George Soros: Tea Party Activists Being 'Used,' Obama's 'Lost Control Of Agenda' (VIDEO)

Billionaire George Soros, a longtime backer of progressive causes, suggested that members of the Tea Party movement are being "used and deceived" during an appearance on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" over the weekend.

Asked to share his take on the coalition of conservative activists, Soros signaled his belief that "people in the Tea Party are very decent people, hard-working." He added, however, that supporters of the movement "have been hit by a force" from a place which "they can't fully understand." Here's what Soros went on to say:

And -- and they are being misled. And they are misled by people who are using it for their selfish purposes, namely to remove a -- regulations and -- and -- and reduce taxation. So reduce taxation and regulation. And they are being used and deceived.

During the appearance, Soros also weighed in on the job performance of President Barack Obama, particularly as it relates to his administration's handling of the economy.

"President Obama has lost control of the agenda," he said. "The agenda is now in the hands of the Republican Party."

Soros predicted that Republicans will "pursue a very strong effort to cut services by refusing to have any tax increases." He suggested, however, that the spending slashing mission would be executed in a way "more directed at cutting services and achieving the ideological purposes" of the GOP than actually giving the economy a boost. Soros said, "I think this will have a negative effect on the economy."

(Click here to read what Soros had to say during the segment about repeated attacks he's faced from Fox News host Glenn Beck.)

Here's a clip of what Soros had to say on CNN:

Comments

[stecor]

06:25 PM on 02/23/2011

If Soros was truly concerned about the TeaBaggers, he'd just buy the 160 million dollars in bonds the Wisconsin governor is using as an excuse to ram through his agenda...but perhaps George is not willing to put 160 million dollars of his fortune where his mouth is?

[T Pile]

07:31 AM on 02/22/2011

The hilarious thing is that for all the talk about how he's destroying America, I still trust George Soros more on his demeanor alone. He seems like a friendly old rich man, as opposed to these mean and secretive people who think they deserve to own the country.

[imenevazno]

06:56 AM on 02/22/2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/soros52/English

[tenilla]

01:11 AM on 02/22/2011

Some questions for the Teabaggers/Birthers who have posted here insisting that they
are not being used by the Koch brothers:

1) Do you have such a large fortune that you could pay out of pocket for any major
hospitalizations or medical conditions that might require you to pay hundreds of dollars
a month for prescription drugs?

2) Do you enjoy working on the interstate highways you use daily -- do you have orange
cones and flashing lights and tar?

3) Do you have such a large arsenal of ammunition in your home that you will never need the "government interference" of police protection?

4) Do you have a lot of big hoses and other fire fighting equipment?

5) Are you prepared to protect your home should there be any devestating "acts of nature,"
i.e., floods, hurricanes, earthquakes?

[John Jan Popovic]

07:09 PM on 02/21/2011

the nightmare is coming from global world ..
http://vodpod.com/watch/1401706-glenn-beck-ron-paul-george-soros-global-new-deal-new-monetary-scheme-new-world-order

[Sahuaro]

04:25 PM on 02/21/2011

He didn't tell us what the deception is.

[PRRA2000]

03:11 PM on 02/21/2011

Very interesting interview.
Soros’s puppet is losing control of “the agenda”
George, you need to tell America exactly what you mean by “the agenda”

[tenilla]

03:31 PM on 02/21/2011

Barack Obama is not the puppet of George Soros. Soros is way to the left of the
President.

You are oblivious, but you are the puppet of the Koch Brothers.

[tygh]

04:14 PM on 02/21/2011

Anyone who believes Glen Beck need to go back to school and take remedial classes in logical thinking.

[oimZgirl]

04:14 PM on 02/21/2011

George also has no puppets in the SCOTUS; but the Koch family has at least two...

[millertime]

03:38 PM on 02/21/2011

Agenda: a list or outline of things to be considered or done

Try to remember, the President outlined his AGENDA while running for office, yet has veered away from some of the points he was going to approach. Health care got no public option, wall street reform had very little teeth to it, and he extended the tax cuts he vowed to let expire....its actually pretty easy to figure out, if you are paying attention...

[lthuedk 1]

03:07 PM on 02/21/2011

The Tea Party began legitimately, with real concerns, and a vision that didn't include Corporate. Since Rupert Murdoch and his comrades in arms, the Kochs hijacked it, it's nothing more than undiluted Corporate Con.

It's that big Middle Class that all totalitarians need to control and fleece.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/Tea_Party_Meets_Middle_Class.html

[blindhog]

02:09 PM on 02/21/2011

HE'S RIGHT ABOUT THE USED AND DECEIVED COMMENT.

