Kerry's Special Friends
The New York Times
February 7, 2004
OP-ED COLUMNIST
By DAVID BROOKS
John Kerry has been railing against the special interests,
and I don't think that's very nice because it implies that some people's interests are
not so special. I like to think that everybody's interests are special in their own way.
What's more, I think Kerry knows this, because if you look over his
long career, you see that he loves all our interests, big and small, near or far.
For example, a Chinese businesswoman named Liu Chaoying dreamed
of having her company listed on a U.S. stock exchange. That's certainly a
special dream.
Maybe as a little girl she would come home from school, gather up
her little dollies and tell them about her dream of ringing the bell to start the
trading day, or of having little Lucite tombstones on her desk to mark
her mergers and acquisitions. Maybe some of the other little girls in school
told her she'd never have a company on a U.S. exchange, because
you know how cruel little kids can be.
But she had an interest, and to her it was the most specialest
interest in the world. And she kept at it. And that cute little girl grew up to become
a lieutenant colonel in China's People's Liberation Army, which is a very
special army, even measured against the armies of other human
rights-violating dictatorships. And what's more, she had a $300,000
bank account with funds supplied by the head of Chinese intelligence, which is
certainly quite special indeed.
And Liu came to America in search of her dream, for this is the nation
of dreams. And she went to see a most special man named Johnny Chung.
And in July 1996, according to Newsweek, Chung took Liu to see his
special friend John Kerry about her dream, and Kerry recognized its
specialness. So his aides faxed over a letter to the S.E.C. about the dream,
and the very next day Liu and Chung had a private briefing with a
senior S.E.C. official about making her special dream come true.
And then a few weeks after that, Johnny Chung threw a fund-raiser
for John Kerry in Beverly Hills. And John Kerry came away with $10,000 in
contributions, and I like to think they were very special contributions.
I like to think they were written on special designer checks, maybe with
rainbows or kittens or Chinese long-range missile designs shaded
on the back, because special dreams deserve special checks, and when a man as
special as John Kerry takes up an interest, I think that makes it a special interest all by itself.
Liu Chaoying's interest was not the only interest John Kerry took
a special interest in. According to The Associated Press, Kerry took a special
interest in the insurance giant American International Group.
When Senator John McCain proposed legislation that would have ended a federal
contracting loophole benefiting A.I.G., Kerry did not look away,
as others might have done. A loophole may not seem like much to you and me, but
to A.I.G. it was a very special loophole - the cuddly kind of loophole
you can hold under the blankets and tell your secrets to late at night. And
according to The A.P., John Kerry preserved the little loophole.
And by sheer coincidence, A.I.G. donated $30,000 to help start Kerry's presidential
campaign.
While sitting on the commerce and finance committees,
John Kerry has seen many interests, and you could forgive him if he didn't think they
were all special. But Kerry has raised more money from Washington lobbyists
than any other senator. He's raised over $30 million over the past
nine years, and you just ask the folks in the telecom industry if
he doesn't make them feel special.
You just ask David Paul, one of the big figures in the savings
and loan scandal, if Kerry didn't make him feel special. You just ask the high-tech
executive Bob Majumder how special Kerry made him feel,
at least until Majumder was charged with 40 counts of conspiracy, witness tampering,
fraud, tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions. You just ask the law
firms, the brokerage houses, the oil companies, the H.M.O.'s and the
drug companies, which have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Kerry.
Oh, he sometimes pretends that he doesn't care about our special interests.
He puts on that callous populist facade. But deep down he cares.
Maybe he cares too much. When he's out on the stump saying otherwise,
he's just being a big old phony.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
nytimes.com
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To the Editor:
nytimes.com
I'm glad David Brooks is chinking away at John Forbes Kerry's
honesty armor this early in the race ("Kerry's Special Friends," column, Feb. 7). It
exposes the damaging effect of the media preoccupation with declaring a winner so early.
It also shows that liberal voters are headed down the path of superficiality
blazed by conservative knee jerks. How can voting for a candidate based
solely on his already having won elsewhere be construed otherwise?
What will Democrats do, come late October, if (when?) Mr. Kerry
is exposed as just another blue-blood rich guy looking out for the rest of us only
when the cameras are rolling? What will Democrats do if (when?)
they find that only Howard Dean and Dennis J. Kucinich, long since browbeaten
out of the race, are what they say they are?
John Kerry may actually be a principled man, but we liberals are being
herded into choosing him in an unprincipled way. It will show, and it will
haunt us.
ERIC MOSS
Lincoln, Neb., Feb. 7, 2004 |
