Heritage Tries Class Warfare, Clumsily

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/02/heritage-tries-class-warfare-clumsily

Heritage Foundation does some fine work, funded in part by direct mail campaigns that we've criticized here in the past. The latest direct mail letter arrived at my house the other day and complains about the left's "demonizing of grassrots Americans who protest government policies as Nazis." This is strange, considering that there are plenty of those on the right demonizing President Obama as a Nazi; it seems like I get emailed one of those YouTube videos once a day ("Hitler Reacts to Failure of ObamaCare," "Hitler Reacts to Loss of Massachusetts Senate Seat") and they all have hundreds of thousands of views. The best part, though, is the closing page of the letter: "The leftist groups I've described are supported mainly by limousine liberals, Hollywood moguls, billionaires like Soros's friends and the like. In sharp contrast, Heritage is supported by over 570,000 Americans, some on fixed incomes, mostly middle-class citizens who have to think carefully about where they spend their money. I know you are not a billionaire like George Soros or a wealthy Hollywood ideologue like Barbra Streisand." The kicker is the signature on the letter — Steve Forbes. I've voted for Steve Forbes, I agree with him a lot, and I occasionally write for his magazine's Web site. I've got nothing against the guy. He once sent me a green silk "Capitalist Tool" necktie as a gift, which I wear proudly, including while riding the subway in Brooklyn. But if Heritage is looking for someone to fire up middle-class fixed-income Americans against "limousine liberals, Hollywood moguls, billionaires like Soros's friends and the like," might they have wanted to find someone without a 151-foot yacht that serves 18 14-oz. tins of Beluga caviar each season?

by Ira Stoll  |  Feb 12, 2010 at 9:52 am Related Topics:  George Soros, Income Inequality, Non-Profits, Press receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list