Hastert says Soros-backed policies extreme

NEW YORK, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., Wednesday called policies promoted by Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros "dangerous, radical and extreme."

"We have a fundamentally different vision for the future of our nation," Hastert wrote to Soros, one of the major money men behind the network of so-called 527 organizations advocating the defeat of George W. Bush.

"I think that policies that you and others have promoted are dangerous, radical and extreme," Hastert's letter said, zeroing in on Soros' worldwide efforts supporting the decriminalization of certain types of drugs.

Hastert was responding to a letter from Soros in which he accused the House GOP leader of implying in a Sunday television interview that the liberal billionaire had received funds from drug cartels, something Soros said was untrue.

Hastert said, "Illegal drug use and drug violence already kills thousands of young people on our streets each month."

"Promoting drug use, in my view, will lead to more lives lost and more tragedy for our children. I think this approach is simply wrong," Hastert said, explaining this was the activity he criticized in the interview Sunday with Fox News' Chris Wallace.