The Soros Scenario

Part I Part II--2002 In early 2002, Peter Lewis₁ left his black Towncar at the curb and walked into a New York deli near George Soros’ Fifth Avenue office. He walked with a slight limp due to a quarter-leg prosthetic. Soros was already sitting at a corner table. “Sholem chaver,” ₂ Soros greeted him. “You look well. The Florida sunshine agrees with you.”₃ “Why a little deli, George?” Lewis answered as he sat down. “Can’t you afford Erminia?”₄ he laughed.

---

“Wang serves the best kosher corned beef on rye in New York,” Soros responded, waving to a waiter. “How’s our project coming along?” Lewis asked after the waiter took their order. “Too slow! Podesta says that most of the really good people are committed to 2002 campaigns,” Soros answered. “He’s channeling our contributions for maximum impact though, and he’s going to get some office space from Dan Glickman in his Motion Picture Association building on 16th Street, NW…I’ve hired Mark Steitz and Tom Novick to really dig deep into that cowboy. They’re great researchers. They’ll get it all!” he added confidently. “And I gave Steve Rosenthal $10m to start a grass-roots organization called America Coming Together. He’ll need some help from you too, Peter.” “This is a big project, George,” Lewis responded. “Are you sure you aren’t spreading yourself too thin?” “I’ve brought in Mort Halperin to run O.S.I.,”₅ Soros said as the two men’s sandwiches were served with their iced tea. “He authored the Pentagon Papers with Daniel Ellsberg. He’s a former director of the ACLU, a former assistant Secretary of Defense, and State, under Clinton. He’ll free me up some for what’s more important: getting Bush out of the White House in 2004.” “I spoke with John Sperling,”₆ Lewis told Soros. “He shares our sentiments, and I think he’s ready to make a major commitment…I’m a little bit concerned though, about some of the squirrelly people you’ve been financing, George…You committed $100m to Ted Turner to buy Gusinsky’s Russian TV network last year…And that was only for a minority interest!...Turner’s a nut,” Lewis asserted…”And financing that Ariana Huffington’s ‘Shadow Conventions’?…She used to be a conservative, George…And she was in love with Newt Gingrich!” Soros laughed. “Ted’s heart is in the right place, Peter,” he said. “Jane₇ guided him a lot while they were married…He’s still close to her. He’s really an environmentalist above anything. Besides, he has a lot of influence at CNN. That counts!” he said. “As for Adriana; she’s charming, isn’t she? And she knows everybody. She wants to establish an internet web-site to counter that insufferable Drudge Report. It’ll be a forum for progressives and a minute-to-minute news source, our way. She hates Bush.” “You’re building an organization that could run General Motors, George,” Lewis said, not argumentatively. “And it’s thirty months until the election.” “That’s not much time, Peter,” Soros responded. “We have to build the organization, test the people, generate the lists, and tear down that cowboy’s approval ratings. That’ll take time. We’re supporting a lot of important congressional progressives, and collecting a lot of ‘due-bills’. We’ll cash them in in 2004. Don’t underestimate Rove and his army of evangelicals.” “You’ve forgotten the hair-lipped pigmy vote, George. But, I suppose you’ll get to them too,” Lewis laughed. “Just tell me who can deliver ‘em; we’ll hire him too,” Soros answered. He wasn’t laughing. George Soros was watching television June 1, 2002. President Bush had just stepped before 989 graduating officers at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and changed American foreign policy. The United States, the president said, would now take offensive military action against any country that it suspected of posing a terrorist threat. “That’s it!” Soros exploded. “The man is mad! That’s the final straw! He has to be stopped,” he told his wife. “He is the greatest danger to the world that there is!”