He is ALSO right about Fox News. I really, really, really wonder WHAT their agenda is? I'm not sure they see the end result of their actions.

[T Pile]

07:30 AM on 02/22/2011

Alllllll the money.

[StopMakingSense2]

02:06 PM on 02/21/2011

If one must state the obvious. Thing is fools don't figure it out till it's too late because they tend to as stubborn as they are unenlightened.

[lightbulb10]

01:59 PM on 02/21/2011

Why don't they all try listening a bit more?

[AZDave2]

01:41 PM on 02/21/2011

Conservative literature (all the way back to the Reagan era) is filled with the "starve the beast" plans by Republican Conservatives. The plan has always been to do away with social programs of any kind when they gain power. There is actually some evidence that not paying for the two wars under the Bush Administration and also adding a drug program to Medicare that was not payed for was the Bush push-back to his failure to get Social Security privatized. It is well known that Republicans are totally against anything that supports the poor and Bush I even called for the "thousand points of light" to take care of the poor. As time goes on Tea Party folks who were concerned about their pensions, social security, and the big bank robbery of the economy and the Bush bailout of the big banks began to strike back. They said of healthcare we don't need a big new program but don't touch my medicare.
What Tea Party folk don't realize is that "tea Party corporate" as described by local tea party organizers is actually OWNED by Health Insurance Companies, Big Oil, and Big Coal. Thus we will see no tax cuts for anyone but the rich out of Republicans. They in fact want to raise taxes on the poor and middle class and cut in half taxes on the rich to a level below that of everyone else. This is the GOP plan.

[tenilla]

01:51 PM on 02/21/2011

Sadly, I suspect they are concerned when we speak of the Koch brothers, but it should
be pointed out that Charles Koch and David Koch are 5th and 6th on Forbes Magazines
list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. The Koch boys are Big Oil.

[tenilla]

01:59 PM on 02/21/2011

Correction: I meant to say "confused" rather than "concerned." I would bet
that most of them have never heard of the Koch Brothers.

[loneryyder]

01:18 PM on 02/21/2011

SOS over and over again. I'm right, your wrong, therefor I want to force you to be like me. The more someone desires to force liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican agendas down my throat, the more libertarian I become. I wish all these power mongering jackasses would stop trying force their will upon me. That said I still have difficulty with the official stance of the Libertarian party not wanting to limit the power of the "corporation", though.

I remain disgusted with all of it. I'd like to just raise my family with a reasonable amount of freedom without governments, corporations, politicians and wealthy philanthropist telling me what to think or do. And then worse yet, if they can't convince me to be like them, they just force it on me.

It's sickening. It is all about power!

[oimZgirl]

04:20 PM on 02/21/2011

Sadly, those "power mongering jackasses" will continue to force their will upon you and drag the misguided, tea-soaked zombies along for the ride. I too remain disgusted with all of it. I wish I didn't have to holler all the time about the KochBrothers and the christo-fascist american taliban that is fomenting their takeover. But the alternative is to do nothing.

[Carlariz]

12:53 PM on 02/21/2011

"used and deceived" to say the least, most of these home school T baggers will believe anything, their current 4 fathers/Mother say, Rush, Glenn, Sarah and Sean, prey on these simple minded individuals....

[ZGuile]

12:58 PM on 02/21/2011

current 4 fathers?? current forefathers???! fathers/Mother? What kind of liquor-fueled rant is that?

[Jaladeno]

01:12 PM on 02/21/2011

Good job, little teabilly. Put the focus on spelling and you can ignore the point of the post.

[Carlariz]

01:13 PM on 02/21/2011

Simply stating the obvious.... Apparently the shoe fit, didn’t it??? ha..ha... Simple Minds...

[TucsonEd]

01:10 PM on 02/21/2011

Obama used and deceived Progressives. So did the Democrats. It started when Nancy got up and said "Impeachment is Off the table" Tell me one good reason WHY??

[lightbulb10]

02:01 PM on 02/21/2011

Interesting.

[Sergeant]

12:45 PM on 02/21/2011

Yeah, you made your money by never using and deceiving anyone, right George?

[Jaladeno]

12:49 PM on 02/21/2011

Is all right wing morality of the comparative kind? You guys never seem to answer whether something is right or wrong, but instead come back with some version of "yeah, but what about you?"

[Carlariz]

01:15 PM on 02/21/2011

The reason they don’t dispute anything is because they can’t dispute the facts, they distort the truth.... and they are good at it.

[homer winslow]

03:51 PM on 02/21/2011

I know you are, but what am I?