McCain can't use a computer and nobody cares?

[sfam]

I dunno about you, but I think our president in this day and age needs to have some sense of how technology can enable government transparency and overall operations. But McCain says he relies on his wife to do anything involving a computer.

How exactly is he going to lead us into the 21st century when he quite possibly thinks of the internets as a series of tubes?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/11/mccain-admits-he-doesnt-k_n_106478.html

[tularetom]

1. Well he wasn't too good with aircraft either

He wrecked five planes. Probably cost the taxpayers 20 or 30 million bucks.

So it doesn't surprise me.

[patrice]

2. WHY!!!! doesn't that seem to bother people???? That's pretty clear evidence of definite

LIMITATION of somesort. That does NOT bode well for Us.

[sfam]

4. Wow, OK. That was a pretty sad response...

Your blaming McCain for getting shot down and wrecking while landing on an air craft carrier a few times???? Or at least making fun of him for it?

Really??

[tularetom]

8. Um he only got shot down once

and had a plane blow up on the flight deck of the Forrestal once.

He crashed one plane into the gulf of mexico during training.

He crashed a second one into some power lines in Spain and destroyed it.

He crashed a third plane into some woods on his way to the Army NAvy game in Philadelphia.

I held a private pilots license for like thirty years. For whatever reason I never lost an aircraft. Either I was very fortunate or I knew my limitations.

[JVS]

50. How was he supposed to keep his plane from being hit by an errant missile on the Forrestal?

That's like blaming someone for getting your sweater dusty when after they returned from downtown NY on 9/11/01

[LakeSamish706]

10. No, the poster was probably blaming him for being one fucking lousy piolet.... duh... !

[Shakespeare]

14. For any other pilot, wrecking upon landing on a carrier ONCE is a career-ender.

But McCain was different. No, I'm not blaming him for getting shot down, but it's shocking that he crashed on landing that many times. But I love the way you phrase it like it's no big deal. :crazy:

[ellisonz]

32. That's because it wasn't his fault. Technical malfunction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrestal_fire

[Barack_America]

34. Different event.

Nobody blames him for that one.

[Raineyb]

46. Oh yeah, McCain was different all right

He was the son and grandson of admirals.

It's amazing how far one can go while depending on nepotism isn't it?

Regards

[sfam]

51. I guess I'm not really big on judging things I know very little about. Perhaps some are different..

But pilots crashing planes back in the 60s and 70s was hardly an unheard of event. I don't know that I can judge them from here.

Does anyone happen to have any links they should share that show McCain was at fault for these events? Or clear indications of a coverup? If so, I'd love to see them. If not, I again ask why some seem to have such "clear" judgments on the issue.

Again, we can blame and shit on McCain for lots of things. Personally, I'm gonna hold off attacking him for his military service. I guess I'm somewhat alone on this.

[Shakespeare]

56. Ah, but I do know quite a bit about this topic.

Nobody suggested a cover-up. I'm just saying he got special treatment because of who he was. You don't make multiple botched carrier landings and continue being a pilot unless somebody pulls some very big strings for you.

[iconicgnom]

70. I guess he's just hapless. I mean, of course he didn't mean to crash those jets.

He crashed one plane into the gulf of mexico during training.
He crashed a second one into some power lines in Spain and destroyed it.
He crashed a third plane into some woods on his way to the Army NAvy game in Philadelphia.

Yah, hapless is a nice way to describe it. Perhaps as in "let's give the hapless old geezer a pass on this - he's toast anyway."

But you've gotta laugh that a person in his position doesn't know how to use a Mac or PC. Granted, there's something to the saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", but what is he, stuffed, that the wherewithal to "double-click an icon" is beyond him?

[QueenOfCalifornia]

60. McCain

wrecked the planes. He was shot down once. He wrecked 5 planes in total.

[GoneOffShore]

75. His nickname? Crash

Or as a Marine pilot friend says, "He fucked up. He got caught."

[jobycom]

3. So he won't be trolling on DU or looking up porn in the Oval?

I think no one cares because there's nothing else he does well, either. It's like flushing a john on a sinking ship.