₈ … George Soros doesn’t take slights lightly. He was a part owner of Harken Energy when Harken bought George W. Bush’s Spectrum 7 oil company in 1986. Queried by Nation reporter David Corn about the reasoning behind this buyout, Soros claimed the deal was about influencing American policy. Soros told Corn, “But it didn’t come to anything. We were buying political influence. That was it. Bush was not much of a businessman.” Soros’ efforts never got him closer to “influence” than an unsatisfactory telephone call with Under Sect of State Laurence Egleburger. Soros wasn’t pleased, and, reportedly, held it personally against George W. Bush. … Wes Boyd made a lot of money when he sold his software business. Then, looking for a project, he established MoveOn.org to defend President Clinton after his failed impeachment. By September 2002, he and his wife built a reputation, and had over a million members in the United States, plus a half million members abroad. Boyd was making an impact on congressional elections with an impressive ability to raise money and generate volunteers when George Soros called. On September 17th, they met in New York. “Wes, what you’ve done is important,” Soros said. “I’d like to support you. What will it take for you to have the kind of operation you really could, if money wasn’t an impediment?” Boyd had done his homework; he knew who Soros was, but he was still taken aback. “I’ll have to think about that, Mr. Soros,” he stammered. “How much support do you have in mind?” he recovered. “You deliver the members and the lists, and you’ll have all the support you need,” Soros answered. Boyd’s head was spinning all the way back to Berkeley, California. “I think I just met Goldfinger, or maybe The Godfather,” he told his wife. “Who cares as long as his checks clear,” she chuckled. … George Soros met with John Podesta after the 2002 election. “The election was very disappointing!” Soros thundered in his understated way. “Bush gained eight seats in the House! That’s not supposed to happen in an ‘off-year’!₉ He has control of the Senate! His hand has been strengthened even more!” he told John Podesta. “His approval ratings are still over sixty percent! And, there are just twenty-three months until the election!” “We’ve made some real progress, Mr. Soros…Not to play on words,” Podesta responded defensively, with a lame effort at humor. “Our issues team is feeding backgrounders and position papers to the media every day. Things are coming together well…Again, not to play on words,” he said. “And, the issues are lining up for us: The teacher’s unions are really pissed about No Child Left Behind. The ENRON and World Com collapses have given us some good corruption issues tied right to Bush. The Afghanistan invasion is really activating the anti-war people. The Homeland Security Act is driving the civil liberties people nuts. The Times is beating him over the head on all those things daily!” Podesta said triumphantly. “Letterman and Leno skewer him every night; the morning TV shows nail him almost every day; Nightline and Jim Lehrer work him over almost nightly; Comedy Central’s Stewart and Colbert have made him a national joke. We’re encouraging documentary after documentary. Except for the right-wing radio talk shows, all the media is against him! His poll ratings can’t stand up to all that!” Podesta assured his benefactor. “Just twenty-three months!” Soros reminded him. “Our organizing people are in place and they’re cooking---MoveOn is a real winner, Mr. Soros,” Podesta continued. “So is Rosenthal’s America Coming Together. We’ve placed almost twenty-eight million of your dollars very well! You’ve helped elect a number of great progressives, and they won’t forget it,” he added. “And outside fundraising is improving every day!” “Zack Exley is going into MoveOn to beef-up their organizing,” Soros said. “He’s AFLCIO trained. And Harold Ickes will come in to help you with with organizing. He’s plugged in with Labor and knows where all the bodies are buried.” “He’s a pure Hillary loyalist,” Podesta protested weakly. “Doesn’t that paint us as partisan and, even more, a Clinton shadow government?” “Who cares?” Soros answered dismissively. Footnotes: 1 Billionaire semi-retired owner of the Progressive Insurance Co. A long-time Soros close friend and ally. 2 “Hello, close friend”--Yiddish 3 Peter Lewis’ principle residence is in Coconut Grove, Florida. 4 Erminia; A fine upper-eastside Italian restaurant…Caters to well-heeled older people…A Lewis favorite 5 Soros’ Open Society Institute, with offices in fifty countries. 6 The very rich owner of The University of Phoenix; an 84 year old former college professor, communist, and union organizer. 7 Jane Fonda: Turner’s wife 1991-2001 8A widely published direct quote 9 The bi-annual election when the president isn’t running John C. Broome can be reached at: jcbroome@comcast.net

---