Dear Sen. McCain: LI a big part of the U.S.

Dis Long Island?

Oh, heck no.

No one sullies the rep of the nation's first suburb, which, as Sen. John McCain surely ought to know, was transformed by World War II soldiers who settled down by the thousands in this region.

Long Island is a proud part of the USA.

In fact, we've got the largest concentration of veterans in New York State -- because children and grandchildren of soldiers tend to become soldiers.

We value service to the nation, and to community.

We don't hire firefighters here. Because 99.99 percent of our departments are volunteer. That goes for emergency medical services, too, neighbors rushing out into the night to help neighbors.

That spirit lives, even as Long Islanders -- who rushed to help in the aftermath of Sept. 11 -- are sick and dying because of their valor.

"Last I checked, Long Island was a part -- albeit sometimes regrettably -- part of the United States of America," McCain said Wednesday on the Senate floor.

Regrettably part of the United States?

This region built planes for World War II, engineers here did the hard work of building the lunar module, and scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Lab helped decipher the code for DNA. Charles Lindbergh started his nonstop flight to Paris right here, at Roosevelt Field.

Long Island's given the nation, no, make that the world -- oh, where to start? -- Billy Joel, Eddie Murphy, Flavor Flav, Natalie Portman, Sue Bird, LL Cool J, the Baldwin boys, Edie Falco, Lou Reed, Captain Kangaroo, Busta Rhymes and others, too many to mention.

The Hamptons. Jones Beach. "The Amityville Horror." "Jaws," whose master shark killer, Quint, was based on the late Frank Mundus, of Montauk.

Regrettably part of the United States?

F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" was written about our North Shore. Walt Whitman's newspaper, The Long Islander, is still publishing.

And in the original "Miracle on 34th Street," Santa Claus lived right here, in Great Neck.

Regrettably part of the United States?

Martin Luther King visited here. We've got Sagamore Hill, where President -- that would be of these United States -- Theodore Roosevelt lived.

Richard Nixon, George Bush and a host of other presidents and presidential hopefuls relied on the generosity -- in funds and in volunteers -- of Long Islanders to fuel their campaigns.

And back in 2008, one presidential hopeful made one, two, three, four fundraising trips to Long Island.

Who was that?

John McCain.

He had no regrets about Long Island back then.