Billionaire Soros Banking on a Bush Loss ( AP Online )
NEW YORK, Jun 10, 2004 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- 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."
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On the Net:
Open Society Institute: soros.org
By AMY WESTFELDT
Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2004 Associated Press, All rights reserved
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AP Photo WX102
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