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

[Andrew O.]

Obama should really be taken to task for this insipid attack.

For the record, here's a quote from the period of the 2000 campaign (article titled "Net vs. Norm" on Forbes.com, dated 05.29.00):

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.

NO FURTHER COMMENT NECESSARY!

[Lisa]

Not that there's any support whatsoever for the claim that John McCain is physically unable to type, but in response to this shameless shilling for McCain, I have two words: Stephen Hawking.

[Shade Tail]

You.

Are.

**KIDDING**.

Me.

Mr. Malcolm. Have you ever even bothered to investigate all the accommodations for disabled people built right into the OS of your computer? Windows and Mac Os both have lots of them. Speech recognition software, just to name one. Even if McCain couldn't use a keyboard (which he *can*, there are pictures of it), he could dictate his messages into a microphone.

That's just one of the ways any disabled fellow could use a computer and send an email. And a disabled fellow as wealthy as John "I don't know how many houses I own, ask my staff" McCain could easily find many other accommodations on top of that.

Good God, you desperate McCain supporters are so eager to twist yourselves into pretzels trying to dismiss perfectly legitimate criticisms against your hero.

[Jane]

Obama is simply disgusting. Not only is he sexist and ageist, but he has no respect for those with disabilities.

[Matt V]

Hollywood starlet? You must be thinking about John McCain spending his birthday, with Anne Hathaway, and her Italian can-man boyfriend, on that yacht in Montenegro...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/11/mccain-celebrated-70th-bi_n_125704.html

[John R]

A noun, a verb, POW? Again?

[nano]

http://www.rimarkable.com/senator-john-mccain-is-a-blackberry-user

Gee, he can use a blackberry.

[philly]

The McCain campaign should issue a statement about the inappropriateness of this ad, and request that it be pulled.

The gaffe adds to Obama's ongoing floundering this week, with "Lipstick on a Pig" being the focus of his campaign. Biden asking a paraplegic to stand up for a round of applause adds to the apparent incompetence of the candidates and their lack of message. Biden suggesting that Hillary would be better does not reflect well on Obama.

Making fun of a crippled war hero is consistent with Obama's poor performance. He is NOT READY TO BE PRESIDENT.

[Joel]

He doesn't like to talk about his wartime experiences? What planet have you been on for the last several months? That's practically all he talks about!
And you also ignore the fact that McCain himself has said that he wants to learn to use computers and the internet and e-mail. So even if you're correct it's hardly Obama's fault for believing him.

[ella street]

Oh I didnt know. It must be impossible for McCain to write also. He can do thumbs up. I have seen him do that. Maybe somebody could help him use his thumbs to work the internet. I am surprized nobody has thought to do this for him.

[pamela]

Oops. Dumb LA Times blogger repeat false right-wing blogger spin without checking facts.

As other commenters have mentioned above, McCain is fully capable of using computers and Blackberies and just chooses not to.

In other news, if that was the case he cant physically do it, don't you think the McCain would have said something about it earlier ? In the numerous pieces that mentioned the fact he is computer illiterate.

Dumb dumb dumb.

[Baxter Greene]

Wow!,look at all the morally superior Obama supporters who now possess MD's and can make assessments on what McCain can and cannot do due to his severe injuries suffered as a POW.

This is hilarious coming from the group of people who are so outraged at the incredible torture that the jihadist have endured getting a little water poured over their precious little faces and having to stay up past their bedtime in big bad Gitmo.

liberal hypocrisy is being exposed for all to see in this election.

liberals have defended Obama's 20 yr. relationship with the bigoted,racist, Rev. Wright.

They have spread lies and made hateful,bigoted
allegations against Palin,simply because she doesn't have
a (D) next to her name.

Fund raiser's and serving on a board in Chicago (that failed and wasted over 50 million dollars) with an un-repentant terrorist.
Hey, no problem.

Whine about Palin(Governor,Mayor,elected office since
92) being inexperienced when Obama has to point to being a failed community organizer as his only accomplishment.
What Did Obama Do As A Community Organizer?
And is it really a qualification to be president?
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=OWMxNGUxZWJjYzg1NjA0MTlmZDZmMjUwZGU3ZjAwNmU=

Whine about McCain being more of the same,old,and out
of touch when Obama's VP is neck deep in lobbyist money(Son's a lobbyist),been in the senate longer than McCain and has been wrong on just about every foreign
policy issue he has been involved in.

Send Iran 200 million dollars right after 9/11 to make them
like us more,what a freaking idiot!!

