George Soros: "Fox News Has Imported The Methods Of George Orwell"

"I would be amused if people saw the joke in it — because what he is doing , he is projecting what Fox, what Rupert Murdoch is doing, because he has a media empire that is telling the people some falsehoods and leading the goverment in the wrong direction," Soros said. "By accusing me of doing that it ... makes it rather hard to see that he is working for the man that is doing it, which is Fox News."

When Zakaria asks Soros specifically about accusations Beck made of Soros "helping send Jews to the death camps," he responds:

"Well, look, Fox News makes a habit — it has imported the methods of George Orwell, you know, newspeak, where you can tell the people falsehoods and deceive them."

ZAKARIA: George, I want you to look at a piece of video we have here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN BECK, FOX NEWS HOST: The question is, do we have a shadow government? And, if we do, who are those intelligent minority that is -- that is guiding us through? And where are they guiding us to?

If you skip past all of the puppets and the strings, if you stop looking at the puppets themselves, you have to see who's behind the puppets. Who is choosing the puppets and the players? Who's the puppet master?

George Soros.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAKARIA: So, George, Glenn Beck has been on this kick that you are actually the mastermind who is trying to bring down the American government. How do you react when you see this kind of thing?

SOROS: Well, I would be amused if -- if people saw the joke in it, because what he is doing, he is projecting what FOX, what Rupert Murdoch is doing, because he has a -- a media empire that is telling the people some falsehoods and this -- and leading the government in the wrong direction.

But, you know, by accusing me of doing that, it kind of makes it rather hard to see that it's really, he is working for the man who is doing it, which is FOX News.

ZAKARIA: But it's very personal. I mean, he talks about you as a 14-year-old boy and he accuses you of -- of essentially helping to round Jews up -- you're Jewish yourself. You've lost --

SOROS: Yes.

ZAKARIA: You lost many, many people in the holocaust. How did you feel when you heard that?

SOROS: Well, look, FOX News makes a habit -- it has imported the methods of George Orwell, you know, newspeak, where you can tell the people falsehoods and deceive them. And you wouldn't believe that at an open society and a democracy these methods can succeed.

But, actually, they did succeed. They succeeded in Germany where the Weimar Republic collapsed and you had a -- a Nazi regime follow it. So this is a very, very dangerous way of deceiving people, and I would like people to be aware that they are being deceived.

Now, I -- because I saw it as a child, I immediately react that way. But people in America, they are innocent. They -- they haven't had the experience. But having the experience now, and I hope they wake up and they realize that they are being deceived.

ZAKARIA: What do you think of this broader movement of the Tea Party, of -- of what's going on on the right?

SOROS: Look, I think the people in the Tea Party are very decent people, hard-working. They've been hit by a force that -- that comes from somewhere which they can't fully understand, and -- and they are being misled. And they are misled by people who are using it for their selfish purposes, namely to remove regulations and -- and reduce taxation. So reduce taxation and regulation, and they are being used and deceived.

ZAKARIA: Do -- do you think that there is some -- I'm struck by the fact that when I first met you, you were always accused of being this ultra capitalist. You were the speculator, you were the person who, you know, understood markets better than anyone.

And now, you're painted as this kind of left wing iconic figure. It's been quite a journey.

SOROS: Well, you just had the experience of speaking through the -- to the puppet master and the extreme left wing manipulator, and you and the audience can make their own decisions.

ZAKARIA: And we will. George Soros, thank you very much.

SOROS: My pleasure.

Full transcript of the show: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1102/20/fzgps.01.html