Security at the Staten Island Excelsior was extra-tight Monday
night for Vice President Cheney's visit to Rep. Vito Fossella's
fund-raising affair. Since I had already been through the intense
Secret Service screening before I met Mr. Cheney in April, I
don't know why I assumed I would be able to cover the event
without going through the same process. So on this very hot and
muggy evening, I found myself stranded across Hylan Boulevard and
resigned to listening to the shouts of a few dozen protesters
behind a barricade.
My source at the Cheney-Fossella event informed me later that the
room was packed with close to 1,000 guests. Mr. Cheney was there
to underscore White House support for the young congressman, who
has lately differed with President Bush on some issues. Whatever
differences there may be - for example, Mr. Fossella has
championed embryonic stem-cell research - they do not signify a
rift in the warm relationship between the Bush administration and
Mr. Fossella.
Clearly, the Staten Island pro-Fossella forces won the day by
their sheer numbers. I had, however, expected a heavier turnout
for the opposition, because earlier that day, I received an
e-mail from an organization that has been targeting the
congressman for his stance on Social Security.
New Yorkers United to Protect Social Security is a statewide
campaign to hold local politicians accountable "for keeping
the promise of Social Security." That organization has been
passing out fliers to commuters boarding the Staten Island Ferry.
In a press release announcing Mr. Cheney's visit Monday, it
reported that its activists delivered a "Social Security
Cake" to Mr. Fossella's office to show him the impossibility
of having cake and eating it too. They claim he can't be for the
president's plan to privatize and be against the sliding-scale
benefit reductions.
Are you bored yet? I am. My ennui cup spills over just writing
about these demonstrations, which have more to do with hatred of
the Bush administration than with any substantive debate. No
organization like this existed when President Clinton and other
Democrats were calling for Social Security reform in 1999.
But even these Social Security guardians were out of sight on
that muggy Monday night. Instead we had the old reliable
anti-war, war-for-oil brigade, shouting out the usual pathetic
refrains - and making me wonder what these people do for a living
in the real world. Because to utter such ridiculous shouts after
what just happened in London two weeks ago suggests that they
never pick up a newspaper or watch the evening news. Suicide
bombers are not going to go away if we leave Iraq, folks. More
than likely, they will increase in numbers, because they will
believe they are winning.
At times I am tempted to go up to these well-fed poster-bearers
and ask them if they truly understand what kind of enemy we are
dealing with. It is an enemy unlike any we have ever faced.
Some of these suicide bombers have been educated here and in
other Western countries. They are not poor, yet they sacrifice
their lives because they believe they are doing it for Allah,
therefore it is the right thing to do. How do you deal
diplomatically with people who believe that only by killing all
the infidels and establishing a Muslim theocracy can they find
peace in heaven? They remind me of psychopaths, like the Son of
Sam, who hear voices urging them to kill. Only the voices these
fanatics hear are not coming from their own fevered brains but
from trusted Islamic clerics who pervert the Koran for their own
evil ambitions.
Still, these card-carrying protesters are convinced that singing
"Kumbaya" and making the peace sign will make
everything better. One of the protesters, a man named Gary Moore,
carries around a ukulele as a weapon against the injustices
perpetrated by the Bush administration. He says its sound makes
you smile.
Thankfully we have a more realistic congressman in office in Mr.
Fossella, who says: "The war on terrorism is about
protecting America and preserving our way of life, including the
right to protest. It all depends on how one decides to exercise
that freedom: Some play ukuleles on Hylan Boulevard and wave
homemade signs, while others listen to the vice president and
myself discuss securing Homeland Security funding for New York
City and bringing home additional resources for our first
responders. That's the beauty of America."
I hear that Jane Fonda will be hitting the road soon on an
anti-war campaign tour, in a bus fueled by vegetable oil. She'll
also be selling her book. I wonder if she has a ukulele.