Soros says be patient (to funders for pro-Dem think tanks and media)

[Rose Siding]

George Soros told a carefully vetted gathering of 70 likeminded millionaires and billionaires last weekend that they must be patient if they want to realize long-term political and ideological yields from an expected massive investment in “startup” progressive think tanks.

The Scottsdale, Ariz., meeting, called to start the process of building an ideas production line for liberal politicians, began what organizers hope will be a long dialogue with the “partners,” many from the high-tech industry. Participants have begun to refer to themselves as the Phoenix Group.

Rob Stein, a veteran of President Bill Clinton’s Commerce Department and of New York investment banking, convened the meeting of venture capitalists, left-leaning moneymen and a select few D.C. strategists on how to seed pro-Democratic think tanks, media outlets and leadership schools to compete with such entrenched conservative institutions as the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and the Leadership Institute.

Senior Democratic National Committee (DNC) officials were quietly briefed about the meeting in recent weeks. DNC Chairman Howard Dean was aware of it, in part though his friendship with Stein, but one senior DNC source said the organizers “kept that list kind of tight.”........MORE.......

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/042005/soros.html

[BadGimp]

1. wow

.

[More Than A Feeling]

2. At last!

I have consistently identified our party's main problem as a lack of infrastructure, so I am very excited to see our main financiers getting together to lay out coherent goals and plans to reach them. With this and the Bolton Nomination on hold, today has been a good day!

[SKKY]

22. See, and this is why we will be successful...

Our heavy-hitters are motivated by principle. Theirs are motivated by money. Principle is what gets you over the hump when the money runs out.

[CJCRANE]

23. They may be more principled,

but the truth of the matter is that the stock market and many other industries do better under Democratic administrations, so there is a financial incentive too.

[RandomKoolzip]

3. Less talk, George....

More action.

Too bad this is taking place under media scrutiny; the Right organized THEIR media infrastructure in almost complete secrecy; after all, what used to be called "crank," "fringe," "marginal," "dangerous," "delusional," etc. has only recently been titled "mainstream conservatism." It's the same old shit, repackaged.....

Anyways, the RW were only able to BUILD such a thing because no one was paying attention, and had most people known what they were up to, they woulda laughed.

Now, with all this attention, hopes are built up, potential investors with nefarious intentions can steer the media companies involved with this project towards more conservative goals, the right has time to counter-organize, etc.

Shit George; shoulda kept it secret, like the Powell memo used to be.

[Tellurian]

6. Exactly and precisely right!

Really---SAVE the fanfare for after the election- Puglies like nothing better than infiltrating new organizations like this and choking the life out of them (as your new best friend 'mole') before they get off the ground. They use the KISS method. (Keep It Simple Stupid)

So where is the Heritage Foundation clone?

So where is the formidable media clone mirroring RW propaganda?

George falls short in mho-

with all his money, he should be a mega multi tasker!

[Teaser]

7. never happy

are we?

[RandomKoolzip]

8. I'm always happy.

I'm on shitloads of Lexapro.

[Tellurian]

21. hahahahahahahaha!

nt

[Rose Siding]

9. "Details of the meeting remained sparse."

It doesn't seem to go far beyond the requisite attention garnered by that much money being in one room...

"But transparency was not on display among the Scottsdale participants contacted by The Hill. Details of the meeting remained sparse."

[RandomKoolzip]

10. Hands up: who heard of Rich Scaife before 2000?

I recently dug out my copy of Jello Biafra's spoken word album "No More Cocoons," from 1987. He talks about how there are "rumors" going around that Coors beer money pays for religious right front orgs and RW "foundations."

In 1987, those were just rumors. We take it for granted now that Coors, Scaife, et al. have funded this network of think tanks and front orgs., thanks to the efforts of David Brock and other defectors from the dark side. There weren't "sparse" details of this business going down, there were NO details. Until a few years ago, there were only "rumors." That's how little attention the media paid to the RW.

[liberalla]

15. When they have something to announce, I'm sure we'll hear it.

When they have something to announce, I'm sure we'll hear it.

As for me, I'm glad to hear something is in the works and the wheels are turning.

I agree with RandonKoolzip, too... America slept while the Repugs built the machine we are now suffering under.

I NOMINATED this! It was a spot of hope in my day!
Thanks for posting!

