"Rudy's Worst Nightmare" or "The Longest Boat Ride"

I'm sure that 9/11 conjures up the most nightmares for Mayor Giuliani, er, ah, that is, until Friday night's ferry ride in the Straits of Mackinac. Was it chance, or divine intervention, that the stars would line up for the following to happen?

Mackinac Island, home to the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference the last few days, was overwhelmed by a 'sea of Ron Paul supporters', according to the Detroit Free Press. Well...all good things must come to an end (at least for the night). So that 'sea' of supporters needed to get back to the mainland (Mackinaw City), and I happened to be one of them. We were lined up on the Shepler's Ferry Dock, waiting for the 9 pm boat to come in, after an awesome show of support for Dr. Paul; I was near the front of the line. I heard, from the rear, shouts go up, "Ron Paul, Ron Paul" (from the tone of the crowd it sounded, to me, almost like "the British are coming, the British are coming"). My radar went up and I turned to my left, and lo and behold, it was Rudy "Terror, Terror, Terror" Giuliani. I told my cameraman to get the DVR and follow me (he didn't).

My boys and I approached Rudy (along with my 10 month old vote-magnet, Lydia). I waited for the 2-3 people (Ron Paul had hundreds) waiting to get their pictures taken with him, and then respectfully went up to him and said, "Mr. Giuliani...we're fightin' this war on terror, right? And he says, "Yah". And I say, "...then why is it that we can't keep a busboy from crossin' the border sir"? And he says, "Yeah...well, that's why I'm going to build a fence". I missed my opportunity to say something like, "Fence...fence? Do you mean NAFTA Superhighway Mr. "Cintra" Giuliani"? I was way-laid by Rudy's charm and likability, plus at that point I realized that my cameraman stayed in line, and it was just me and the kids. I didn't want to press him or be rude (What would Dr. Paul do?) so I just went back to my place in line.

The line started to move, the boat was loading, but where, oh where did old Rudy go? It became obvious that he had gotten on the boat, went up onto the second deck and stowed himself away safely in the 'nest', or the pilot house of the boat. (Rumor has it that the first thing he said when he got inside the pilot house was, "Does that door lock?") For some reason or another, the second deck of that boat filled up really fast. The crowd was chanting, "Ron Paul, Ron Paul, Ron Paul" Then it went to, "Educating Rudy, Educating Rudy, Educating Rudy". The boat pulled slowly out of the dock and into the darkness of the Straits of Mackinaw, in what would become, "Rudy's Worst Nightmare", or, "The Longest Boat Ride".

There was almost a 'camp-fire' boy-scout atmosphere on the deck that night. Rounds of "Ron Paul" chants and Kum-baya, amongst a few other things. We talked about everyone staying in their seats, so Rudy would have to run the gauntlet. Then word got out that the TV stations were at the dock in Mackinaw City. So we were to all get off first, and then cheer for Ron Paul when Rudy got off. The boat pulled up to the dock, and old Rudy went and jumped off the FRONT of the boat (can you blame him). I was at the back and got off to see him walk up to the waiting car with a big old grin on his face...like he just cheated death himself. He got into the black sedan so I grabbed the DVR from my cameraman and ran up to his window and stood there and videoed his very thankful face. Thankful that Ron Paul supporters are truly good people and would NEVER do anything do dishonor our good Dr's name. I can see it now...Rudy's wife turns over to him in the middle of the night...he's sitting straight up in bed, white face, sweat running down his fore-head. She's says, "9-11 again Rudy?" And he replies, "...naw...that was kid's stuff compared to that Ron Paul boat ride". Too bad you can't make millions off that too Rudy!