George Soros is a superhero along the lines of Batman and Superman? That's the comparison correspondent John Berman made on Thursday's "Good Morning America." The ABC journalist was reporting on a closed door meeting of billionaires that included liberals such as Soros, Ted Turner and Oprah Winfrey. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss charitable giving, leading ABC to feature a graphic with Turner as Superman and Winfrey as Wonder Woman. [audio for download here]
And while well known arch-liberal Soros, financier of groups such as Moveon.org, wasn't featured in the silly illustration, he was discussed in the piece, with no mention of his hard-left positions. (Billionaire/Mayor Michael Bloomberg was relegated to being portrayed as a lesser hero, Aquaman.) Soros, who once compared the Bush administration to Nazis, was simply referred to this way: "Together with others in the meeting, including George Soros, Ted Turner, David Rockefeller, they're worth more than $125 billion."
Berman even linked the meeting to the '70s/early 80s cartoon series "The Super Friends." He gushed, "Behind closed doors on this New York campus, a secret gathering of some of the world's most powerful people. Gates, Buffett, Bloomberg, Winfrey. It was like- well, it was like, 'The Super Friends.'"
With no mention of the liberal agenda of some of the participants, most specifically Soros, Berman concluded, "The new super-men and wonder woman. The super-rich friends. Not fighting bad guys, but fighting for good, nonetheless."
A transcript of the May 21 segment, which aired at 7:36am, follows:
DIANE SAWYER: We're going to tell you now about what happened with a club so exclusive, that just a handful of Americans need apply. Where the price of admission is $1 billion and a philanthropic heart. And that meets the pricey requirements recently held in a secret meeting, a private meeting in New York City. ABC's John Berman has the scoop on who was there and what was going on.
ABC GRAPHIC: Secret Billionaires' Club: The World's Richest In Big Meeting
JOHN BERMAN: Behind closed doors on this New York campus, a secret gathering of some of the world's most powerful people. Gates, Buffett, Bloomberg, Winfrey. It was like- well, it was like, "The Super Friends."
[Clip from "The Super Friends."]
ANNOUNCER: In the great hall of the Justice League, there are assembled some of the world's greatest heroes.
BERMAN: Together with others in the meeting, including George Soros, Ted Turner, David Rockefeller, they're worth more than $125 billion.
MATTHEW MILLER (Senior editor, Forbes magazine): To have been in the room and see this meeting of the minds really would have been a fascinating thing.
BERMAN: That much money. That much power around one table. It begs the question, what were they doing? What were they scheming? Total world domination? This group, together for six hours, was talking about charity, education, emergency relief, global health.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (Mayor, NYC): All my friends are philanthropic or they probably wouldn't be my friends.
BERMAN: An official at the Gates foundation told ABCNews.com, "The overwhelming reason for the meeting was need. That was the issue that galvanized everyone to participate." Together, they had given away $70 billion since 1996. And with the sagging economy, their help could be just what struggling charities need.
MILLER: Charities are hurting. And somebody has to speak for all these charities. And if they want philanthropy to be robust in the future in the United States, these are the people you want to be talking about it.
[Video onscreen of various billionaires super imposed as Superheroes, such as Batman, Superman. Etc.]
BERMAN: The new super-men and wonder woman. The super-rich friends. Not fighting bad guys, but fighting for good, nonetheless. For "Good Morning America," John Berman, ABC News, New York.
SAWYER: Yes. Apparently one of the things they discussed is what each of them knows about what really works and what doesn't work. So, they concentrate their resources.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.





JOHN BERMAN: Behind closed doors on this New York campus, a secret gathering of some of the world's most powerful people. Gates, Buffett, Bloomberg, Winfrey. It was like- well, it was like, "The Super Friends." 














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May 21, 2009 - 15:48 ET by SickofLibsNo, please, no, I beg of you!
CAPTIAN PLANET!!!!!!!!!
May 21, 2009 - 21:10 ET by red_dragon311here is ted as a super hero.....very clole to the truth
FINALY A REAL CANDIATE FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!
http://zod2008.com/index.htm
More evidence that there's no media bias
May 21, 2009 - 16:20 ET by locomotivebreath1901But if these 'super friends' aim is to bolster grass-roots charity giving, these 'super friends' are the wrong conglomerate to do it. Libs are notoriously stingy when it comes to giving. IE: Obama is parsimonious compared to the generousity of Bush.