[sfam]

5. If Obama was trying to show McCain being out of touch, this answers the bill...

This is really a differentiator for a lot of folks. Just for instance, if he doesn't understand computers, how could he possibly understand the modern stock market these days? This ain't a bunch of folks on the trading floor throwing papers any more.

[jobycom]

9. Yeah, but he could take a crash course and claim he was joking.

Not much to build a campaign on.

[LakeSamish706]

11. WTF is with your posts? Whose side are you on anyway? Cause it sure isn't ...

obvious to me!

[zulchzulu]

19. So perhaps he wouldn't know how to understand how a government web site works...

Obama wants to make government policy transparent via the net and other issues involving computers.

If McCain is too fucking lazy to take a fucking basics class in computers, he is surely more of an asswipe than I thought. So much of government access and policy is based on and available on computer-based technology.

It's like a caveman refusing to learn about how to make fire.

[grantcart]

6. Well he doesn't know about condoms either

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

I think we are going to have to start a list

a long list

a very long list

an encyclopic list

all the shit John McCain doesn't know that any 7th grader does.

[CrispyQ]

38. Sounds like a good idea for a TV show!

;)

[iconicgnom]

72. Obama's talk was excellent, as usual. Totally confidence building.

Thanks for the link

[LakeSamish706]

7. Saying again, if any American is stupid enough to vote this moron in as..

President, then they deserve what they get as their leader! This POS with the plastic phony grin (when needed) is just F***ing nuts.

[blue sky at night]

12. He is not fit to serve...

go and find a job today where you don't have to be literate in computers, this guy is a freaking joke....I think he needs to be in a rest home that is white, not a White House where he will rest.

[40ozDonkey]

35. I'm getting WAAAY too much mileage out of this picture...

I'll stop now, but I love it so.

[KittyWampus]

40. best McCain joke by far! Better than getoffmylawn. Did YOU do this? Who gets the credit?

[40ozDonkey]

44. Nah, saw it once on Fark.com...

...& was inspired to find it again when some DUers suggested that McCain's age should be left alone.
And they're right (from an age-ism standpoint), but it's his inability to adapt that concerns me. This pic summarizes that beautifully. :D

Enjoy!

[eppur_se_muova]

67. I know plenty of people older than McCain who use PCs routinely.

They're not always the most technically informed, but they do have a clue. And no, they're not all university professors. They include some of my relatives from Appalachia, with no college degrees.

McCain sounds like he is used to having lackeys to do all the work.

[40ozDonkey]

73. He does have lackeys, in this case the lackey is Cindy McCain.

John admitted he doesn't use computers, and that Cindy handles anything they need to do with them. If he can't be bothered with a desktop, you think he's gonna jump straight to Blackberry?
So let's hope that if disaster strikes at 3am that John remembers to leave the window open so the Pentagon's carrier pigeons can find him.

[blue sky at night]

42. Hey Thanks!

Right click, Save Image....it's mine now!

[40ozDonkey]

45. n/p buddy, use liberally! n/t

[Raineyb]

47. Never mind

Question already answered. I'll just delete

Regards

[sfam]

52. I LOVE It!!!!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

13. his arms are too short to reach the keyboard

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. he doesn't seem to be competent in anything?

[merwin]

16. Well, at least we know he won't have his finger on the button then!

His wife will.

:evilgrin:

[Olney Blue]

17. Sounds like a serious lack of curiosity.

[Raineyb]

49. Reminds me of someone else who's bumbling around the White House. nt

Regards

[zulchzulu]

18. I think a President should at least know about computers on a basic level

So much of our lives involves using a computer. To have someone who is clueless but can sign or veto policy that is based on internet privacy or whatever is absolutely forbidden.

It would be like our Founding Fathers not knowing anything about farming.

[sfam]

53. I understand Ted Stevens is going to give him a crash course...nt

[az chela]

20. And you think bush can use a computer,he cant even read

[ninja8590]

21. so cindy mccain will be in charge of his emails? WTF! nt.

