George Soros: Liar

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CX

And, a new working definition of "grassroots".

Gazillionaire George Soros was interviewed on CNN's Wolf Blitzer Reports yesterday. I have boldfaced a couple of interesting parts.

BLITZER: .... George Soros joins us now live. Mr. Soros, thanks very much, welcome to our program. Why are you so angry at President Bush?

GEORGE SOROS, THE SOROS FOUNDATION: I'm not particularly angry at President Bush. I'm very disturbed about the -- particularly the foreign policy of the United States. I consider it very dangerous for us and for the world.

BLITZER: But you've already given millions of dollars -- how many millions have you given away recently to try to get President Bush out of the White House?

SOROS: I have committed $10 million to one organization, Americans Coming Together, that's a grassroots organization to bring out the vote and $2.5 million to Moveon.org to -- which is sort of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) organization.

BLITZER: It's an organization that's been in the news lately, because, you know, of that controversial contest they had for ads, 30- second ads, designed to hurt, undermine President Bush, one of those ads in particular.

SOROS: Yes.

BLITZER: I want to play that, because it's a very sensitive issue, an ad that was on their Web site for about 10 days, which didn't win the contest, but made the comparison, an ugly comparison, between the president and Adolf Hitler.

Listen to this.

Now, Mr. Soros, I know you're a Holocaust survivor. How did that feel to see that kind of comparison, an organization having it on the Web site and making that kind of comparison?

SOROS: I absolutely condemn that kind of comparison. And it was one of 1,500 submissions. And I think they were not diligent enough not to put it on the Web site.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: What did you tell MoveOn.org? You've given them $2.5 million.

SOROS: Right. And they themselves have repudiated it. And I repudiated it. So this is not the kind of comparison

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Did they give you any indication that their hatred, if you will, of President Bush would stop at certain limits, because this seems to have gone way beyond any acceptable norm?

SOROS: Well, definitely.

And I think that they should not have been even accepted as a submission. But they certainly didn't choose that ad. So it's -- they have repudiated it, and I repudiate it. And it's been blown out of proportion, because, as I say, it's in a MoveOn ad. It's one of -- it's an open competition. Anybody can submit anything. The mistake was actually to accept this submission.

BLITZER: But the bottom line was that that was way over.

SOROS: Absolutely.

BLITZER: In your mind, as much as you're critical of President Bush, that goes way beyond any acceptable norm.

SOROS: Yes, yes.

But, you know, I have also been accused of comparing Bush to a Nazi. And I did not do it. I would not do it, exactly because I have lived under a Nazi regime. So I know the difference. But how come that I'm accused of that?

BLITZER: Who accused you of that?

SOROS: The Republican national commission, or whatever, and a number of newspaper articles. And I -- you know, I think I really -- I'm upset about being accused of that. And I'm upset that I have to defend myself against this kind of accusation.

BLITZER: The -- I think what -- the articles that I read suggested, because of your having lived through the Nazi era, you have a special responsibility to educate people who didn't live through that. And I think the suggestion -- at one point, you had made some sort of allusion to your own personal background in explaining why you were so critical of the president.

SOROS: That's exactly right.

And then that has been distorted that I'm comparing the president to a Nazi. I mean, that is absolutely out of

(CROSSTALK) ....

The Blog from the Core asserts Fair Use for non-commercial, non-profit educational purposes.

First, Soros is "accused" of comparing Bush to Nazis because... he did precisely that, as reported in the Washington Post, Nov. 11, 2003:

.... Soros believes that a "supremacist ideology" guides this White House. He hears echoes in its rhetoric of his childhood in occupied Hungary. "When I hear Bush say, 'You're either with us or against us,' it reminds me of the Germans." It conjures up memories, he said, of Nazi slogans on the walls, Der Feind Hort mit ("The enemy is listening"). "My experiences under Nazi and Soviet rule have sensitized me," he said in a soft Hungarian accent....

So, Gazillionaire anti-capitalist Soros blames the eeevil Republicans for accusing him of having done what he had, in fact, done. And Wolf Blitzer was, I take it, more than happy to allow him to do so. I wonder how many CNN watchers/readers think that Soros was the smearee instead of the smearer?

