Kerry Ferry - heraldblog

Kerry Ferry

Not much happens in Bay View, the Milwaukee neighborhood where I live. So it was pretty exciting stuff when John Kerry crossed Lake Michigan this afternoon on the Lake Express Ferry, landing at the docks about one mile from my house. I heard he was supposed to be in town Monday, speaking downtown about 4:30 pm. I turned on the news at 5 pm, hoping to hear a live remote from Pere Marquette Park, on the banks of the aptly named Milwaukee River, site of the planned gathering. That's when I learned that Kerry was on the ferry, and would be docking at 6 pm.

I left home at 6 pm, knowing from experience that the boat always runs 15 minutes late. I rode my wife's mountain bike, since my trusty Schwinn Continental has two flat tires and no brakes. I huffed and puffed up Superior Ave., and when I came within site of the dock I saw the ferry just pulling up, flanked by two Coast Guard escorts.

The security presence was not overwhelming as I had expected. I rode right by uniformed motorcycle cops, looking bored on their Harleys, and pulled up about fifty feet from the ferry's twin bows. Kerry was standing on the starboard, on the top deck, near the wheelhouse, or poop deck, or whatever the hell it's called, waving at a small but exhuberant crowd. Wife Teresa stood nearby, in a red dress, snapping photos of the people who were snapping photos of she and her husband.

More waiting, as the press pool and normal people left the boat. About four or five TV cameras stood ready to capture the moment when the Senator from Massachusets stepped onto the gangplank. Waiting. Waiting. Then he appeared, waving, smiling. Someone remarked how tall Kerry is. He seems to stand a head taller than everyone around him. He spent the next ten minutes hidden in a crush of people important enough to be allowed past the secret service into the gated area around the boat. The rest of us mortals stood in bare dirt, just off the pavement. I tried to approach the gated area, and was waved back by a polite but firm policeman. "Stay away from the motorcade," he said. Kerry left the gated area, so he was visible for another second, waving, smiling. He got into a big black car.

I got back on my girlie mountain bike and headed toward the entrance to the dock complex. I leaned my bike against a light pole, and waited for five minutes until the motorcade passed. Kerry was looking the other way. Waving, smilng.

Then I went back home.

I'm George W. Bush and I approviate this message

Hilarious.

(Thanks to Josh Marshall.)

3.8.04 03:42

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To date 4 Comment(s) TrackBack-URL

ponnyj (3.8.04 18:01)
That's great that you got the chance to see Kerry. About how many people do you think turned out? I've been reading reports that between 10, 000 and 15,000 people have been showing up for these events after the Convention, especially in traditionally Republican places like Scranton, PA.
What do you think of these terror threats?

(3.8.04 19:55)
There were no more than 30 people waiting to see Kerry get off the ferry. I didn't go downtown to the main event, where I imagine thousands crowded in the park.
In all fairness, the terror warning are probably the right thing to do. I know they seem ridiculous, and nobody that I know takes them seriously, but if the warnings weren't being issued, and a terrorist attack occurred, everyone that I know would be blaming Bush for not warning them.
I did read the other day that some of the "new information" leading to the latest warning was actually developed a year ago.

ponnyj (4.8.04 03:07)
The intelligence dates back 3 or 4 years. I agree that something might be afoot, because I am a firm believer that something will inevitably go down. However, I am a bit suspect of the timing. There has been too much of a pattern of politicized warnings for me to not question the authenticity of future and present warnings.
The other interesting thing to try and figure out about these new warnings is at what point we can lower the threat level. Must we foil the imminent attack or arrest the people before we can lower the threat level for these buildings? It seems as though we are forced to keep the threat level raised indefinitely, especially since this info is years old.
So for the record, I'm a believer that something could be afoot, but I don't have faith in the authenticity of these warnings.
I guess that makes me sort of a flip flopper, huh?

(4.8.04 14:29)
nuance = flip flopping

I'm sure some al Qaeda types are having fun on their cell phones, speaking in barely coded language about upcoming attacks which they have no intention of pulling off, just to see how far they can raise the threat level.