Oops, Obama ad mocks McCain's inability to send e-mail. Trouble is, he can't due to tortured fingers

(UPDATE: An updated paragraph citing McCain learning computer skills is appended below.)

As part of its effort to show the 72-year-old Republican Sen. John McCain as old and out of touch, the Democratic Party's hip campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, which frequently says it honors the former POW's military service to his country, Friday released a new ad.

As noted Friday by our blogging colleagues over at the Technology blog here, the ad says, among other things: "1982, John McCain goes to Washington. Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn't.

"He admits he doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail."

Here's the ad. Listen for yourself.

Like many of his generation, McCain does not like to talk details a lot about his wartime experiences, certainly not about any lingering physical symptoms. To be honest, it could sound like complaining and, as he's ruefully noted, unlike many others, McCain did come home.

The former pilot does joke sometimes about flying his plane into a telephone-pole-sized North Vietnamese missile.

Last week in his speech to the Republican National Convention, McCain opened up more than usual, mentioning his two broken arms and broken leg from ejecting over Hanoi, and his 66 months of imprisonment and torture, calling it simply working him over.

But something he did not go into in that speech were ...

... some of the lingering results of his poor medical treatment and brutal beatings.

Here's a passage from a lengthy Boston Globe profile on McCain that was published the last time he ran for president. It was headlined "McCain character loyal to a fault." It was written by Mary Leonard.

And it was printed more than eight years ago, on March 4, 2000.

It is available online, where Jonah Goldberg of The Corner blog at the National Review found it.

"McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: 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."

(UPDATE: A spokesman for the Obama campaign and numerous Ticket readers point out a Huffington Post item from July in which McCain says he is learning how to go online and "I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need." That complete post and a photo of McCain using a cellphone is available here.)

Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer denied that the freshman Illinois senator's ad was making an issue of McCain's age. "It's extraordinary," he said, "that someone who wants to be our president and commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail."

The Obama campaign has seen some significant and disturbing poll shifts since its convention in Denver, including a broad movement of white women toward the GOP ticket after that party named Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin its vice presidential nominee. And some local and congressional Democrats have begun to fret and grumble over a perceived softness in the Obama-Biden ticket.

According to the Associated Press, Obama campaign manager David Pfouffle issued a stern campaign strategy memo Friday that said, in part:

"Today is the first day of the rest of the campaign. We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain's attacks and we will take the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues that matter to the American people."

The "big issues."

Like fractured fingers?

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Flojo]

For all who are against Obama stop making excuses of why you would not vote for him...........don't insult people's intelligence by making comments like "did you see he tossed the rose instead of laying it down" what stupidity...........if he ate faster than McCain would that make him greedy. These posts show lack of logic and pure hatred for this candidate. Vote for McCain but stop these STUPID, IDIOTIC comments.

McCain can use a computer even with a disability; there are many folks with spinal cord injuries who function and does not try to capitalize on their disability. McCain is the one who want to play the VICTIM card; POW story is getting OLD. We live in an age of advance technology........if McCain was interested I'm sure he would find there are many resources out there. Obama ad was commenting on McCain being out of touch with this world that we live in right now and that is a legitimate question. I want a president who understands what is happening NOW, relate in that capacity.

[al]

The ad comments on the fact that McCain doesn't KNOW how to send an email or use a computer. While he might not be able to, that isn't what the ad is claiming. The ability to do so vs. the knowledge to do so is different. The fact still remains: he doesn't KNOW how to use a computer or send an email. Once again, people are missing the point. While I think it's ridiculous in this day and age, he's so old and out of touch I honestly don't expect him to know this. It's probably reason number 402 why he shouldn't be president. There are many other issues that are ahead of this one but you can add it to the long list of why he shouldn't be president. Anyone that likes McCain really better like Palin since she will be running the country when he kicks it. McCain is so old he should not be buying green bananas.

