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Billionaire Soros Banking on a Bush Loss
AP ^ | 6-10-2004 | AMY WESTFELDT

Posted on 06/10/2004 9:51:58 AM PDT by Cagey

NEW YORK (AP) - George Soros' dream is President Bush losing in November - and so far, the billionaire philanthropist has donated nearly $13 million to independent groups that also want to turn that vision into reality. "I'm merely putting my money where my mouth is," Soros told The Associated Press.

After surviving the Nazi occupation of his native Hungary and giving away billions of his self-made fortune to charitable causes, Soros is entering national politics in a big way for the first time.

He says he is too disturbed by Bush's policies to do nothing.

"This is not a normal election. These are not normal times," Soros said.

The Bush administration, he said, has flouted past rules of international relations by declaring war in Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He urged Americans to defeat the "Bush doctrine" by ousting the president on Nov. 2.

"If we re-elect President Bush, we are endorsing that doctrine and we have to accept the consequences," Soros said.

To that end, Soros has given millions to three liberal-leaning organizations that also want to a Bush defeat: $10 million to America Coming Together, which aims to mobilize voters; $2.5 million to the MoveOn.org voters' fund, which places anti-Bush advertising; and $300,000 to the Campaign for America's Future.

He also has pledged $3 million to the Center for American Progress, a think tank led by John Podesta, chief of staff to President Clinton.

This election year, Soros has spent about $4 million, more than any other individual, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit Washington-based group that tracks political donations.

In recent speeches, Soros has referred to the Bush administration's anti-terrorism polices as a doctrine that has changed Americans from "victims to perpetrators." He says the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq has claimed more lives than the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and a Pennsylvania field.

Democrats praise him as an inspiration to disaffected voters.

"He is helping to finance the fullest grass-roots campaign the Democrats have ever had in a presidential election," said Democratic strategist Mandy Grunwald.

To Republicans, he is a huge target. A Republican National Committee memo to congressional Republicans called Soros an "out of touch, left-wing radical pushing an extremist agenda on America."

Added GOP strategist Jay Severin: "He may be Bogeyman No. 1, above Teddy Kennedy and Hillary Clinton."

Soros, 73, who lives in suburban New York City, came to the United States in 1956 nearly a decade after he fled communist Hungary for England, where he graduated from the London School of Economics.

He became a U.S. citizen in 1961 and began to amass his fortune through Soros Fund Management, the private, international investment firm he founded in 1973, and managed. Soros was 54th on this year's Forbes list of the world's richest people, with an estimated $7 billion fortune.

Soros has been an active philanthropist since 1979, when he began to help black students attend the University of Cape Town under the then-apartheid government of South Africa.

Through the Open Society Institute, which he founded in 1993, Soros has given away billions - $450 million a year through his charitable foundation with branches in more than 50 countries, promoting policies and initiatives that foster open government. Among other causes, he has used his fortune to found Central European University in Budapest, pay for early childhood development programs in dozens of countries and promote democratic campaigns in several eastern European nations. He also supports better public schools in New York and legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.

Republicans hope Soros will galvanize more people against his views than for him.

"His views are not mainstream views," said RNC spokeswoman Christine Iverson, citing Soros' views on the Iraq war.

Soros acknowledged in a telephone interview that "Republicans were successful at using me as a bogeyman" earlier in the campaign.

But now, he said, particularly with the revelation of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers, "the general public, including Bush's own constituency, is beginning to see through the lies. I don't think he has the credibility."

Soros, who backed Howard Dean before the former Vermont governor left the Democratic presidential race, has not formally endorsed John Kerry, the presumptive nominee. He said Republicans were unfairly trying to link his views to Kerry's. National Democratic Party officials and a Kerry spokesman didn't return telephone messages for comment.

Soros said Republicans have distorted his views on several issues, including by implying that his support for medical marijuana initiatives means he wants to legalize all drugs.

"I don't think that I'm a madman," Soros said. "I don't think that I'm an extremist."


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: foreigner; madman; soros; sorosloserman
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To: PJ-Comix

George Soros is a Bond villain, I'm telling you!


21 posted on 06/10/2004 10:20:27 AM PDT by AmishDude
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To: God luvs America

I wonder if we could set up a fake liberal org to syphon his money?


22 posted on 06/10/2004 10:21:22 AM PDT by AmishDude
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To: Cagey

Too much money, and too little time to think coherently = Soros.

He is dangerous because of the money he offers. His views are extremist, but he appeals to the far left that run the media, which gets him lots of free publicity.

Very dangerous indeed.


23 posted on 06/10/2004 10:24:05 AM PDT by baracuda
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To: Cagey

The empire of this enemy of the West must be liquidated.


24 posted on 06/10/2004 10:37:53 AM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Right makes right!)
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To: God luvs America

He needs to be arrested and tried for conspiracy to overthrow the government of the USA.


25 posted on 06/10/2004 10:39:31 AM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Right makes right!)
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To: Cagey
DEPORT!
26 posted on 06/10/2004 10:39:38 AM PDT by Watery Tart ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!")
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To: All

Thanks Senator McCain...


27 posted on 06/10/2004 10:54:20 AM PDT by fhlh (polls are for topless dancers)
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To: Watery Tart
I truly believe this crack pot is a Antichrist!
28 posted on 06/10/2004 11:02:07 AM PDT by Sybeck1 (Kerry: how can we trust him with our money, if Teresa won't trust him with hers!)
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To: PJ-Comix

ROFL-On the Seperated at Birth from Strangelove


29 posted on 06/10/2004 11:07:34 AM PDT by 101st-Eagle
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To: Cagey

People are beginning to find out about Soros, so it's time for the lamestream press to prop him up.


30 posted on 06/10/2004 11:09:30 AM PDT by talleyman (Michael Moore won the Al Quaeda Film Festival.)
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To: Cagey

Soros has never given one Cent for Philanthropic purposes that he didnt get back a dollar for it. Soros has more on his mind than getting Kerry elected, he will make a profit out of this.


31 posted on 06/10/2004 11:15:28 AM PDT by sgtbono2002 (I aint wrong, I aint sorry , and I am probably going to do it again.)
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To: fhlh
Thanks Senator McCain...

He doesn't seem to use his press power to speak out against this stuff, he must be proud of himself, he seems to like to do damage to his party.

He had to know this was going to happen.

32 posted on 06/10/2004 11:42:56 AM PDT by Mister Baredog ((Part of the Reagan legacy is to re-elect G.W. Bush))
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To: Cagey

From the looks of him in this picture, he is very close to taking his final breath.


33 posted on 06/10/2004 3:09:11 PM PDT by chiefqc
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To: Grampa Dave

FYI.


34 posted on 06/10/2004 5:19:57 PM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Right makes right!)
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