[electricray]

11. I think that this movement has more chance for success even under scrutiny

The reason these people are together has more to do than just future investment strategy. I have to believe in my core that this new progressive movement really is about more than money. If these think tanks are coming around simply to sell me a different type of rhetoric, thanks, but no thanks. My belief is that when these think tanks publish studies they will be truly unbiased even though the money funding them is from the left.

I think that is why Ed Schultz gets to me sometimes. He argues that it is all about winning, but that isn't why I am here. I truly want to help fix politics. I want to know that the information I am getting doesn't have someone's bankroll resting on me believing it. Sometimes Ed sounds like he just wants liberals to win so his ad revenues will go up.

And as far as I am concerned, let every media outlet in the country run a 24 hour feed on the burgeoning movement. It would be a far greater amount of TV time than our ideas are getting now. When real Americans hear these studies even through the FOX filter, part of their brains will tell them there might be something more to the issue. It is important to remember that all true Americans want the same basic things for themselves and their families. No one wants to see a child starve.

Our real goal is to show ordinary Americans that when someone (read neo-cons) says that a valuable social program is Socialism, they really mean that it is not important (read profitable) enough for them to find a way to get it done. We want to reintroduce every American to the social contract that they enter into just by choosing to make their life here in this beautiful, albeit currently fading, country.

[RandomKoolzip]

12. Nicely argued.

Welcome to DU!

[CottonBear]

13. You make your point well. Welcome to DU. n/t

[Auntie Bush]

4. Things are looking up! Maybe we'll see the light at the end of the tunnel

[Cha]

5. Thanks, Soros! That's a Bright Spot on

the horizon of a dimly lit world.

[WatchWhatISay]

14. 70 likeminded millionaires and billionaires?

Where's the grassroots in that?

Hopefully, not just the funders are involved here, though we sorely need them also. But if its just a bunch of rich guys, then nothing much is really going to change.

Let's hope that this reporter just left them out of this story to make it sound sexier.

[starroute]

26. The grassroots already exists -- it's us

The only way I can see for this to work is if they use their money to support the people who are already doing things -- to enable them to increase their bandwidth, quit their day jobs, get together in useful combinations, and hire promising interns to jump-start the next generation of leftie activists.

It won't work if they just set up a bunch of formal institutions staffed by official experts and issuing studies and position papers. That's what the right did 35 years ago, but we're in a different era now and anything pre-Internet is essentially horse-and-buggy stuff.

Also, the right is fatally addicted to astroturf groups, because (except on religion) almost none of its positions are shared by ordinary citizens. The left, in contrast, has hordes of real people who care passionately about real issues, but the left has always been short on ready cash. (Especially cash which is not bound to the election cycle and to specific candidates.)

If these billionaries have the sense to put the funding where the people and the issues already are, this could be a very good thing. But they've got to be able to trust us -- the people who are already out on the frontlines. If they attempt to either sidestep us or co-opt us, it could be a disaster.

[Kenergy]

16. Thank you Mr. Soros n/t

[TaleWgnDg]

17. Okay, George, where do I send my resume?

.
Okay, George, where do I send my resume? I insist. C'mon, George, I want to be in a left-leaning *think tank* . . . dammit, what fun!




__________________________________________________________________

[Hekate]

28. My thought exactly

I think I'm too old to be an intern, but I sure do hope to be around to see all of our efforts (from grassroots to mighty oaks) succeed in some measure.

Hekate

[GetTheRightVote]

18. The little people need to be included or they will not get far

it is the general population which must be convinced that the dems are the good guys who care about their well being.

:kick:

[FlemingsGhost]

19. Puppetmasters.

Cronies to be favored, when or if a Democrat is elected.

"We the people," are fools.

[FourStarDemocrat]

20. Now this makes me happy! Finally some are getting their shit together..

It'll be hard to be patient after all the years of having next to nothing, but if they do this right it'll be worth it.

[Califooyah Operative]

24. I like the sound of this. nt.

[atommom]

25. It's a start. I only hope the movement starts to pick up steam soon!

[patricia92243]

27. Best news I've heard since the election. I had literally given up on our

two party system - thus our freedom and democracy.

Wonderful to think their really are people out there that will rescue our nation from ruin.

The only thing that scares me is that Sores is old and might die before what needs to be done is accomplished.

Notice they mentioned media outlets - surely this means we will have a counter-Fox network.

I may even start watching the news again!