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Home Front: Politix
Why I Have Campaigned Across America for Kerry
2004-11-02
George Soros, The Independent
I have been criss-crossing the United States for the past three weeks, arguing against the re-election of President Bush. I feel strongly that he has led us in the wrong direction. The invasion of Iraq was a colossal blunder, and only by rejecting the president at the polls can we hope to escape from the quagmire in which we find ourselves.
I haven't been criss-crossing the country, but I've been watching Bush's every action in the WoT for the past three years, and I strongly disagree. In fact, I don't even see the "quagmire."
I embarked on the tour because I was worried that the dramatic deterioration in Iraq did not produce the decisive lead for John Kerry I had confidently expected. Now that I am at the end of my tour, I am not reassured. Kerry and Bush are neck and neck in the polls, and although I believe the sheer numbers of the dead voter turnout is likely to give Kerry the victory, the race is too close for comfort.
I'm surprised that the race is too close for comfort, too. Kerry's a lightweight, of no discernable accomplishment, a Massachusetts hack with expensive hair and a rich wife. Bush has fought the War on Terror brilliantly from the day we were attacked, and there's no other issue in the election that matters.
The nation is deeply divided, and the two camps seem to be talking past each other. John Kerry won all three debates, but President Bush invokes his faith and that inspires his followers. In the end, it boils down to a philosophical difference over how to deal with an often confusing and threatening reality.
He's making a face when he says that Bush "invokes his faith," as though that's something awful. Kerry's lack of any core values is his distinguishing characteristic. But Bush deigns to distinguish right from wrong, and once having identified right, he tries to adhere to it and defend it. Kerry's all shifting shades of gray, many of them opaque.
Posted by:Fred

#18  Soros is a fundamentalist atheist. He can't stand it, that Bush is a believer.
Posted by: Jabba the Nutt   2004-11-02 11:44:58 PM  

#17  mhw, true, but it was Soros' assault on the Ringgit and the Baht that was the tipping point for the currency crisis. He didn't create the underlying problem, but he ruthlessly exploited it.
Posted by: RWV   2004-11-02 11:12:18 PM  

#16  I say we raise the tax rate on currency speculators to 250% of their current worth and make it legal to grab them by the ankles and bang their pointy little heads against a convienient curb looking for loose change.
Posted by: Darth VAda   2004-11-02 10:42:03 PM  

#15  Soros is certainly no 'philanthropist'. Though 'misanthropist' just doesn't seem to do him justice either. He's much worse than that.
Posted by: Bulldog   2004-11-02 9:40:13 PM  

#14  Soros...Move to the UK. The Brits love you as much as we US Conservatives.

Go screw yourself, Soros.
Posted by: anymouse   2004-11-02 9:24:37 PM  

#13  That would be great if they'd follow, but they had the whole Kerry campaign and they never volunteered. I wonder why. Does the "plan" take that into account? [rolls eyes at lame "4 more years! of kerry!" and shuts down browser]
Posted by: Tom   2004-11-02 8:45:18 PM  

#12  I'm just waiting for Bush to declare the vote illegal and restart the confederacy.
Posted by: 4 more years! of kerry!   2004-11-02 8:39:13 PM  

#11  Thank God for Kerry! He will lead the EU into Iraq!
Posted by: Shipman   2004-11-02 8:33:07 PM  

#10  I'd look at the polls. I think america might be about to rejoin the world after 4 years of madness.
Posted by: 4 more years! of kerry!   2004-11-02 8:31:20 PM  

#9  RWV
I don't think Soros is quite the devil you make him out to be. The currency speculation you mentioned was not the only thing that almost destroyed the economies of the countries you mentioned. Those countries borrowed heavily from the World Bank, etc. and used the funds for inefficient projects. The currency speculation did precipitate the crises but had the crises not occurred when it did, the ultimate effects might have been worse.

Soros's charities have also been used to build some of the democratic institutions in the former Soviet empire. Yes, its true that Soros wants these institutions built in a way that will make markets open for his hedge fund investments, but notwithstanding the motive, the democratic institutions have been built.
Posted by: mhw   2004-11-02 8:29:57 PM  

#8  "The war on terror is an abstraction."
Good God! I can't read another word!
Posted by: Tom   2004-11-02 7:32:39 PM  

#7  "All my experience in fostering democracy and open society has taught me that democracy cannot be imposed by military means."
Excuse me? Ever heard of Japan, Germany, and South Korea -- not to mention the United States of America? And that's just the tip of the iceberg, you nutcase.
Posted by: Tom   2004-11-02 7:30:55 PM  

#6  My response to this is to point out that Karl Popper would campaign across America for Bush. I suggest Mr. Soros goes back and reads The Open Society and Its Enemies, and see if he recognizes himself in his mentor's descriptions.
Posted by: phil_b   2004-11-02 6:58:15 PM  

#5  Yep, that's it Aris. Right again.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-11-02 6:56:55 PM  

#4  Aye, Satan, yer queen$dom shall fall.
Posted by: Mac Suirtain   2004-11-02 6:47:47 PM  

#3  Is that because he's voting Kerry instead of Bush?
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-11-02 6:46:44 PM  

#2  The sheer hypocrisy of this man is staggering. All my experience in fostering democracy and open society has taught me that democracy cannot be imposed by military means.
Soros has caused more human misery and done more to set back the march of freedom and democracy than almost anyone in the world not in Government service. His currency manipulation and speculation in the 90's brought him immense profits, but destabilized and almost destroyed the economies of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, the Phillipines, and rattled their neighbors. That this slime is supporting Kerry makes me wonder where the profit for him will be.
Posted by: RWV   2004-11-02 6:38:55 PM  

#1  The writer is an Anti-American financier and pro-tyranny philanthropist.
Posted by: Frank G   2004-11-02 6:27:55 PM  

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