Boston -- As F. Scott Fitzgerald (may have) said, “The rich are different from you and me.”

Agreed. But do they have to remind the rest of us of it?

For his part, Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry would be much happier right about now if we were not reminded about his wealth at all. But for the wealthiest member of the U.S. Senate, it’s too late for that.

Kerry’s yacht-gate controversy. went from a local to a national story this past week. In a nutshell, the Bay State’s senior senator is accused of possibly trying to avoid paying $500,000 in taxes on a new boat by berthing it in nearby Newport, Rhode Island, rather than in Massachusetts.

The whole affair has been nothing if not instructive and illuminating.

For instance, we now know what the combined sales ($437,500) and excise taxes ($70,000) would amount to if you buy and berth a $7 million boat in Massachusetts.

Never came up for me before.

Rhode Island may be the smallest state, but it offers big savings. when it comes to big boats. In 1993, the Ocean State repealed its Boat Sales and Use Tax, which has made Newport, RI the same haven for mega-yachts that places like the Cayman Islands and Bermuda have become.

Did saving half a million bucks figure in Kerry’s decision to dock in Newport? It certainly would for me.

Actually, I would dock my boat in Newport to save even a couple of hundred bucks. Providing I had a boat and a couple of hundred bucks to throw around on toys. Neither of which I have just now.

For his part, Kerry has said that the boat is docked in Newport only while finishing touches are being made and final ownership is being transferred; that his plan all along was to ultimately move it back to Massachusetts. And pay the proper taxes. (Which he has now paid.)

However, since apparently one of those finishing touches was painting the word, “Newport” on the boat’s stern (to designate its place of mooring), one has to wonder.

No one likes paying taxes. No one (except Bay State liquor store owners) begrudges folks in northern Massachusetts for going over the border and buying booze in neighboring New Hampshire, thus avoiding a sales tax.

On the other hand, few of those buying their Bud in Merrimac instead of Methuen are worth over $231 million.

I only hope the radar on Kerry’s new boat is better than the one he walks around with. Because he reminds me more of Mr. Magoo than Cap’n Crunch.

It has always surprised me that, for a man who some cynically refer to as “Senator Live Shot” for his adroitness in finding a camera, Kerry often seems correspondingly lame in not knowing when to avoid one.

During the 2004 presidential campaign. , when Kerry knew the Bush team was doing everything it could do to paint him as an elitist, out of touch, and -- worst of all! -- vaguely “French" flip-flopper, Kerry allowed himself to be photographed while windsailing off of Nantucket. He might as well have been in St. Tropez.

A thousand words? Who knows? But in an election decided by three percentage points, that picture may easily have cost a thousand votes or more.

In a recent interview., Kerry described his love of the ocean. “Life on the water is part of me,” he reflected.

At this point, my advice would be to make it a little less a part.

Make no mistake -- there’s nothing wrong with windsurfing off of Nantucket. Or having your picture taken while doing it. Unless for some reason you should know better.

When the unemployment rate is 10%, and average Americans are more concerned with sinking underwater than sailing on the water, the time is not exactly ripe for an elected official to fit out his $7 million dream yacht.

After all, Senator, dreams can be deferred. Just ask some of your constituents these days.