Soros goes on tour to defeat Bush
____________________
October 1, 2004
New York: The billionaire philanthropist George Soros has launched a speaking tour and advertising blitz in an attempt to deliver the Bush defeat he said would be "the greatest good deed I could do for the world".
Mr Soros, America's 24th richest person, is expected to spend up to $3 million delivering his anti-Bush message in 12 big cities, backing it up with media advertising.
The 74-year-old has given $18 million to pro-Democratic groups such as Moveon.org, but is now moving personally into the campaign spotlight.
"If I could contribute to repudiating the Bush policies, I think it would be the greatest good deed I could do for the world," he said. "In spite of his Texas swagger, George W. Bush does not qualify to serve as our commander-in-chief."
The financier railed at the President's claim that "either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists", and said he was "undermining the civilised discourse that is the foundation of our democracy".
In a double-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, he called the Iraq war "misconceived from the start".
Mr Soros had cancelled a trip to Russia to campaign for the Democrat candidate, John Kerry, he said, because he was no longer as confident as he had been in August that the Massachusetts senator's victory was assured. Slanderous pro-Bush advertising had changed the situation, he said.
The Republican Party, whose strategists see Mr Soros's involvement as a way to portray Mr Kerry as an out-of-touch elitist - and a foil for attacks linking the Republicans to big business - wasted no time in mocking the speaking tour.
"The only explanation for the Daddy Warbucks of the Democratic Party, George Soros, to step out from behind the curtain 35 days before the election is his obvious concern for his investment in John Kerry," the Republican National Committee said in a statement.
The Guardian
smh.com.au |
