Soros gives $1 million to wealthy hate group Media Matters, friend says he was 'violent' on topic of George Bush

Update: Soros-backed group Democracy Alliance gave to Media Matters before July 2006 but parties were required to keep donation secret, Washington Post, 7/16/06

• 10/20/10, "Soros gives one million to Media Matters," Politico
  

"George Soros announced that he has given $1 million to Media Matters “to hold Fox News accountable for the false and misleading information they so often broadcast.” Fox commentators frequently describe Media Matters, a frequent Fox critic, of being funded by Soros, but Media Matters has long denied that connection.

• In today’s joint announcement, Soros denied it too – at least until today.

“Despite repeated assertions to the contrary by various Fox News commentators, I have not to date been a funder of Media Matters,” Soros said. “However, in view of

• recent evidence suggesting that the incendiary rhetoric of Fox News hosts may incite violence,
  

I have now decided to support the organization. Media Matters is one of the few groups that attempts to hold Fox News accountable for the false and misleading information they so often broadcast. I am supporting Media Matters in an effort to more widely publicize the challenge Fox News poses to civil and informed discourse in our democracy.”

• Soros figured prominently in the conspiracy theory that allegedly drove convicted felon Byron Williams to arm himself and set out to kill staffers at the Soros-funded Tides Foundation the ACLU this summer.
  

Although Williams said he had first heard of the theory from other sources, he told Media Matters in a jailhouse interview that Glenn Beck was a “schoolteacher” who “blew my mind” on such topics. He told the interviewer to watch Beck’s June shows to get more information about Tides.

On Friday, Drummond Pike, the founder and CEO of the Tides Foundation, said

• “there will be blood on many hands”
  

if the next assassin succeed, and called for a network-wide advertiser boycott of Fox News in response to Beck’s rhetoric. This morning Media Matters launched a website to join the effort.

Glenn Beck has said on air that Soros funds Media Matters 14 times this year so far, according to Media Matters."

• Soros himself has been described as "violent" by a close friend at Morgan Stanley when it comes to his political views:

"According to Byron Wien, senior investment strategist at Morgan Stanley and a close Soros friend,

• "George was violent on this before a Democratic candidate was even chosen, ... It was anybody but Bush."

• Source: SourceWatch, "Soros-Bush Administration"

from Answers.com, "In an interview with The Washington Post on November 11, 2003, Soros said that removing President George W. Bush from office was the "central focus of my life" and "a matter of life and death." He said he would sacrifice his entire fortune to defeat President Bush, "if someone guaranteed it."^[36]

• Soros gave $3 million to the Center for American Progress, $5 million to MoveOn.org, and $10 million to America Coming Together. These groups worked to support Democrats in the 2004 election. "

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