Kerry Tales, Part XVIII

David Brooks--the token conservative at the New York Times--rips into John Kerry's reinvention as a populist:

[A] Chinese businesswoman named Liu Chaoying dreamed of having her company listed on a U.S. stock exchange. That cute little girl grew up to become a lieutenant colonel in China's People's Liberation Army. . . [and] had a $300,000 bank account with funds supplied by the head of Chinese intelligence. . .

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. . .

Does anyone still remember the 'tisk tisking' over the Keating Five? Isn't the only difference here that Kerry's a Democrat?