Vice President Joe Biden, last night: “I guarantee you we are safer today, our interests are more secure today than they were any time during the eight years . . . We are more safe. We are more secure. Our interests are more secure, not just at home, but around the world.”

The news, this morning: “Pirates captured the container ship Maersk Alabama and its crew of 20 Americans off Somalia in what Navy officials said may be the first seizure of a U.S. ship in four years of attacks. Pirates in the region have taken more ships in the past four days than in the first three months of the year. In recent days, pirates have launched attacks outside their usual hunting grounds in the Gulf of Aden . . . It’s the first seizure of Americans and a U.S. vessel since a Maritime Protection Corridor was set up in the Gulf of Aden in August and may be the first since major attacks by pirates started in 2006, the U.S. Navy spokesman said.”

I’m sure the pirates will back down. After all, the president assured us, nobody messes with Joe Biden.

UPDATE: There is breaking news that the crewmen have taken back their ship, and may have captured one of the pirates.