George Soros Sitting Out the Midterms

This probably isn't what the Democrats want to hear right now. George Soros, the liberal financier who contributed heavily to Democrats in the last several elections, is leaving the party to fend for itself this year—and he’s describing the November midterms as a lost cause. “I don’t believe in standing in the way of an avalanche,” he said in an interview Friday. The Bush administration inspired him to get involved in electoral politics in 2004, and he stayed involved until the Democrats won in 2008. But this year, as the Democrats head toward a bleak midterm in which they stand to lose control of both houses, Soros is putting his money toward groups that work on health care and the environment rather than toward the party. Asked whether the prospect of a Republican Congress concerns him, he says, “It does, because I think they are pushing the wrong policies, but I’m not in a position to stop it.”