McCain LI jibe, Schumer response: Much ado?

Sen. John McCain's brief throwaway line about Long Island -- meaningless as it was -- sailed right into the political wheelhouse of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who jumped on the remark with electronic speed.

"All of America saw how heroic Long Islanders were on 9/11," tweeted the third-term senator. "Long Islanders deserve an apology."

It was in a Senate debate over detaining terrorists on Wednesday that McCain cited a legal precedent involving German combatants who landed ashore on Long Island during World War II. Making a point, McCain said, "Last I checked, Long Island was a part -- albeit sometimes regrettably -- part of the United States of America."

Chalk up the McCain comment as loose chatter. But careless banter, or "spritz," of this sort can backfire -- as the former rider of the campaign bus he called the "Straight Talk Express" ought to know. A few years ago, Democratic detractors got some mileage from McCain's giddy Beach Boys-style rendition of "Bomb bomb Iran" on the presidential campaign trail.

Anyway, McCain's subsequent tribute on Wednesday to the "wonderful people of wonderful Long Island" probably has the desired effect of putting this sideshow to rest. None of it will hurt him back home.

McCain has no political reason for animus. In the presidential race in 2008, he got way better numbers in Nassau and Suffolk -- 46 and 47 percent, respectively -- than in blue-state New York as a whole, where he drew a relatively weak 38 percent against Democrat Barack Obama.

McCain might have done better had circumstances resembled those of today. It has become Obama's turn to sweat the sentiments of voters typified by those on Long Island. Consider Hofstra University's Center for Suburban Studies poll of nearly 900 suburban registered voters nationwide, which found the incumbent would trail Republican Mitt Romney 48 to 40 percent in a head-to-head matchup.

That's one more reason for Schumer to have told McCain that if he wants to mock parts of America, he should stick to Arizona.

Schumer probably would have raised the same ruckus had McCain directed a gibe at the Bronx or Buffalo. But Long Islanders do appear to occupy a place on Schumer's local agenda. In his book "Positively American," he evoked a composite middle-class couple, "Joe and Eileen Bailey," homeowners in Nassau. Thursday, the senator told Newsday through a spokesman: "Long Island is quintessential middle-class America, full of hard-working people who want to make sure their kids do better than they did."

One former Long Island political operative, who declined to be identified, called the whole dust-up between McCain and Schumer "two comedically dysfunctional pols tussling over something that wasn't funny to begin with."

Talk about a tough audience.