Now McCain is out of touch because he does not send E-mail or work a keyboard with his crippled fingers.
Well apply your same standards to your hero Clinton:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-felsenthal/bill-explodes-but-then-ap_b_104855.html?page=2&show_comment_id=13468264#comment_13468264

The former president told Fowler that he had not read the Vanity Fair article. The truth is probably closer to this: one of his aides printed it out for him -- Clinton does not use a computer and, as I describe in detail in my just-published book, Clinton in Exile: A President Out of the White House, aides print out emails and blogs -- and Clinton read it in the middle of the night, likely turning red-faced and furious and doing as he often does; calling FOBS and yelping about the unfairness of it all and refuting the story point by point where possible or even where not possible.

Another great example of why liberals are always having
to tell everybody how smart they are,because it doesn't
show.

[Marble68]

NK Said:
If you can punch telephone numbers into a phone, button your shirt, push a button to vote on the senate floor, or tap your fingers you can use e-mail if you take the time to learn how to do it. Don't give us a tortured finger excuse.

Posted by: NK | September 13, 2008 at 04:39 AM

Uh, hello? He can't even tie his shoes. What do you have against people with disabilities anyway?

I seem to remember we had a great President who could barely walk.

insensitive bigotory by the left. They just don't get it.
Hope this ad runs like crazy in Florida. I'm sure all those "out of touch" voters don't get it either.

Obama? ZERO experience; espeically when it comes to running a national campaign. How can we trust a guy like this to run the nation when he can't even do enough background research against his opponent?

Was an undecided leaning Obama; not anymore. After what I saw with HRC I was worried but still in his camp.
After what I've seen; I'm 110% McCain Palin.

This ad smaks of elitism and arrogance; and I'm in the IT industry.

[Jerodcan]

McCain is fully aware of the internet and understands it very well. His staff are also pretty savvy having produced some of the best internet ads in this election cycle.

And Anthony York of Salon did this article on McCain and the Internet on Nov. 23, 1999, .... HOW THE INTERNET COULD SAVE JOHN MCCAIN -
The man trailing Bush lays out a subversive strategy for catching up.

Nov. 23, 1999 | TUCSON, Ariz. -- As Sen. John McCain struggles to catch up with a campaign whose popularity has outstripped its infrastructure, he and his aides say the Internet is key to his presidential hopes.....

...The former POW admits he's not the most tech-savvy guy, saying his wife Cindy is "the technologically oriented one" in the family. But he says he acknowledges the "revolutionary" potential of the medium. "Maybe not this year, but in the next few years the Internet will completely turn political campaigns upside-down," McCain said, zipping between campaign stops in Arizona Monday

How prophetic of McCain... it seems McCain knew in 1999 that internet would be very helpful to him this year and it has been. His celebrity ad was one of the most watched videos in YouTube history and it worked very well.

[casin]

And you get paid to type McCain lies! He doesn't need to type because you and your klan do it for him!!!! The problem with McCain is that he is out of touch with reality, including how people are able to simply check pacts..... What a pathetic excuse..... McCain and you just don't get it.... We can read and we listen and understand and we don't need you telling us what we read and hear and see, OK?

[ella street]

Oh I didnt know. It must be impossible for McCain to write also. He can do thumbs up. I have seen him do that. Maybe somebody could help him use his thumbs to work the internet. I am surprized nobody has thought to do this for him.

[john]

That is interesting. McCain was able to do emails. And he SAID that he was jujst out of date concerning computers. You need to do the sniff test next time you print something. I will be a problem if he is elected. Thank of all the information that he will miss and the slow pace of descions.

I'm sorry that he was a POW, but if it make it harder to do his job, we should know.

[frank]

If being a POW makes it so that he can't do a good job, we need to know.

[philly]

After "Lipstick on a Pig" by Obama, and asking the paraplegic to stand up by Biden, who thinks Hillary would have been a better VP choice, this gratuitous insult aimed at McCain makes Obama look like he is ridiculing a war hero for injuries sustained while a POW.

Obama should apologize publicly and cease making a fool of himself.

