspective.


George Soros
http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/business/george-soros/
* Hungarian businessman. Jewish; original family name is Schwartz.
* Net worth estimated at $11B.
* A man of enormous wealth and ability to deploy it in unexpected ways.
* Partner in the Carlyle Group.
* Was the owner of Harken Energy, and bought its declining shares so that George W Bush could make a million dollars. His reason to do that: "political influence."
* As currency speculator, cost the UK a billion dollars in one day.
* Hated by Lyndon LaRouche.
* Member, Council on Foreign Relations.

Timeline
12 Aug 1930 George Soros born, Budapest Hungary.
1944 Hides for a year from the Nazis, after they invade Hungary.
1947 Leaves Hungary for Britain to attend London School of Economics.
1956 Moves to United States.
1969 Establishes Quantum Fund, and dabbles in currency manipulation. Average return of that fund is an astonishing 35% per year, since its inception.
1979 Establishes Open Society Fund, New York City.
16 Sep 1992 In a brazen act of currency speculation, places a hedge bet that the UK will devalue the Pound Sterling. In September this nets him $1B in a single day.
1995 Appointed director, Council on Foreign Relations.
1997 Attacks the currencies of Thailand and Malaysia. A Thai source said: "We regard George Soros as a kind of Dracula. He sucks blood from the people." [Heather Coffin, Covert Action Quarterly.]
2002 Convicted of insider trading, with regards to the stock of a French bank in 1988. Fined $2M.
Nov 2002 Soros is the primary sponsor of Nevada's ballot initiative to legalize marijuana.
12 Sep 2003 "If you impose morality on [business], it means that you are actually with your hands tied behind your back and you're not going to be successful. It's extremely hard to be successful." Interview, David Brancaccio, Now with Bill Moyers.
7 Nov 2003 Moscow offices of the Soros Foundation stormed by forty armed men who seize papers and seal the building, after Soros criticized the recent jailing of one of Russia's oligarchs, Mikhail Khodorkovsky of oil company Yukos. The building's owner claims rent was not being paid, an unlikely explanation.

http://www.soros.org/about/bios/a_soros

George Soros
Founder and Chairman

George Soros was born in Budapest, Hungary on August 12, 1930. He survived the Nazi occupation of Budapest and left communist Hungary in 1947 for England, where he graduated from the London School of Economics (LSE). While a student at LSE, Soros became familiar with the work of the philosopher Karl Popper, who had a profound influence on his thinking and later on his professional and philanthropic activities.

The financier. In 1956, Soros moved to the United States, where he began to accumulate a large fortune through an international investment fund he founded and managed. Today he is chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC.

The philanthropist. Soros has been active as a philanthropist since 1979, when he began providing funds to help black students attend the University of Cape Town in apartheid South Africa. Today he is chairman of the Open Society Institute (OSI) and the founder of a network of philanthropic organizations that are active in more than 50 countries. Based primarily in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union—but also in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the United States—these foundations are dedicated to building and maintaining the infrastructure and institutions of an open society. They work closely with OSI to develop and implement a range of programs focusing on civil society, education, media, public health, and human rights as well as social, legal, and economic reform. In recent years, OSI and the Soros foundations network have spent more than $400 million annually to support projects in these and other focus areas. In 1992, Soros founded Central European University, with its primary campus in Budapest.

The philosopher. Soros is the author of eight books, including the forthcoming The Bubble of America Supremacy (PublicAffairs, January 2004). His other books include George Soros on Globalization (2002); The Alchemy of Finance (1987); Opening the Soviet System (1990); Underwriting Democracy (1991); Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve (1995); The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered (1998); and Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism (2000). His articles and essays on politics, society, and economics regularly appear in major newspapers and magazines around the world.

[samtheman]

They hate religion. They hate religious people.

This is the fundamental truth about these people.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Atheists, anti-Christians, radical Islamists and satan worshipers have forged an unholy alliance.

They have painted themselves into a corner from which there is no escape.

Bush is leading a modern version of "THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC"!!

[CzarNicky]

Soros is like Howard Hughes except without being so rational.

[Liz]

This is the fundamental truth about these people........They hate religion. They hate religious people.

And these depraved, deceptive individuals use a buncha high-faluting words to disguise their hatred.

[Grampa Dave]

You summarized what our cultural war is really about:

Atheists, anti-Christians, radical Islamists and satan worshipers have forged an unholy alliance. They have painted themselves into a corner from which there is no escape.

Bush is leading a modern version of "THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC"!!

[Liz]

Heheh.....nice Soros 'toon.