This is a partial transcript from “HANNITY & COLMES”, June 3, 2004, that has been edited for clarity.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: This morning, George Soros, who is described by some as Daddy Warbucks of the Democratic Party was introduced by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton at an event in Washington, and he compared the prison abuse pictures in Iraq to the attacks of 9/11.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE SOROS, BILLIONAIRE/ACTIVIST: I think that those pictures hit us the same way as the terrorist attack itself. Not quite with the same force because the terrorist attack, we were the victims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So is the left in this country completely out of control in their hatred of George W. Bush?
Joining us now, Democratic strategist Richard Aborn. And from Washington and the “Washington Times,” our good friend Tony Blankley. Thank you both for being with us.
He said things like he wants regime change. He has funded groups like MoveOn.org which were feature ads that compared President Bush, on their web site, to Adolf Hitler.
Are you uncomfortable at the level of vitriol coming from the left, your side?
RICHARD ABORN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: The Democratic Party does not compare George Bush or any other president to Adolf Hitler. That is not true.
HANNITY: Can I just correct you? Let me tell you. First of all, he is funding — he’s funding MoveOn.org to the tune of $2.5 million. And they had ads on their web site that compared the president to Hitler.
ABORN: Which they pulled off, and they apologized. They were over the top. They were wrong. They’ve been denounced, and we’ll denounce them again tonight. They are wrong, wrong, wrong.
HANNITY: What about his statement from today?
ABORN: First of all, his statement does not equate the terrorist attack on 9/11 with the prison scandal.
But I think there’s a huge difference between what happened in the prisons and what the terrorist does. This country exists in its grandeur because of a country based on ordered liberties. What happened in the prison in Baghdad violated the norms of this country.
We exist in a culture of lawless — of lawfulness, excuse me. What the terrorists do, the vermin that they are, is lawlessness. We are not anywhere near the lawlessness that is occurring, so we denounce the reprehensible conduct of the soldiers in Baghdad. But we certainly don’t equate the two things.
HANNITY: He is willing to spend — if he could guarantee it, Mr. Soros would devote his entire $7 billion fortune to get rid of George W. Bush. Clearly there’s a hatred here that he has. What do you think of his remarks today?
TONY BLANKLEY, “WASHINGTON TIMES”: Look, if he wasn’t a multibillionaire he’d just be another ignored left-wing crank, but we all pay more attention to people who have several billion dollars. And so people are paying some attention to it.
I actually don’t terribly worry about this kind of idiotic statements. Because — I used to get angry as in your previous segment, when … made the language he used.
But I found that American politics tends to be self-correcting, and when people like this make these extraordinary and outrageous statements.
HANNITY: But Tony…
BLANKLEY: It bounces back against them, and, you know, we’re commenting on it. I think the public knows — this man by the way…
HANNITY: But there’s a difference here. He’s funding all these 527 groups, Section 527 groups, sort of circumventing the McCain-Feingold law.
And he is deoting his fortune to defeat President Bush. So he’s going to have a big say ultimately in this election. He’s introduced by Hillary Rodham Clinton, and he has — he’s using the most extreme left- wing language and supporting an extreme group like move on, what responsibility did she have not to associate with this guy?
BLANKLEY: Any elected politician has to be very careful who they share the … with. And I think Hillary made a mistake in being on the same platform with statements that I don’t think she would be prepared to make.
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: She made the same statements everybody makes.
Let me go here, go back to Richard. First of all, I don’t agree with the interpretation of George Soros’ remarks as represented by some.
For example, what he said was that this — the Abu Ghraib pictures hit us the same ways as the terrorist attacks. That’s what he said.
But they’re not the same was the second part of his statement, because in the attacks we were the victims. So I don’t buy that this was a pure analogy he was making. Hold on let me let Richard respond. We’ll go to you.
ABORN: That’s what I was saying to Sean. He’s not equating the two, but any decent American, any American that believes in law had to be shocked, terribly shocked by the pictures that we saw coming out of the prisons. We need to denounce that.
COLMES: I think part of the shock value, Tony, is that we expect the terrorists to do horrible things because they’re terrorists. I think it’s shocking to Americans when we see fellow Americans doing things that we view as not American-like and that’s the shock value, I think, you’re referring to.
BLANKLEY: Yes, Americans have all rejected those photos. But let’s get back to Soros.
This a man who blamed the Jews for anti-Semitism, getting Abe Fluxman — excuse me — head of the Anti-Defamation League to call it an obscene statement.
This is a man who, when he was plundering the world’s currencies in England in ’92, he caused a Southeastern Asian financial crises in ’97.
ABORN: Please, come on. Wait a second. You’re so far beyond the facts. Hold on.
BLANKLEY: He said that he has no moral responsibility for the consequences of his financial actions. He is a self-admitted atheist. He was a Jew who figured out a way to survive the holocaust.
COLMES: Religious beliefs have nothing to do with…
ABORN: Are you going to do a background check on every single Republican contributor to the Republican Party?
COLMES: What I don’t understand, Tony…
BLANKLEY: When a man with this kind — when a man is with this kind of money, and he’s spending it on trying to influence the American public in an election — trying to buy the election; he is not going to — we have a right to know what kind of an unscrupulous man he is.
COLMES: Here’s how he spent his … Tony. This is a man who paid for water filtration system in Sarajevo. He supported democratic movements in Czechoslovakia, Slovenia, Serbia…
BLANKLEY: I know. He supported the abortion movement.
COLMES: And elucidation for everybody here, the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. He’s — that’s where he’s actually put his money, to help democratize the rest of the word.
I would think — Let me get my question out.
BLANKLEY: He’s a robber baron, a pirate capitalist and he’s — he is a reckless man.
COLMES: Let me get my question out. Let me get my question out, Tony.
I would think that conservatives who favor privatization and favor democratization of other countries would favor a guy using his billions to democratize privately, put his money where his mouth is, the same thing that Bush is trying to do militarily around the globe. Why wouldn’t you support what Soros is doing.
BLANKLEY: He supported abortion in Eastern Europe in a country that’s losing population. He’s a self-admitted atheist, I think he’s a very bad influence in the world.
He’s entitled to spend his money, and the public is entitled to know what kind of a man he is.
ABORN: Tony, he’s also supporting gun control which every police organization in this country supports. That’s hardly…
BLANKLEY: And he’s in favor of legalizing drugs, which every police department is against.
HANNITY: Tony, I think you’re right. He is trying to buy the election. We have a right to know who he is, and the Democrats that support him are only doing it for money.
Good to see you, Tony. Thank you.
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