He Can't Email...and apparently his opponent can't google [Obama belittles McCain war injuries]

The GW Patriot ^ | September 12, 2008 | Political Pulse

[Diago]

So it's no secret that John McCain has never emailed, or googled, or even posted on a blog.

And to anyone on the Barack Obama campaign that sounds like a great target... Hey look my opponent is outdated! He doesn't even know what Facebook or Youtube are... He's never used Gmail or AIM... How can he lead the free world?


Sounds like a great idea for an ad right?


Well, it would make for a great ad except... if the Obama campaign would have engaged in a little fact checking (something many political campaigns are loath to do) they would have found several stories by prominent journalists explaining WHY McCain doesn't use a computer.

Back in 2000, Boston Globe and Forbes wrote stories on McCain's "technical illiteracy".

Here's a quote from the Globe article:

McCain’s severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain’s encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He’s an avid fan - Ted Williams is his hero - but he can’t raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.

After Vietnam, McCain had Ann Lawrence, a physical therapist, help him regain flexibility in his leg, which had been frozen in an extended position by a shattered knee. It was the only way he could hope to resume his career as a Navy flier, but Lawrence said the treatment, taken twice a week for six months, was excruciatingly painful.

So while McCain can't email... apparently Obama's legion staff can't use Google or Lexis-Nexis.

But that's not the full story. Just because McCain can't use a computer doesn't mean he doesn't have his staff use the keyboard for him.

In this interview from AP/NYT:

Q: What websites if any do you look at regularly?

Mr. McCain: Brooke and Mark show me Drudge, obviously, everybody watches, for better or for worse, Drudge. Sometimes I look at Politico. Sometimes RealClearPolitics, sometimes.

...

Q: But do you go on line for yourself?

Mr. McCain: They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need – including going to my daughter’s [Meagan] blog first, before anything else.

A section of the Forbe's article on McCain and emailing:

In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate’s savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. “She’s a whiz on the keyboard, and I’m so laborious,” McCain admits.

If McCain was a luddite calling for the restriction of technological innovation in politics and the marketplace I could see this attack sticking. But apparently the Obama team is willing to resort to desperate measures when the game gets tight.

Also, while I understand that being technologically literate is an important trait in the Information Age, is it necessary for our Commander-in-Chief to say... text while in the Oval Office? Or send a witty email joke to his staff? Doesn't POTUS have a staff devoted to sending out emails, letters, etc? I would hope the President's time would be better spent than typing away on a keyboard.

Lastly I'd like to point out an excellent argument by Jonah Goldberg:

Lord knows I think the chicken-hawk arguments are stupid. And I don’t think the fact that Obama never served in the military should count against him in and of itself. But how stupid is it for the Obama campaign to claim that McCain is unqualified to be president because he can’t grasp cyber-security issues based on the fact he has never sent an email when the McCain campaign can just as easily say Obama can’t understand first order national security issues because he’s never fired a rifle, flown a plane, commanded men in battle, or faced an enemy? I mean which prepares someone to be commander in chief better, hitting “send” on AOL or fighting a war?

Here's all the links:

Boston Globe piece from 2000

Forbes piece from 2000

Jonah Goldberg piece from National Review's blog "The Corner"

AP/NYT Interview from 2008

[John Robie]

These people are a joke. I am sure making fun of disabled veterans is considered funny among leftist radicals, but it is not acceptable for most Americans, including democrats. McCain’s campaign should make a very big deal about this.

[ripley]

“this fool’s first reaction was to call sarah palin’s family white trash...”

it’s a virulent strain of mental disorder that combines adolescence, arrogance, hubris, bad manners and psychosis into one obnoxious package.

IMHO

[avital2]

yes, ridiculing the war injury of a service person makes one unfit for command. period.

[redk]

Even without the war injuries this ad was just plain stupid. Throw in McCain’s injuries and it pisses people off.

[sodpoodle]

And this is an example of the people President Obama would include in his administration?