[Natacuy]

And he can't raise his arms above his shoulders? Here he is, fresh back from POW-ville:

http://raincoaster.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/john-mccain-1.jpg

[kravitz]

John McCain is surrounded by the wrong people. Showing poor judgement. If his people don't know about accessible devices which can help him get on the web, as hundreds of thousands of others have, he would have a device like the Magic Wand keyboard which does not use fingers to type.

John McCain Uses A Blackbery.
http://www.rimarkable.com/senator-john-mccain-is-a-blackberry-user
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/12/yes-mccain-can-use-electr_n_126130.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/13/103735/543/712/597294

[PassatDoc]

People with far worse disabilities than McCain use computers every day. And I know people in their 90s who use computers every day.

One can question the wisdom of such ads because Obama does best among younger voters and worst with older voters. Some people in their 70s and 80s who haven't learned to use computers might be put off by such ads as an attack on their own computer illiteracy, and chose McCain.

[Jeff]

I can't stand 4 more years of George Bush

[larry valles]

there is a wonderful software called dragon and via voice that will help anyone with severe hand/wrist issues that can write emails and documents. surely, his staff has informed him of this option.

[Egirl]

For the first time in my 40 years, I am ashamed to be a Democrat. Obama and his "camp" have shown themselves to be nothing but a bunch of tantrum throwing preschoolers since Sarah Palin came onto the scene of this campaign. While I may not agree with all of her ideas or beliefs, I do see that she is a strong leader, in control of her own self and actions, and who can handle just about anything (so far) that has been blatantly tossed in her path. McCain also, handles himself with grace and modesty. He is who he is, and I respect an individual with that type of persona.

Obama has a V.P. running with him that has actually made negative comments about him prior to being picked as his partner in this election. Biden said that Obama was not experienced enough or ready to be the President, and he stated that he would be honored to stand along side John S. McCain. Now he denies those remarks, even though they are on the airwaves and cannot be taken back. Now he endorses Obama, the same man he said would not be experienced enough to be our Commander in Chief. I cannot have confidence in these two men as a team who support each other.

Obama and his Dem camp have been on the attack after Sarah Palin, trying to dig up dirt on her, checking records to see if she has had an abortion, making snide remarks about her family, her children, her ability to parent a special needs child. They have sunk to an all time low and it's obviously because they are running scared. This woman has them terrified of their own shadows, and well they should be.

John McCain may speak of the war and his experience as a POW, but at least he has earned the right. He also has been a longtime Senator compared to Obama's 143 days as a Illinois Senator experience. And the Democrats are attacking Palin for lack of experience, which I find quite humorous and ridiculous.

Today I am officially an Independent and proud to have a mind of my own as we all should be. Being a POW doesn't a war monger make. But, it does show strong character to go through something that horrendous and survive. It shows strong will and an inner strength that cannot be measured. Obama and Biden do not respect one another, do not have the chemistry or experience to run our country. They are grasping at straws here with their ads about McCain not being computer literate. Is that really what made George Wasington or Abraham Lincoln icons in American History? I think it was a feather pen and a well of ink on white paper, not a laptop or a fax machine that gave us our constitution.

Obama needs to get real with what the important issues are, and I promise you most Americans Dem or Rep. don't like hearing your camp slam Sarah Palin's family or John McCain's POW days (or wise older age). The Democratic Campaign can keep digging until the cows (or pigs in this case) come home, but in the end the moldy cheese stands alone.

[johnnywhrotten]

I just wrote and sent this e-mail with one knuckle of my arthritic left hand. No problemo!

[Rachel]

As many other commenters have pointed out, there are people with far more serious disabilities who use the Internet. It's not about age either, because there are a lot of senior citizens who use the Internet.

I do not want a president who can't use a computer. There is a wealth of information available online that cannot be accessed through traditional media. During Katrina, for example, there were stories online about people trapped in hospitals and other buildings. Those reports did not make it into the mainstream media until days later. Lives were lost because the people in charge did not have access to the best information.

