The Soros Alliance
There's a group out there that has a distinctly liberal viewpoint. called the Democracy Alliance. It is one if the causes George Soros is backing.
More on this tomorrow, Something else just came up. (Picking up where I left off)
The Democracy Alliance is made up of nearly 100 extremely secretive, extremely wealthy people funneling more than $50 million in the past nine months to lefty causes. It's quite funny how often on the left you hear conspiracy theories about some Republican cabal or another. Here's a real live one, folks. Here's a group getting together to buy political power.
A year after its founding, Democracy Alliance has followed up on its pledge to become a major power in the liberal movement. It has lavished millions on groups that have been willing to submit to its extensive screening process and its demands for secrecy.
These include the Center for American Progress, a think tank with an unabashed partisan edge, as well as Media Matters for America, which tracks what it sees as conservative bias in the news media. Several alliance donors are negotiating a major investment in Air America, a liberal talk-radio network.
But the large checks and demanding style wielded by Democracy Alliance organizers in recent months have caused unease among Washington's community of Democratic-linked organizations. The alliance has required organizations that receive its endorsement to sign agreements shielding the identity of donors. Public interest groups said the alliance represents a large source of undisclosed and unaccountable political influence.
Democracy Alliance also has left some Washington political activists concerned about what they perceive as a distinctly liberal tilt to the group's funding decisions. Some activists said they worry that the alliance's new clout may lead to groups with a more centrist ideology becoming starved for resources.
Democracy Alliance was formed last year with major backing from billionaires such as financier George Soros and Colorado software entrepreneur Tim Gill. The inspiration, according to founders, was a belief that Democrats became the minority party in part because liberals do not have a well-funded network of policy shops, watchdog groups and training centers for activists equivalent to what has existed for years on the right.
What network on the right? The left simply cannot understand why they keep getting beaten and blame it on a conspiracy. It has a lot more to do with them having a) bad ideas and b) not being able to articulate even those bad ideas without alienating the center. Conservatives learned how to argue their ideas effectively long ago. One thing that shows you what the problem is comes from this comment:
"Like a lot of elite groups, we fly beneath the radar," said Guy Saperstein, an Oakland lawyer and alliance donor. But "we are not so stupid though," he said, to think "we can deny our existence."
There you have it. They are an "elite" that works in secret to gain political power. Want to preach conspiracy theory?
By Roland Hesz, Monday, 17 July , 2006 @ 7:51 am
Soros György said it aloud in interviews, that he will do anzthing between legal boundaries to prevent Bush or the Republicans from winning.
That does not sound sneaky to me.
On the other hand, both side has a bunch of legal, semi-legal and illegal founders. That’s politics.
By crosspatch, Monday, 17 July , 2006 @ 8:34 am
“The inspiration, according to founders, was a belief that Democrats became the minority party in part because liberals do not have a well-funded network of policy shops, watchdog groups and training centers for activists equivalent to what has existed for years on the right.”
Huh? Tides Foundation and Heinz Foundation are good lefty funding sources. And Fenton Communications has been acting as a well-funded network of policy shops, watchdog groups and training centers for activists. Ever hear of CIP, IPS, Code Pink, Cindy Sheehan, Win Without War, Veterans for Peace, VIPS, Larry Johnson, MoveOn, etc.? All coordinated from Fenton Communications. I have no idea what Sorros is trying to say here unless he is just creating yet another group in order to make something appear more popular than it really is. Sorros is already tied to pretty much every single lefty policy shop, watchdog group and training centers for activists there is.
How about an alternative view: Democrats became the minority party because the majority of the people in this country don’t share their wacko world view and no amount of tossing money at the problem is going to change that. Sorros is apparently one of those people who believes you can buy anything simply by tossing money at it.
By FormerRighty, Monday, 17 July , 2006 @ 7:52 pm
Wacko world views held by many Democrats:
The U.S. Constitution shouldn’t be amended in order to restrict freedom of expression.
It’s bad policy to create a huge deificit by starting a war and cutting taxes on the very wealthy.
Gays and lesbians should have equal rights.
Those are, in fact, far less wacko than some of the ideas of the Republican party:
Saddam Hussein was behind the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
We can create peace by being the world’s bully.
Cutting taxes will decrease the deficit.
By Gaius, Monday, 17 July , 2006 @ 7:58 pm
Nice group of straw men there, FR.