One if by land

Today's New York Post describes the decidedly negative reaction of four Marines who were approached by Candidate Kerry yesterday in a Wendy's:

John Kerry's heavily hyped cross-country bus tour stumbled out of the blocks yesterday, as a group of Marines publicly dissed the Vietnam War hero in the middle of a crowded restaurant. Kerry was treating running mate Sen. John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, to a Wendy's lunch in Newburgh, N.Y., for their 27th wedding anniversary — an Edwards family tradition — when the candidate approached four Marines and asked them questions.

The Marines — two in uniform and two off-duty — were polite but curt while chatting with Kerry, answering most of his questions with a "yes, sir" or "no, sir."

But they turned downright nasty after the Massachusetts senator thanked them "for their service" and left.

"He imposed on us and I disagree with him coming over here shaking our hands," one Marine said, adding, "I'm 100 percent against [him]."

A sergeant with 10 years of service under his belt said, "I speak for all of us. We think that we are doing the right thing in Iraq," before saying he is to be deployed there in a few weeks and is "eager" to go and serve.

Thus does real life differ from showbiz.  Those watching Kerry's convention this week might have come away with the impression that he's all for our nation's military, and it's all for him.  Well, of course, some folks presently serving, or with distinguished military records from the past, indeed support him.  But I believe that's the exception rather than the rule — and his party well knows it (viz. the Gore campaign's despicable and well-organized efforts to suppress military absentee votes in the 2000 election, another parallel to 1864 by the way).

So I wasn't at all surprised to read of this encounter.  What actually struck me from the Post's story, however, was this snarky remark:

"Ninety-seven days [left in the campaign]; let's make it happen," Kerry told hundreds of bleary-eyed but upbeat supporters who showed up at a 7:30 a.m. rally on the shores of Boston Harbor — less than nine hours after Kerry finished his acceptance speech.

Kerry also employed Paul Revere's famed midnight run and imagery of Bunker Hill to bash President Bush over U.S. intelligence failures.

"These are the places where people dared to stand up and put their lives on the line — to take a risk — for something they believed in very deeply," Kerry said of the Boston neighborhood where he was speaking.

"One if by land, two if by sea, and the message was right. Come to think of it, they had better intelligence than we do today about what's going on," Kerry continued, drawing the loudest applause of the event.

Well, folks, there you have it!  When and if our national intelligence apparatus can report that a foreign army is actually on American soil and en route to capture our political leaders and seize our means of self-defense, John Kerry will act firmly and decisively on that intelligence!  I, for one, don't find this much of a comfort.