We live in a complex and dangerous world, and the president needs to use every tool at his disposal. Would you hire an assistant who couldn't use a computer? Then why should we hire a computer-illerate person for the most important job in the country?

[Dan]

This writer must think we can't use the internet either. Here's a story with pictures that shows McCain using a Blackberry, which has even smaller keys than a standard computer keyboard. McCain himself is quoted as saying he's learning to use the internet.

You guys really need to get your lies straightened out before you go public with this stuff.

Here's the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/12/yes-mccain-can-use-electr_n_126130.html

[tom]

this just shows how downright EVIL the democrats are. they have no shame, and will do anything for power. you democrats are trash.

[Jaye, VA]

The Obama campaign just ticked off thousands of seniors who do not use a computer. What a pathetic ad indeed. They are losing their star power and are grasping at straws to get their faces on the front pages again. It's over, Barry. Go get some experience before you try to play with the big guys.

[ncgma]

Shame, shame on Obama campaign.
Is it really a requirement for being President to be able to push the "enter" button?
We have had other disabled President's in the past, ie: John Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson.
I believe that one's beliefs and ideology is a better measurement for being President.
Obama = CHANGE we don't need
DISCRIMINATION against disabled Americans.
Just look at this ad.....and last week, Joe Biden asked a wheelchair bound MO Senator to "stand-up".... unbelivable!

[Lar]

Hey are you guys for real? The point is would the ad be just as effective if the chosen one's staff had actually done their jobs and researched this? I guess they're pc stupid too, I mean all you got to do is goggle John McCain. And the happiest man on earth right now is Joe Biden, this completely takes the heat off him for telling a man in a wheelchair to stand up! I guess Ron White is right " you can't fix stupid"

[Righteous Bubba]

My suspicion is that Andrew Malcolm typed this one-handed, thus overcoming a self-imposed handicap.

[Tess]

Now that we all know that CHARLIE GIBSON is very
wrong and has placed Mrs. Palin in a bad light, do you
think he will have the decency to give her an apology?

Mrs. Palin seems to only want what is '..right and good..'
for our country and we have the likes of Charlie Gibson
and other Liberals trying to defaim her constantly.

They never say a word about:
OBAMA's bad or criminal friends
OBAMA"S voting 'present' so he'd not have to decide
OBAMA's murky past which he won't elaborate on
OBAMA's ethical wrongs in taking fees for speaking
in 2002, 2003, 2004 plus others...took hundreds of
thousands even though it was "..WRONG..."

[ricky]

Next thing you know, Obama will be making fun of blind guys for wearing sunglasses!!!

Ooops! Sorry, that was President Bush.

[Amy]

GIVE ME A BREAK. PEOPLE WITH HAND/ARM DISABILITIES USE COMPUTERS ALL THE TIME THROUGH ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES.

LAME.

[Lar]

Hey are you guys for real? The point is would the ad be just as effective if the chosen one's staff had actually done their jobs and researched this? I guess they're pc stupid too, I mean all you got to do is goggle John McCain. And the happiest man on earth right now is Joe Biden, this completely takes the heat off him for telling a man in a wheelchair to stand up! I guess Ron White is right " you can't fix stupid"

[kgnd54]

Have any of you who seem to love denigrating Senator McCain's service to his country ever served in the military? Have you ever spent over five years in a prison cell (very different from what is found in the US)? Or, have you even had a broken bone? Anyone you can answer yes to the first two questions may have a right to comment on Senator McCain's situation. The rest of you should go back to your safe and confortable lifestyle and leave the thinking to those who are qualified.

[lulu]

Oh let's get real. Stephan Hawkings use a computer. Why doesn't John McCain just go home to Arizona and enjoy his family and all their millions and forget the desperation he has to become president. I liked McCain in 2000, but he has lied and twisted and lied because his thirst for this office is greater than his principles. No straight talk express, it derailed a long time ago. Let's all wake up and think seriously about the issues and serious problems this nation faces. I am sorry it is NOT McCain/Palin who can fix things.