We are doooooooooooooooooooooooomed!

Consider that the super intelligent Bill Clinton was a lousy POTUS - but the American people went about their daily lives as Newt & Co. handled governance thru Congress.... we survived..with the exception of the chaos Bill Clinton promoted in the CIA & FBI precipitating 9/11.

[Carley]

The plouffter was the campaign manager for Robert Toricelli.

Nothing more need be said.

[Carley]

I’m not a bit surprised that the dems are supporting a man who acknowledged committing domestic violence.

They are ready to defend him to the death because we don’t know the root causes for his violence against a ten year old child.

[imintrouble]

BO is embarrassing himself on a daily basis now. This nagging at McCain’s lifestyle sounds like a jealous harpie’s lament.

At least McCain has submitted proof of his life for us - a birth certificate, his capture and torture by our enemies, a proven military record. We can track every year of McCain’s activities from his birth to this date.

Where’s are your records BO?

Better get George Soros to work creating more phony credits to your phony name.

[samtheman]

making fun of disabled veterans is considered funny among leftist radicals

As is hoping for the defeat of American forces on the battlefield.

As is cheering the deaths of American military personnel.

As is branding soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines "war criminals" and trying them for "war crimes" when they return home.

[Always Right]

Obama’s “Stand up, Chuck” moment.

[rabidralph]

If you look at the ad that's posted on Youtube, you'll see that it was uploaded on Sept. 11.

[uncbob]

Sorry people but Obama’s people knew exactly what they were doing

They know ALL about his injuries

They were counting on McCain’s supporters to rebut and reveal that he has these injuries that way it doesn’t look like they were doing it

They want to plant the doubt in the publics’ mind that McCain because of his injuries may not be able to do his job as president

This is a back door way of getting the info out (letting McCain’s supporters do it for them )

[Jeff Head]

Indeed he is wholly unfit.

He has proven by his long term, willful associations that he is a militant anti-American and an abject marxist.

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BRACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

HOW SARAH PALIN TRUMPS OBAMA-BIDEN

[MeekOneGOP]

bump!! bump!! bump!!

[EdReform]

AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BRACK HUSSEIN OBAMA Bump!

[Jeff Head]

Ooops...that should be BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA. Here's the correct spelling (link was good in both cases).

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

[EdReform]

Oops! I didn’t see it either - I just copied and pasted. Oh well, another bump for the thread!

[supercat]

They know ALL about his injuries

They were counting on McCain’s supporters to rebut and reveal that he has these injuries that way it doesn’t look like they were doing it

I'd be inclined to agree with point #1, but with #2 perhaps not so much. I'm not sure they'd be smart enough for such a plan, on the other hand, they are certainly dumb enough for it.

If McCain produces an ad that shows him handling his email with the aid of his wife, that would turn Obama's ad totally against him in all dimensions. Even if McCain could type 5wpm, why should he do so if his wife can type 120? (nb: I don't know how fast she actually does type; further, there would be circumstances where it would be useful if McCain could type 5wpm unassisted, even if he needed a special keyboard, but I still think the sight of John and Cindy McCain would play well.)

[supercat]

Addendum: my personal sense of Obama is that he knew about McCain’s injuries and wanted to rub salt in them, all while maintaining plausible deniability. He is blind to the fact that stroking his own ego is not the synonymous with winning votes.

[mainerforglobalwarming]

And the beat goes on, and on and on. Obama is an idiot. Being a community street thug for the daly political machine can get elected senator in illinois. And reading from a teleprompter can get you the democrat nomination. But in the heat of battle, in unscripted moments, a person reveals who they really are. And as power-hungry as he is, obama is an ivy league idiot. And he's crashing and burring before the eyes of the nation. More power to him. Keep talking, keep throwing away blue-collar voters. Watch Michigan and Pennsylvania go ruby red. Keep it up obama. You're ivy league education is a great asset to the conservative movement.