Of course, Soros lying this way in public isn't entirely good news for Republicans: it means that he has already learned that, at least for general public consumption, he has to (as the saying goes) tone down the rhetoric.

And, it has become apparent that, at least when used by Democrats, "grassroots" now refers to any organization founded by Democratic political operatives and funded by left-wing, anti-capitalist, flaming-hypocrite gazillionaires. I note that Blitzer let Soros get away with that phony characterization, too.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 01/13/04 09:07:35 PM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & Media & Political.

"Thirty Seconds of Insanity"

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CIX

Ben Shapiro looks at MoveOn's anti-Bush ad competition, TownHall, Jan. 7.

Let the games begin! With Howard Dean poised to steal the Democratic nomination, the rest of the country is preparing for the onrushing Dean Machine. Grocery stores are stocking boxes of tinfoil hats for Dean supporters. Fast-food chains have ordered Hitler-to-Bush transformers for Deaniac tots. For Dean's Christian target audience, there's the WWJDABP (What Would Jesus Do About Bike Paths?) wristband. For his Southern audience, there's the metrosexual gun rack -- "Tote Your Shotgun In Style!" (available in lavender for a limited time only).

The Dean voter is a new breed. He/she/both/none of the above combines the leftism of Lisa Simpson with the paranoia of Elliot Carlin. The Dean supporter mixes the pacifism of Jeannette Rankin with the smoldering hatred of Ted Kaczynski.

Don't believe me? Check out the folks at MoveOn.org. This ultra-liberal Web site sponsored an ad contest. The location: Bushin30seconds.org. The goal: create a 30-second ad making the case against George W. Bush. The judges: Michael Moore, Janeane Garofalo, Jack Black, James Carville, Donna Brazile, Margaret Cho, Al Franken, Jessica Lange, Michael Mann, Gus Van Sant and Eddie Vedder, among others. The prize: The winning ad will be shown the week of President Bush's 2004 State of the Union address. The result: priceless.

Forget the highly publicized Bush/Hitler ads likening our president to the Nazi monster. Let's take the MoveOn.org officials at their word and assume that a screening error took place. Instead, look at the finalists chosen by MoveOn.org voters. A few are clever. Several are obnoxious. Most are hilarious.

Many of the ad-makers demonize President Bush by stating that Bush's policies victimize children. Charlie Fisher's "Child's Pay" depicts young children as janitors, manual laborers, sanitation workers and grocery clerks. "Guess who's going to pay off president Bush's $1 trillion deficit?" the graphic asks. Apparently, street urchins breaking child labor laws.

Different ad, same message for Fred Surr, Ted Page and Janet Tashjian. A series of children stand behind a podium. The sign on the podium reads: "The Next President." "As president, I'll lie about weapons of mass destruction as a pretext to invade another country," one boy tells the audience. "I promise to keep you in a state of fear and anxiety, so you never question what we're doing," a girl says. The final graphic: "What are we teaching our children?" Here's a solution liberals can handle: abort the children. End of problem.

Several ads focus on President Bush's "jobless recovery." Only one problem: The recovery is no longer jobless. Jobless claims are currently at their lowest level since the start of the Clinton recession. It's no wonder, then, that the MoveOn.org finalists can't get their facts straight. Nathania Vishnevsky claims in "Hood Robbin'" that 3.3 million jobs have vanished. According to Lisa M. Rowe's "Wake Up America," 3 million jobs have been lost. Adam Klugman and Dave Adams' "Bankrupt" states that 2.4 million jobs have disappeared. MoveOn.org itself says that 3.3 million jobs have been lost -- and cites statistics from way back in August to prove it.

Three million, 2.4 million, 3.3 million, whatever. The fibbing justifies the ends. After all, Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction, right? Brian Wilkinson's "Human Cost of War" thinks so: "Lies. The real weapons of mass destruction," his ad reads. "He Lied. They Died," concurs Mike Cuenca's "Bring 'Em On." Shockingly -- shockingly! -- these ads simply rip quotes from President Bush out of context. Not one word quoted from Bush in either ad is false.