[Eric M]

The link in the opening of this post goes to another LA Times blog -- http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/09/obama-slams-mcc.html --- contains the quote:

"John McCain travels with a laptop," said McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds.

So, either the McCain campaign is lying about John McCain's ability to use a laptop, or this blog is lying about McCain's inability to use a laptop.

Is this LA Times blogger such a hack that they're actually willing to peddle misinformation so outrageous that the habitual liars in the McCain campaign won't touch it?

[The Doo-dah Man]

Don't you think the mccain people and their followers have played out the victim card by now?

They can't stand up to even moderate criticism before running for shelter.

On the other hand, if this as is the Obama camps' idea of hitting back hard, they are going to lose.

The republics have deployed nukes and Obama is answering with a pee shooter.

I know in his heart he is a decent peaceful man, but this is a real fight and if doesn't think the mccain people aren't going to play ultra-nasty (as if we haven't already seen it), he's going to get his clock cleaned.

[Bill in Chicago]

He spends $270,000 on "household staff" but he can't find a secretary to type for him? Give me a break.

I think this has more to do with the fact that McCain graduated in the bottom 1% of his class at the Academy (before he ever set foot in Vietnam) than anything his captors did to him.

Of course, as long as he has loyal Bushies at the LAT to shill for him, why bother trying?

[deben]

Laura Bush's former press aide has graduated to relaying comments he heard in dittoheadland to readers of the LA Times.

We already read it in the Internet. It's probably news and clever "writing" though to whoever hired this "journalist."

Condolences in the loss of your credibility, LA Times.

[flounder]

How did he write all those books if he can't use his fingers?

[EC]

Are you kidding me? This is the most ridiculous assertion yet. If the man can dial a phone, (and there are plenty of pictures around showing him talking on his Blackberry)he can send an email. Stop making excuses for the man.

[Bill in Chicago]

He spends $270,000 on "household staff" but he can't find a secretary to type for him? Give me a break.

I think this has more to do with the fact that McCain graduated in the bottom 1% of his class at the Academy (before he ever set foot in Vietnam) than anything his captors did to him.

Of course, as long as he has loyal Bushies at the LAT to shill for him, why bother trying?

[Rick]

Torture? Was McCain tortured? He says he was made to stand for long times Deprived of sleep medical care Does it not seem ironic to anyone else that John McCain (who never forgets to remind us that he was a POW at the Hanoi Hilton) supports treating the prisoners at Guantanamo with the same disregard for human rights that he experienced himself? It was a problem when he was held as a POW; apparently it is not a problem when it is someone else being denied their basic rights as described in the Geneva Conventions.
McCain called the recent Supreme Court ruling that "established that foreign terrorism suspects held in detention at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay have the constitutional right to challenge their detention in civilian courts.....one of the worst decisions in the history of this country" He seems to have forgotten his own experience of being tortured and how it gave the enemy nothing useful! Also what they fail to realize that 80% of those imprisoned & tortured in our war on terror are victims of grudges in there homeland being falsely fingered as terrorist just to settle an old grudge and get a big $$ bounty for it!

When people tell you about he was tortured and that gives him a good reason to be president I say his voting for amnesty to the Bush regime in its illegal torture program and violation of the Geneva Conventions takes away his CREDIBLE VOICE as a POW against torture.
Even more is found in a google search
Less than two weeks after McCain was taken to a hospital, Hanoi's press began quoting him giving specific military information, including the name of the aircraft carrier on which he was based, numbers of U.S. pilots that had been lost, the number of aircraft in his flight, information about location of rescue ships and the order of which his attack was supposed to take place.

There is also evidence that McCain received "special" medical treatment from a Soviet physician.