[jschmidt]

Maybe if you idiots who say McCain is lying would read something about his injuries, you might realize the torture he endured left lasting injuries, like not being able to move his arms above his head, or use his fingers easily. What a bunch of insensitive clods. Guess you have nothing to say about issues or how about Obama's tax plan. I guess Obama said something different in April in the interview with Maria Bartiromo. Under 75k would only get tax relief. Of course as I said he was trying to get the primary and appealing to his base. I don;t believe his current plan because he is appealing to the moderates and his history is anything but ,being the most liberal Senator. So I have to believe he is the tax and spend Democrat that he will revert to when elected. MoveOn, Daily Kos and George Soros are not bank rolling him because he is a moderate, he is as far left as you can go and his social programs will damage the economy. So is it 250k or 75K? Is he a moderate or far left liberal? Maybe the media should ask those questions. It is very simple, I don;t trust him.http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_15/b4079017876246_page_2.htm

[Lizwinz]

Alot of disabled people still use computers...there are modified keyboards and speech recognition technology.Even if he is not able to use a keyboard b/c of his injuries...there are many other ways he could have kept up to date with technology if he wished to do so.--Liz

[Johnny]

Oh my stars and garters, oh deary me. Obama, telling the truth about McCain being unequpped to deal with computers that 80 percent of the adult population daily handles with ease, has insulted McCain, our troops, heck, the entire United States of America, because Republicans think (can't be bothered to really find out) he might not be able to type on a keyboard even if he wanted to. Forget that he himself claims he's now "learning" to use a computer, for instance.

Meanwhile, McCain and Palin have lied about one thing after another for the past two weeks, repeating debunked points over and over, proving, as if we needed to see it again, that Republicans will say anything to pull out a victory before settling in to govern and again proving their disinterest and inability to accomplish anything but declare destructive war.

Republicans will never, ever again have my vote until they denounce their own divisive up-is-down, facts-aren't-true, operating philosophy that they've owned and refused to own up to since the days of St. Ronnie.

[David (Austin Tx)]

Mr. Malcolm,

Are the American people a bunch of idiots in your world?

McCain's broken fingers?

Oh boy, that's funny.

Thanks for propagating yet another lie about McCain

[Mexnobama]

Oh please...

The shot at the end of Obama and Biden, taken from a low level to make them look tall and sleek, actually damges them with the real group that will decide the election.

If this thing comes down to sleek and urban, or "sophisticated" versus rural and authentic you are going to be saying "President" McCain for the next 4 years.

Obama, if he still wants to win, better figure out how to erase that "guns and religion" gaffe, instead of concentrating on McCain's computer skills, Palin's inexperience, (just as thin a resume as Obama himself, no more or less) and telling whoppers such as the
"I'm a strict constitutionalist" lie I heard him try to get past his supporters when I saw him live last winter here in Las Vegas.

Whoopie Goldberg may want to ask Obama about that last issue...

[Ron]

You Obama apologists are missing the point on McCain's ability to use email. I'm certain that a man that was a Naval aviator is not intimidated by the technical aspects of the internet. And I'm sure that there are programs to help someone with disabilities to utilize the internet. The point is that McCain does not have to use the internet to grasp the concepts of cyber-commerce, or cyber-warfare.

Using the same argument against Obama, how can a man who has never been through boot-camp/OCS, qualified on rifle/pistol, nor been trained in any military specialty even hope to grasp the complexities of *commanding* our nation's troops?

How can a man whose formative years were spent out of the country in places like Indonesia and Pakistan, and attending madrasas (Islamic religious schoools) hope to understand the underlying American experience common to the vast majority of us?

How can a man who chooses mentors that are unrepentant terrorists (Ayers) or unrepentant racists (Rev Wright) hope to lead with tolerance?

So, either Obama's argument is specious and not worthy of consideration OR it's valid, but cuts himself far more deeply than McCain. In any case, it negates his above-the-fray, high-road persona that his handlers have been trying to market to the American people.

[Beth]

"Do we really need a president who makes fun of senior citizens abillities"

You have to be kidding!!! Do we really need a senior citizen with disabilities running for president? I for one fully support the Obama/Biden ticket. I would not vote for McCain if he was the only one running. His lies and smear ads are disgusting. It amazes me that he is as popular as he is, of course I can't believe 25% of the American people support Bush either. Well, I hope the American people wake up.

Beth/Arizona

[Bert]

From a Forbes 2000 article:
http://www.forbes.com/asap/2000/0529/053_print.html

"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. "

Oops is right.

[zarathustra]

man, you're a jerk, Andrew.

1. plenty of tech exists to allow the disabled to use a computer.
2. john mccain regularly uses a blackberry.
3. john mccain doesn't like to talk about his wartime experiences? have you been living in a GOP cone of silence for the last 18 months? the GOP convention was nothing but POW! POW! POW! and even before that, mccain was using his POW experience as an excuse for everything, including why he's an ABBA fan.

isn't your mother embarrassed to have raised such a hack?

john mccain: a noun, a verb, and POW!

