Posted on 04/20/2005 1:06:31 PM PDT by white trash redneck
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 [of attendees] kind of tight."
Sarah Ingersoll, de facto spokeswoman for Stein's Democracy Alliance, said it was "a very preliminary meeting of committed donors interested in building a community to support progressive infrastructure."
The Democracy Alliance will act as a clearinghouse and is expected to channel much of its money to new organizations and existing ones such as John Podesta's Center for American Progress and David Brock's Media Matters for America.
The money details are several weeks away. "There aren't dollar figures at this point," Ingersoll said.
Soros, a Hungarian-born financier who donated more than $23 million to pro-Democratic 527 groups last cycle, gave the main presentation, said Ingersoll, who declined to name the other presenters.
"Primarily, we're looking at making recommendations and thinking through with these donors on how they can form an alliance," she added. "This is about creating a network of individuals to share information to be effective in whatever they do going forward."
Participants were tight-lipped, saying they wanted to keep media expectations low, even suggesting that the Scottsdale gathering was too insignificant to report. Other participants included former White House press secretary Mike McCurry and New Democrat Network president Simon Rosenberg. Andy Rappaport, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and reliable investor in liberal causes, did not attend the meeting, his spokeswomen said.
Ingersoll said funding transparency is a priority, which she said would contrast with some right-wing groups.
But transparency was not on display among the Scottsdale participants contacted by The Hill. Details of the meeting remained sparse.
Most of the participants had already seen Stein's slick presentation titled "The Conservative Message Machine's Money Matrix," which lays out how right-leaning donors have funded and invested in organization that churn out conservative ideas. Stein unveiled his presentation at the Democratic National Convention in Boston last year, at an event hosted by Rosenberg and NDN.
Ingersoll denied that progressives are merely trying to replicate Heritage and Fox News.
Another source at the meeting said that it was important for existing progressive groups to coordinate their activities and to avoid the turf wars that have riven progressive causes in the past.
One source at the DNC with direct knowledge of the agenda said that the Phoenix Group had three specific goals at the outset. It wants to create liberal think tanks, training camps for young progressives and media centers.
Despite the general recognition that progressives are several years behind conservatives, liberal activists are confident that technology will help them close the gap. "Technology may allow us to do in a few years what it took the other side 40 years," the DNC source said.
But the Phoenix Group is not beholden to the political calendar, and several sources insisted that four-year electoral exigencies were not motivating the project. Indeed, part of the reasoning in keeping D.C. consultants away from Scottsdale was to shield the high-tech donor base from political operatives, who are always eager for quick dollars to buy media points and fund direct mail.
"This is bigger than that," the DNC source said
Heh - is that supposed to mean Soros is a Goa'uld?
Qwinn
Sounds like illegal coordination to me. How does one go about making an FEC complaint?
I thought Soros was going into a monastery if Bush got elected -- do you think maybe he hasn't heard?
Camps? Hmmmmm...
Soros has been a naturalized US citizen since 1954. He is a toxic influence, to be sure. The more exposure of his agenda there is, along with exposure of those on his payroll (including Republicans like John McCain and Chris Shays), the less effective he will be in implementing it.
The so-called "campaign finance reform" law was a ten year project of Soros. It is utterly unconstitutional. I find it interesting that there is no legislation in Congress to repeal this outrageous law, but McCain has already proposed amendments to "tighten" it. A Federal judge has already ordered the FEC to write regs to bring the Internet under its control as well.
The answer: they don't.
The real agenda for these guys including Soros is very simple: Elect their people and take over the Government of the United States. Use this power to favor friends and punish our enemies (business competitors and rivals for power). That's it. That's all they have. The only value a Think Tank will have for them is to help them find or grown their own Karl Rove who will lead them to Electoral Nirvana. The "ideas" they generate will simply be PR items that they believe will help sway the electorate. Nothing more. That's why they can't talk about it. It's not about policy. It's about perception.
Not going to happen but it will be fun to watch.
Generally when liberals actually get a workable idea they become conservatives. It's when they're willing to settle for a soundbite they remain liberals.
Shalom
Be Patient! That old geezer doesn't have time to be patient; and what's great is, he'll never live to see the day that conservatives don't rule!
A snake in his head would explain things.
Soros IS a US citizen. He has been for decades.
On a slightly related note...when is this leftie coot going to croak?
Soros and rich goons trying to buy control of the company.
OH...BTW.....in the article, the Hill refers to the groups as "progressive"
PROGRESSIVE IS DEMOCRAT TRANSLATION FOR 'LIBERAL'.
Can't say that enough.
The USA has thrived because of our 2 party system.
We just read about 70 morons with money. Where are the 20 million Democrats who voted recently? Surely, they are not all looney like this bunch! Do they understand how they (and we) are about to be manipulated out of our freedom?
I guess not - because they will not read about this cabal in the MSM, CBS, NBC or CNN. Has Fox reported this?
God we are in trouble.
sp
The boys (and a few girls) were all down there. It just makes sense to hold this scummy little recruiting party while everybody's in one place for the forum and more or less available. More available than usual for sure given their usual everyday schedules. Hopefully the smarter boys will see through that destructive little bastard Soros and not be swayed by the more "political" among them.
My money says it happened right around the 3/20-22 PC Forum in Scottsdale. That's when all the type of people Soros would want to reach are ALL there. Just try to get these guys together in one place at one time unless they're already there for something. They sure are secretive for people who want an "open" society.
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