After he was out of the hospital, McCain continued cooperating with the North Vietnamese for a period of three years. He made radio broadcasts for the communists and met with foreign delegations, including the Cubans. He was interviewed by at least two North Vietnamese generals one of whom was Vietnam's national hero, General Vo Nguyen Giap.

On June 4, 1969, a U.S. wire service story headlined "PW Songbird Is Pilot Son of Admiral," reported one of McCain's radio broadcasts: "Hanoi has aired a broadcast in which the pilot son of the United States commander in the Pacific, Adm. John McCain, purportedly admits to having bombed civilian targets in North Vietnam and praises medical treatment he has received since being taken prisoner.
So who is a real war hero or a turncoat?

It is long past due for someone to point out that if Senator McCain is going to use his POW stories for political gain, it should be pointed out that he collaborated with the enemy and made 32 tapes for them to gain better treatment for himself. He was nicknamed “Songbird” McCane for a reason. Further, in the Saddleback Forum he stated that the most difficult decision he ever made was to turn down the opportunity to get released ahead of fellow POW prisoners. Can you imagine the consequences if he HAD taken early release? His military career would have been over and the humiliation to his father and grandfather would have been devastating to the family. If McCane wins this election he will be the first Commander in Chief to have ever collaborated with the enemy for personal gain. That alone should disqualify him from holding the office!

Signed a VietNam Era Vet-Retired after twenty years upholding his oath

[ncgma]

I work in special education. The best assistive technology is the simplest. Mr. McCain has previously talked about this subject. Mrs. McCain types for him as he dictates, not because he cannot, but because it takes an extended time and is quite laborious for him.
Mr. McCain also can and does use a Blackberry.
Reading all of these visious attacks against Mr. McCain is really scary.
I am very sorry to see so much DISCRIMINATION against disabled persons from the Obama campaign and it's supporters.

[The Doo-dah Man]

Has McCain EVER said that he CAN'T use his fingers???
Posted by: drvolny
======
In the oh-so-mean ad, theses people are crying about, there is a shot of mccain walking down stairs, with his fingers curled around the handrail.....

obviously he can use his hands.

[Eric F]

John McCain has a Blackberry. I've seen him use it! John McCain carries a laptop with him. I've seen him use it!

I have seen him use these things! In person! Are you telling me it's just my imagination?

This is a stupid ad, and an even stupider faux-outrage editorial by Malcom.

Has everyone gone insane?

[scott]

WOW! So McCain's broken fingers 40 years ago are keeping him from sending email today???

But by his own admission he's learning how to use a computer from his staff.

And he can clearly use a pen and pencil........

So did you just miss that whole journalism 101 class where they teach you not to just, ummmm, you know, make stuff up?

I know you were Laura Bush's press secretary for a while and all but one would hope that even if you have no professional standards your editors would at least.

[Allie]

Um, Andrew - as someone whose MS has caused me to have very limited ability to do things with my hands, I hope you reconsider your blog post. There are all sorts of products (including touchless keyboards) that allow the "disabled" to fully access the internet. Heck, I even have a blackberry that I use with a stylus. Your assumption that people with limitations - even in their hands - are unable to overcome them is ... offensive.

[Carrie]