I know it's hard for the GOP and mccain to look past his sense of entitlement on this, but the presidency is not a medal of honor or purple heart.

[Democrats 08]

"The President has lead with great clarity and I think he's done a great job leading the country don't you?" -- John McCain

"The President and I agree on most issues, there was a recent study that showed I voted with the President over 90% of the time higher than even most of my Republican collegues" -- John McCain

"Fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed, and on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I have been totally in agreement and support of President Bush.." -- John McCain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uThoBMfcFRc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnb2IrsU1Cg

[Granny T]

I'd take a computer illiterate over a military illiterate as Commander-in-Chief of our military and country any day. McCain beats Obama in every area of experience that really counts. Even the GOP VP's resume beats Obama's. Obama has nothing on his resume that qualifies him to be President except a bunch of empty words.

[Erik]

Seems like a call from the LA Times to the McCain campaign would've cleared this up. You know, or an email - he has people who handle that for him.

[truth]

When are you going to retract this false story? McCain spokesperson came out yesterday and said that McCain travels with a laptop!

Unless you are saying the McCain campaign is lying. They could be -- they've lied about just everything else. Palin didn't request any earmarks as governor (LIE), Obama voted to teach kindergartners sex ed (LIE), Palin said thanks but no thanks to the bridge to nowhere, etc. etc. etc.

Liar/Liar '08 should be the McCain bumpersticker.

[K3D]

Just because someone can write, does not mean he can type. And just because someone can type, does not mean he can write. I can type, but I cannot hold a pen or pencil well enough to write. The hand contains the greatest number of bones in our body, and any scar tissue would greatly affect certain fine or gross motor skills. As for voice recognition software? Why on earth would someone who can talk, write, dictate or use assistants need to rely on such a software? If this is what you are relying on to call "foul," then you are more naive and intellectually daft than I give you credit for. Grow up people. Can't you for once argue something substantive and logical??

[An]

Obama is unfit to be president. He shows too much disrespect for women, and people who do not agree with him. John McCain is the kind of responsibe person, with the knowledge and leadership this country needs as it's president. Obama gave Hillary the finger, called Palin a pig with lipstick on and now makes fun of McCain's age and none use of a computer. Obama's use of the computer will no hide his lack of experience to be president. Sarah Palin learns fast and remembers what she said. She speaks with intelligence and unlike Obama, she has NOT lashed out at the many people who have said nasty things about her family. She's a great lady and she and McCain wants to make this country better. Sarah Palin has the intellengence, the character, and the leadership, just as John McCain has to be president as well as VP of this country. Barack Hussein Obama should drop out of this race and also leave the senate. He just doesn't have it.

[Ted Turner]

First of all, can we all agree that "you stay classy", as a phrase, has jumped the shark (kind of like "jumped the shark" has jumped the shark)? Second, if the Obama campaign and its supporters want to debate the propriety of the ad based on the idea that it was lazy, or low-achieving, of McCain to not learn alternatives to keyboarding, like voice-recognition software, then by all means, let's have that debate. Let's have it loudly: in a series of Obama ads attacking McCain for being too old-fashioned, after having his body broken serving this country, to learn keyboarding alternatives. Yeah, that'll win Obama the election.

[nitpicker]

Idiotic.

John McCain was returned to flight status by the Navy and can still drive a car, so it's unlikely that he's too broken to type.

When did the LA Times become such a home for hackery?

[michaelp0429]

Who cares if the man knows how to send a friggin e-mail?!?!

My Grandfather refused to learn how to use a computer, but he knew darned well what they did, how the technology worked, thought it was brilliant, invested smartly in companies that were developing technology and made money from it. The fact that he didn't actually type his own emails does not mean he doesn't understand the modern age.

Why does the President of the United States have to actually type his own emails himself? They don't, they have no need to. They are executives and have staff to do that. I've worked for two CEO's who didn't use their computers, they had assistants to do that part. But they were extremely competent leaders. They knew what computers were and how they impact our daily lives and thier importance to society.

This whole thing is a crock and those of you screaming that he should use software for the handicapped to be able to dictate his emails are rediculous - HE DOESN'T NEED TO. He dictates his emails to staff. Why should he waste time learning a dictation program when he has a perfectly good system that works for him - dictation to a human being.

I had to teach my mother, who is a teacher, how to use text messaging. Does that make her incompetent, out of touch, or incapable of leading? This is one of those 'distrations' Obama is so furious about wehn they come up about him but thrilled to death to bring up about others. Just more of his shameful hypocrisy.