I've saved two of the best for last. One of my favorites is Eric Martin's "Bush's Repair Shop." President Bush and Vice President Cheney are portrayed as mechanics, destroying a car they are charged with fixing. The car is beaten to smithereens, symbolizing America's destruction at the hands of this diabolical duo. At least when Republicans destroy a car, they don't do it by going off a bridge and leaving a woman in the back seat.

Here's my choice for best ad: Mark Vicente's "Imagine." It's pure genius. A series of talking heads morphing into one another deliver the following message: "Imagine a world where corporations choose leaders, put them in power, and have them rewrite laws to increase profit. Imagine a world where corporations start wars to create an increased demand for their product. Imagine a world where the news media, owned by these corporations, only tells the public what they want them to know. Imagine a president who sells out his people and their environment to boost the wealth of a few. Unbelievable? It should be." "THINK," the graphic concludes.

"THINK" is right. Think about how much fun this election cycle is going to be.

The Blog from the Core asserts Fair Use for non-commercial, non-profit educational purposes.

I was, frankly, surprised at the reaction last week to the Bush = Hitler ads. Hasn't "Bushitler" demagoguery been a staple of the anti-American leftists for a year or more?

(Thanks, Matthew.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 01/13/04 07:37:49 AM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & Political.

Radical Feminist Supports George W. Bush

Phyllis Chesler writes at FrontPage, Jan. 9:

.... My colleagues on the progressive and feminist Left lead relatively safe and privileged lives in the West. Perhaps this is why they are romanticizing and glorifying illiterate, suicidal killers, new Noble Savages; they want "action," they are incapable of fomenting any, (although their ideas of revolution have actually fomented quite a lot of death in the past). Do they think to expiate a false, liberal guilt in this way? Yes, I say. Is this a form of contempt, masked as compassion for the wretched of the earth? Yes, again.

Having criticized their own country and civilization almost to death, do such ideologues now want that civilization to literally die? I fear they do. I hope I am wrong. Does human imperfection — and human resistance to ideological perfection — so offend them that they wish to see it all blown up, cleansed? Yes, again.

Do they believe that Al-Qaeda's fundamentalist fanatics will create the ultimate Brave New World? Do they really hate God's imperfect world that much? I leave these questions to you, gentle reader.

I have gone on record as a critic of misogyny world-wide. Nevertheless, I still possess enough common sense to understand that life is better for women in (far-from-perfect) America than it was for women under the Taliban. I have also learned from experience....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 01/13/04 07:30:27 AM
Categorized as Political.

The Politically Correct Disease

Re: Bad News for the Doomsayers.

A reader writes:

Reading your entry on the AIDS epidemic in Africa was somewhat confusing. You seem to think that 22 million infections are no big deal compared to +29 million (estimated before). Is there some reason for you to believe that? or is the religion you follow, which preaches that EVERY life is precious also preaching that Africans with AIDS don't count.

What a fascinating little screed.

The first thing that crossed my mind was, Gee. How strange. Why would this person think it doesn't go without saying that 22 million infections — of whatever kind — are a "big deal"? And that "EVERY" life is precious. Shouldn't that be understood without having to say it?

Then I thought, Gee. I doubt very much that, if the articles had been asserting that the extent of heart disease & cancer in Africa have been wildly exaggerated to increase the funding and influence of certain advocacy groups, anybody would have expected me to commiserate with the actual victims of heart attack & cancer — because it would go without saying.

Finally, it occurred to me: Gee. You don't suppose that I'm being queried about this because it involves victims of The Politically Correct Disease?

Ah. Yes. Indeed. Googling my interlocutor's name reveals him to be... well... very interested in homosexuality.

So, when The Blog from the Core points out that certain groups have wildly, hysterically exaggerated the incidence of certain diseases on a certain continent, my interlocutor tries to change the subject to.... me.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 01/13/04 07:14:41 AM
Categorized as International.