I CAN'T BELIEVE THE NASTY COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG. THE LEFT IS LIKE A DESPERATE, CORNERED ANIMAL. WE ARE EMBARASSING OURSELVES. LETS STICK TO THE ISSUES. WHAT HAPPENED TO RUNNING A DIFFERENT TYPE OF CAMPAIGN BARACK??? SENATOR MCCAIN WAS INJURED BADLY, RECEIVED LITTLE MEDICAL TREATMENT AND THEN TORTURED FOR 5.5 YEARS. SOMETHING TELLS ME YOUR INJURIES MIGHT NEVER HEAL F YOU WEREN'T ALLOWED MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR 5.5 YEARS. DOES IT REALLY MATTER IF HE CAN'T TYPE? SUCH A REDICULOUS DISCUSSION. LET'S GET BACK TO THE REAL ISSUES. I AM A DISAFFECTED HILLARY VOTER AND ALL THIS BS COMING OUT THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN IS FORCING ME TO CONSIDER VOTING FOR MCCAIN. YOU WOULD THINK SOMEONE IN THE OBAMA COMPAIGN WOULD DO SOME FACT CHECKING BEFORE RUNNING THIS AD (SEE DRUDGE REPORT'S REFERENCE TO A BOSTON GLOBE ARTICLE FROM 8 YEARS AGO WHICH REFERNCES HIS INABILITY TO TYPE OR TIE HIS SHOES OR COMB HIS HAIR.)

[JoshA]

A stupid ad, to be sure, but jeez, do some fact-checking before you just regurgitate McCain talking points. The assertion that John McCain cannot type because of fractured fingers is entirely false.

Look at the photo halfway down this article. There McCain is, texting while driving.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/12/yes-mccain-can-use-electr_n_126130.html

[Marnie Weeks]

McCain was able to push the little button on his Senate seat to vote AGAINST funding to support veterans over 17 times. Having been a POW is not equivalent to supporting troops or veterans. Knee-jerk flag wavers need to wake up and wise up. They will send you or your children to a pointless war (oh, gosh, wrong country, oh well ...) without proper gear (hey, that rocket went right through my vehicle and into my leg) repeatedly (what do you mean I have to go to Iraq for the third time with a head injury?) even tho you only signed up for weekends (the National Guard is going to a foreign war?) ... and when you come home they'll give you no counseling, no funding and really crappy medical care. Yeah, these Republicans really support the troops and love this country. If your kid is killed, you get a folded flag, and their buddies continue to get rich in a trumped up war. Wise up, people, they are not on your side.

[jimvj]

Why do rightwinger lie so brazenly and so incessantly?
Why are their lies becoming so desperate?

Because they know they can't win any other way.

Wake up America! These are the same liars that brought you 8 years of Bush-Cheney; 8 years of proudly parading their links to K-Street lobbyists.

These are the same liars that hiked Medicare drug prices; nearly destroyed Social Security; caused the death of over 4100 of our brave troops by asking them to stand between religious sects in a war that was based on LIES.

These are the same incompetents who converted a budget surplus into an all-time highest budget deficit.

Bush, McCain and Palin are of the same mold - DUMB; they are woefully out of touch with reality (Sunni Shi'ite anyone? Bush doctrine, smush doctrine). All they are good at is being puppets in the hands of the Atwater-Rove evil manipulators.

Wake up America! Or these bastards will destroy you!

[Sowberry Hagan]

So the author of this blog, Andrew Malcolm, is a liar too, like the McCain campaign?

What other conclusion is there, when Mr. Malcolm is telling us that McCain has fractured fingers?

Mr. Malcolm, where are McCain's fractured fingers? When were they fractured? How do they prevent him from using a computer?

The truth is, there are no fractured fingers. Mr. Malcolm knows this, that's why he ended this post without a shred of evidence.

Shame on you, Andrew Malcolm.

And shame on John McCain for using his POW experience to deflect attention from his disgraceful dishonesty and incompetency.

[Chicago4Palin]

THE LAST THING I WANT MY PRESIDENT DOING IS SURFING THE INTERNET!!!

It is just so easy, you know, to picture the Prez walking around, multi-tasking with all the e-toys, texting his or her buddies in the middle of a meeting.

The Obama ad is PURE FROTH.

I want a President who leads.

[chumley]

Also, THIS is a pathetic joke at this point:

"Like many of his generation, McCain does not like to talk details a lot about his wartime experiences"

Please. McCain and his camp talk of nothing else but "P.O.W." and what a victim he is, and always will be.

