Kerry....worse than Bush?

Here's the thing, because Kerry is a nominal liberal democrat, he can get away with stuff that the Republicans would draw fire for. Remember what Clinton did to Welfare? A Republican would fry for that. So, amidst promises to put MORE troops in IRAQ and to have just as many pre-emptive strikes as Bush, Kerry eliminates all doubts about his loyalties with calls to increase support for the National Endowment for Democracy. Here is William Blum, pulled from Counterpunch:

Kerry faulted Bush for providing insufficient funding for the National Endowment for Democracy. -- He probably thought he was on safe ground; the word "democracy" always sells well.

But this is his most depressing comment of all. He's calling for more money for an organization that was set up to be a front for the CIA, literally, and that for 20 years has been destabilizing governments, progressive movements, labor unions, and anyone else on Washington's hit list.{6} Which would be a worse mark against Kerry, that he doesn't know this about NED, or that he does know it? It sounds like another throwaway to imply a divide between he and George W.

In other words, the NED just continued doing some of the things the CIA was getting in trouble for. Just as he could have with the WMD bullshit justifying Gulf Massacre II, Kerry could learn all of this about the NED before he finished his morning coffee. So, of coure, he surely knows these things already.

You can read more about the National Endowment for Democracy on this excellent site I just discovered: Third World Traveler. I just started looking at this site, but it looks like an excellent primer on the way things actually work in this country. When it mentions books, it usually excerpts substantial portions. Go check it out, and send me links to the best stuff there (it is a huge site). I'm going to add them to my links section.