[Ted Turner]

NOW the Obama supporters defend the ad by talking about articles referencing McCain using a Blackberry or a computer. Ummmm . . . if that's your defense, doesn't that mean Obama's ad falsely attacked McCain for not knowing how to use a computer? Can't have it both ways.

[Alex]

The LA times now officially prints easily provable lies. McCain routinely uses his hands. This morning was the last time I bought the LA times out of the news stand.

[Mikkeybb]

Obama has been reduced to becoming a sexist pig, and smearing people for having a disability caused by brutal torture.

McCain has defended baseless attacks against Obama on more than one occasion.

McCain is a Leader that can Bring the Country together.

McCain is a Leader, plain and simple.

[Tom]

Once a right-wing talking-point flogger, always...

[kabookey]

The issue is not about pushing a button to send e-mail but typing all day and reading and writing e-mails and other things all day. So it would not be hard to push a button but typing all day like most of you people do. How many of you have carpel tunnel from playing on the puter all day?

[Chup]

Nice job fluffing the GOP by Laura's boy.

Is there nothing you GOOPers won't make a silly excuse about?

[jim agnew]

politics aside when was the last time any of you spent 66 months as a Prisoner Of War? That's longer than Obama has been a Senator. McCain has earned the right to discuss his POW experience as much or as little as he chooses.

[Sami]

What a shameful ad Obama allowed to be shown, under his own name. Just imagine this same 'judgement' being used when dealing with foreign countries, if he were elected President.

"“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.”

http://www.forbes.com/asap/2000/0529/053_print.html"

[Stephen]

The troubling thing about this, given that it is obvious that McCain could send e-mails very easily even with injuries that allegedly prevent him typing, is that he is underhanded enough to attempt to trump Obama with the veteran card.

It would be much more honourable of him to admit that he isn't the most technologically minded candidate. This singular issue certainly would not decide the election, and is hardly worth garnering the sympathy vote if he must pimp out his military service in order to do it. It would have been better for him to have taken an angle which does not throw his character into question, as this and his other recent deceptions (purporting that Obama wants to teach sex ed to kindergardners and the whole lipstick on a pig debacle). To use his military service to a political end in this manner is disgraceful, and an insult to veterans everywhere.

And people, with all the focus we put on these "issues", we fail to concentrate on the policy positions which really do matter!!!

[michaelp0429]

Those of you hateful people who are damning McCain as out of touch because he should hunt-and-peck type his emails with one finger are disgusting. If the man had no resources, no staff, no ability to get the job done far more easily through various other options, he would.

Those voice recognition dictation products are very new, and still not flawless. Kudos to injured people who do use them because they don't have a better choice but McCain learned to get by with his staff writting his emails for him (as most great executives do) and there's no reason for him to waste time sitting around hunt and pecking or screwing around with dictation software. You see, McCain, unlike Obama, has positions and experience and is not resting his entire campaign on being cool.

The great tragedy is that plenty of people under 40 will actually care if the man knows how to type his own emails or not. Perhaps we should raise the voting age to 35 or so if that's the level of their analysis of our Presidential candidates.

[Jet Pilot Obama]

For his next brilliant ad, Obama will land a jet on a rain slicked aircraft carrier in the South China sea...

[peter]

To those of you that beleive McCain should force himself to "learn to compose an email with two fingers..." or "use voice recognition software..." etc. Why should he when he can just pick up the phone? I mean, really, why take 20 minutes to type out a 2 paragraph email when you can take 2 minutes to dial a number and talk to the person on the other end? I suspect that the issue is more to do with his shoulders than his fingers, as he has difficulty holding his arms out, as if he were sitting at a desk with a typewriter. Additionally, emailing when you are President is not a good idea, as any communication can be held against you in some drawn out investigation.

I suppose if McCain doesn't have email experience, thus he can't be President, then Obama, since he has no military experience, shouldn't be commander in chief, right?

BTW: McCain isn't making any excuses here. It is media bloggers who found the stories (which Obama could have used Google to find) that explain why McCain doesn't enjoy typing.

I agree 100% with the other poster who said that this is no time for Obama to be alienating the elderly, or those injured in battle. If his "experience" is related to how he manages his campaign, I would say that he is heading towards an epic fail.

[Kelsey]

"
Can McCain write? If he can write than he can send an email.

It has NOTHING to do with his injuries. That's a bunch of crap!!!
"

Sarcasm:

Can a person in a wheelchair still climb up stairs? There arms still work, after all. Why do we build ramps for them?

/sarcasm

I sure hope Obama takes the same tact that his brainwashed, justify anything supporters are taking in response to this. It'll drive his numbers down even more.