And one of the things McCain and his minions always include is the fact that he doesn't like to talk about it.

What a lie. The b.s. modesty doesn't cover the indisputable fact that McCain's ENTIRE POLITICAL CAREER is based on selling himself as a P.O.W.

He's always exploited that as much as he can, and he did nothing but ramp that up in this campaign. EVERYTHING is excused, explained, and (mostly) whine about with the "but I was a P.O.W.!" card.

He's had his ass kissed plenty about that over the years. He's been amply sucked up to, praised, rewarded.

But McCain thinks the American people owe him the White House because he keeps telling them what a victim he is. What a ridiculous basis for leadership.

McCain has run the nastiest, most cynical, most dishonest Presidential campaign in history. And the whiniest.

He's already shown that he'll be worse than Bush. Because everytime sometime disagrees with him he starts squawking "P.O.W.! P.O.W!" like a parrot.

The man has no honor.

[hank48188]

I guess none of the people that comment here took the time TO ACTUALLY READ the Boston Gloge comments that were linked above. In the Boston globe piece it said McCain is into high-tech stuff. The article said McCain and his wife go over e-mail together and his WIFE TYPES THE RESPONSES FOR HIM. He said she is a whiz on the keyboard. His fingers and arms don't work very well, he can't even comb his own hair. Maybe some of the posters here will take the time to inform themselves before they put their ignorence on display with their uninformed comments.

[mike]

McCain can easily respond,

"Maybe I'm not a whiz with the internet Barak, but have you ever landed on the pitching deck of anaircraft carrier at night? "

[SuznAZ]

Maybe Mccain could have one of his more techno-geek people look up "voice recognition" software on "the internets". Buh bye to this excuse for not using email. But then he'd also lose one of the many opportunities to say "noun verb because I was tortured by the Vietnamese (or insert his favorite racial epithet)" Of course I received an email from Mccain's office recently which looked like a scan of a typewritten letter... format, font and everything, an archaic business letter, so maybe there are no techies on his staff.

[Boneshaker]

Obama-tards should read this before they start grunting about candidates computer/internet literacy:
McCain's Web Explosion
By Jacob Weisberg
Posted Friday, Feb. 11, 2000 http://www.slate.com/id/74812/

[Jeff B]

OH MY GOD! MCCAIN DOESN'T DO E-MAIL!!! Well, that does it for me.

He needs to get up to date and waste his life like all the other computer geeks sending worthless e-mails all day.

Brillant campaign Obama.

[Npolimeni]

Because there are so many stupid people in the USA (that must be what McCain thinks, because he started the smear ads with known falsehoods), it's necessary to jump down McCain's throat twice as hard.

McCain is using the same tactics as Bush/Hitler: "Repeat a lie enough, and people will believe it."

This stuff is as old as Machiavelli, who wrote it down as political science.

[Marlowe]

Why can't you Obama shills just admit that whether or not McCain has the ability to work a computer or not, the ad was in bad taste and insults a lot of people who, for whatever reason, don't think they need to be computer savvy?

This Obama ad not only insults McCain, but probably about 20 million older Americans who don't have a lot of the computer skills that the younger generation has. But this episode is compounded by the fact that there are a lot of articles on the internet that talk about McCain's inability to use a keyboard due to his war injuries and if Obama's people knew how to use a computer competently, then they would have discovered this fact with a little help from Google and they would never have run this stupid ad.

The fact is that Obama's campaign advisors apparently don't have the ability to use a computer competently. This ad really reflects more on Obama's wholesale incompetence than it does on McCain being out of touch.

I'm betting that we will never see this ad again.

I'm betting that even Obama is not going to try to put lipstick on this pig.

[Calliope]

Andrew, you do realize that McCain had his flight status reinstated after he was a POW? That he flew military jets? You're claiming he can fly a military jet but he's so crippled he can't type?

You can't possibly be that stupid. You've got to be repeating this lie on purpose.