What these 'super friends' have done is fund huge left wing advocacy groups which then lobby for more & higher taxes, which further undermine contributions to charity, which then magnifies these super-rich, 'super friends' and their 'generosity'.
It's all about their power to contribute (to leftist, PC causes, of course), not about empowering others to donate to causes they find deserving (like churches, shelters, etc).
We can count on the vaunted MSM to step up and illuminate this truth for us all, real soon...
Really. Santa told me so.
http://locomotivebre...
Turner and Soros prove
May 21, 2009 - 16:43 ET by Chris NormanTurner and Soros prove that money can't buy sanity.
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
Ah, But Chris . . .
May 22, 2009 - 16:34 ET by DoktorFranken. . . Money DOES seem to be able to buy the best hallucinogens for the morning crew at ABC who have obviously overdosed a few times.
Soros is running this
May 21, 2009 - 16:53 ET by bigtimerSoros is running this country in various ways.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
As Lucianne.com would put it:
May 21, 2009 - 17:09 ET by wnaegeleBARF ALERT!
I don't watch ABC news...
May 21, 2009 - 17:25 ET by jawebster1or CBS news or NBC news because of stuff like this. These so-called "Super Heroes" are "Super Villains" to me and they wonder why their ratings suck? Jim Webster
501c-3 -- how the Mandarins cheat
May 21, 2009 - 18:30 ET by carolina09When you're super rich, you complain loudly about being undertaxed, but then you donate to your own "foundation" and deduct that as charitable giving. Then you can spend whatever you want on whatever crackpot agenda you have and call it "generous." Like, how about funding every filmmaking society in the US and getting them to make anti-American "documentaries"? Oh, and if the charity makes money on its investments, you get to pocket the interest.
Double Standard
May 21, 2009 - 18:38 ET by slickwillie2001Can you imagine what the liberal media would say if a group of Conservative billionaires got together for a meeting? The libs would be bouncing off the walls and demanding to know exactly what happened.
Oh my...
May 21, 2009 - 18:52 ET by ReaverActually saw this today. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I kept thinking this has to be a parody but then it ended and I realized they really were serious. Unbelievable! If this was a group of conservative billionaires the whole tone would have been a dark “secret society” theme, it wouldn’t matter how much charity they did.
If stupidity got us into this mess,
then why can't it get us out?
--Will Rogers
Wondertwin
May 21, 2009 - 20:05 ET by fitzfongWondertwin Powers...activate!
Turner: Shape of...a jackass!
Soros: Form of...urine!
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." -Winston Churchill
Superheroes? No. More
May 21, 2009 - 20:55 ET by stratmanSuperheroes? No.
More like enemies of The Man From UNCLE's known as THRUSH:
The Joke's On ABC Because I Depicted Soros As A Superhero First!
May 21, 2009 - 22:55 ET by The7SticksIt was about two years ago. I mainly did it in reaction to Bill O'Reilly's first attempt to pull out the good ol' Soros-Open Society flow-chart about funding Media Matters and all that nonsense because it just seemed funny to me. Then I brought out... Sorosman! I thought it would be funny to draw him wearing a spandex suit with an American flag as his cape adorned on him. Then I drew him threatening to replace O'Reilly with Keith Olberfuher (back when I didn't know that much about Olberfuher, in retrospect.) and I was just so cavalier in my attitude towards it. Anyway, I got to show it to Bloom County creator Berkeley Breathed (who's pretty non-partisan in retrospect) at one of his book signings, explaining that I thought it would be funny about what might happen if O'Reilly ever ran into Soros, and he chuckled and signed it for me.
So ABC, nice try, but I came up with the concept two years ahead of you. Leave it the comic book heroics to us professionals.
soros
May 22, 2009 - 00:23 ET by greghansonI always find it interestng how the left swoons over George Soros, and then turn around and labels anyone one on the right as Nazis. George Soros, a native of Hungary, actually spent some of his teenage years collaborating with the Nazi occupiers of Hungary. His job was to inventory the property of Jews who had been shipped off to concentration camps, so that the Nazis could confiscate it.