George Soros Talks About Civil Society: Fox News FREAKS OUT!

This week has already started off with more than its share of absurdly delusional ravings from the usual roster of right-wing fear mongers. Karl Rove is asserting that Hillary Clinton has brain damage. His Fox News colleagues grossly misquoted former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner as saying that Obama aides asked him to lie. The uber-rightist Washington Free Beacon falsely accused Sen. Elizabeth Warren of fundraising off of Benghazi (something the right has been doing relentlessly). And now the wingnut press is all ferklempt over a public appearance by their favorite progressive puppet master, George Soros.

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The latest atrocity being committed by Soros is that he has accepted an invitation from Secretary of State John Kerry to speak at a forum for State Department personnel. The subject of the speech will be “strengthening civil society, democracy and the world economy.” Clearly a villainous plot is being hatched. At least that’s the view of the Washington Free Beacon (again) that funneled this story to Fox News. The Beacon’s article alleged that Soros is using his political connections to further foreign policy goals that will enhance the billionaire’s already substantial wealth:

“Critics say Soros leverages his political connections to increase the returns on his investments. […] The administration’s proposal to offer incentives to companies that use trucks powered by natural gas would benefit Westport Innovations, a company that converts diesel engines for natural gas use and is partially owned by Soros’ hedge fund.”

The example cited by the Beacon is laughably idiotic. The Soros Fund owns about 5.26% of the shares of Westport Innovations. That makes his stake worth about $30 million dollars. The Soros Fund, however, has a valuation of close to $30 billion. Therefore, this stock represents about one-tenth of one percent of his total holdings. And on the basis of that minuscule investment, the Beacon believes that Soros is “pulling strings at the State Department.” Furthermore, The Soros Fund is far more heavily invested in conventional energy and oil concerns including Halliburton, which is the eight largest holding in his portfolio.

This is the sort of trivia that conservatives need to latch onto because they haven’t got anything of substance to bring to contemporary political debates. It’s the reason that they spent four years lying about ObamaCare (aka the Affordable Care Act), and when those attacks fizzled as the program exceeded all expectations of success, they switched to hysterically screeching about Benghazi.

For the record: The Washington Free Beacon that is now so outraged that a wealthy businessman is engaged in political advocacy, is the creation of Republican Party honchos and is closely affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers, a relationship that the Beacon is careful to keep under wraps. But just last week News Corpse posted an article outlining the stark differences between right and left wing millionaires that included a revealing poll of America’s wealthy.