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The Right's "Soros Envy"
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Laura Rozen has penned a fascinating piece on the bumpy ride that hyper-conservative "Freedom's Watch" has had thus far in its emergence as a conservative challenger to MoveOn.org.
She notes that Israeli settlements supporter Sheldon Adelson is just not the George Soros type and is getting so much in the way of the efficient operation of the organization, that many senior staff have already come and gone in the life of the very young outfit.
Speaking of Soros, the conference call I hosted the other day with Soros on his new book The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What it Means can be listened to here.
It was so successful that we are organizing two international conference calls for the media, press, and policy-focused bloggers. I can't open the lines to the public because there aren'e enough lines to cover the demand, but I (and the New America Foundation) will be hosting these conference calls from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The first conference call primarily for media in Europe and the Middle East will be 9 am EST Wednesday morning, April 9 (1300 GMT). The second conference call will be 10:00 pm EST Wednesday, April 9, which is 11:00 am in Tokyo. I'll be on both calls.
If you are a policy blogger or member of the media, you are welcome to join us -- but you must send your information -- name and press/blog information -- to my colleague Samuel Sherraden at sherraden@newamerica.net. He'll credential and send call-in information to the journalists and bloggers that we can handle.
I should add that this conference call will focus on George Soros' concerns about the global financial crisis and how we should be thinking differently about the framework of regulatory involvement. He suggests that what we are seeing now is the bursting of two bubbles simultaneously -- one the housing bubble and two, a "super bubble" of synthetic instruments that have driven the creation of credit to highly unstable levels.
Soros also offers his own outlook for 2008. I've just finished reading the entire book, which is being distributed electronically in order to speed dissemination -- and it provides important, fascinating insights into global markets, regulatory problems, and Soros himself.
-- Steve Clemons
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Reader Comments (7) - post a comment
I haven't read the article yet but it is funny that Freedom's Watch is floundering. Is Adelson a control freak as a CEO? I suspect anyone would if they were putting up the $250 million that he supposedly did.
Soros could call upon the educated left to develop an organization.
The FreeDumb Watch crew is full of flat earthers denying evil-ution and wanting democracy only if the election results meet their aims.
Stupid is still stupid. You can't try and run PR to make it sound any other way. See also Dubya.
Soros is good but he does not discuss who the winners and Losers were. His reform still has investors in the lead position, as if the economy were the whole of society.
Important consideration, Doug. It would be interesting to hear him respond to your point.
You might want to keep your eye on the American Future Fund, a 501(c)(4).
Given the heavyweight Republican operatives such as Holtzman Vogel, Ben Ginsberg and Ed Tobin behind AFF, the right wing must be expecting great things from it this election season.
I've been posting information about American Future Fund at the TPM Cafe. I can confirm that wealthy Iowan businessman and big Republican donor, Bruce Rastetter, is involved in AFF. Rastetter is a major player in the ethanol industry and on the board of the Renewable Fuels Association.
Holtzman Vogel registered AFF and Iowa Future Fund on 10/7/07 in Iowa. According to an FEC complaint filed by Minnesota Dems, Nicole Schlinger, a Republican fundraiser, is the president. Schlinger is the president of Capitol Resources dba Campaign Headquarters and was paid $250k by Romney's campaign.
The p.o. box number on the FEC complaint is that of Republican operative, Nick Ryan. Ryan was former Rep. Jim Nussle's long time campaign manager and he managed Nussle's filed gubernatorial bid.
Ryan is a registered Iowan lobbyist whose sole client was Bruce Rastetter.
Ryan is now an executive with Rastetter's Summit Capital Group, according to FEC records.
In a document filed with the Iowa Sec of State, Eric Peterson is listed as the president, secretary and director of Iowa Future Fund. Peterson probably is Eric Peterson, Summit Farms business manager. Summit Farms is another one of Rastetter's companies.
I would not be at all surprised if the ethanol industry has made a substantial financial commitment to American Future Fund.
Soros appeared on Charlie Rose on Apr 10 and discussed his new book there, too. You can watch a recording of the broadcast via the Charlie Rose web site (PBS).
BTW, there must be a way to webcast these conference calls. Public companies do it all the time for their quarterly results conferences.
Utterly irrelevant observation: Soros looks alarmingly like a cross between Madeline Albright and Hillary Clinton here. Plus maybe 2% Bill Clinton.
Which would, incidentally, make him a great Deputy Secretary of State.
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