[FrenchieCat]

22. I care......

but the corporate media doesn't think that I should. :shrug:

[FloridaJudy]

23. It's not age: it's willful ignorance.

I have lots of older relatives, and those that are on the ball use a a computer. It's a hell of a resource for learning and keeping in touch, particularly for folks whose mobility may be limited. My sister's eighty-year-old neighbor is all over the net, advocating progressive causes (if you're reading this, Esther, hi!). Those that don't like or understand computers are troglodytes, but then they always were, even when young.

But then, I don't see that McCain is particularly good at anything but war-mongering and hypocrisy.

[Carrieyazel]

24. Neither could Bill Clinton. He relied on others to do the computer work.

I just don't think issue is that important in the whole scheme of things.

[Withywindle]

25. Clinton was first elected in '92

Computers weren't nearly as ubiquitous in everyone's lives then as they are now.


edit to take back a grammatical atrocity.

[iconicgnom]

74. Yes, a comparison with tech conditions in '92 is void. The PC was in its infancy

and so was the internet.

However, Gore did have a clue about these things, and he had a tremendous searching spirit, and I think he deserves credit for that. The world has benefited a lot from Gore's influence. I think, too, that this level of interaction is what the world has already begun to see in Obama - a similar kind of guiding light as is seen in Gore.

McCain's problem isn't that he hasn't bothered to learn PC basics. It's that he shows no curiosity. And it isn't just of PCs, how they can function in a person's life, but of the whole gamut of subjects that one would expect a POTUS to've been inquisitive about, to know something about. McCain is very much like Bush in that way, and it isn't a good thing. It's why McCain and Bush are eye-to-eye on war, and economics - namely because there is no shallower water and we're dealing with two puppets.

[Withywindle]

77. Exactly!

I'm no computer whiz myself, but I can function. I've been using them at work since the mid-90s, just like most people of the period seeking entry-level jobs right out of college.

Lack of curiosity or interest in the world IS the fatal issue. What excuse could he possibly have for not bothering to learn? Age? My grandmother's 88, but she can still send email and use "the Google," folks at her retirement home have shown her how and it didn't take long. It's not like he can't afford one. Time? Please. It's PART of his job, to stay in touch with technologies shaping people's lives.

I want a President who knows MORE than me. It's not too much to ask, really. But I do insist at least on that.

[last_texas_dem]

28. Yeah, this is one issue that doesn't particularly matter to me

I mean, the vast majority of our presidents have been computer illiterate. haha

[sfam]

54. Times have changed. Computers play a central role in the economy and in communications...

For a president not to know this would be akin to a governor of a farming state not understanding the intricacies of farming. We are at an age where it DOES matter if presidents understand them and their place in how organizations work.

If transforming government to better meet the needs of the people, including opening it up is important, understanding the basics of computing is sort of necessary to evaluate the various options.

[Raineyb]

58. No one's asking him to learn C++

But he needs to know something. How is one supposed to explain net neutrality to someone who doesn't understand how the internet works?

How does one explain the idiocy of certain DRM schemes if he doesn't understand media portability and the need to be able to use media on all devices one owns?

How does one explain the need to respect the privacy of one's laptop and why it's wrong for the government to demand access to your files without a warrant if he doesn't understand the fundamental basics of computers?

This is a big problem and his unwillingness to learn that is a bigger problem.

Regards

[LaPera]

26. Maybe it's because republican McBush can't even figure out how to tie his own shoe laces either

I'm sure he ties them both together.....

And that would explain a lot.....why he's alway tripping over himself!

[Egnever]

27. I Cant believe he says he is an illiterate that has to rely on his wife

That clip by itself should disqualify him for president. I hope someone picks it up and makes a comercial of it.

[Raine]

29. As far as practical use of it, it probably

doesn't matter because a president wouldn't have time to sit there sending out emails. BUT a president should have knowledge of the internet, understand the impact, power of it and what's available on it. It's troubling that he hasn't had the curiosity to learn how to use it for sure.

[sfam]

55. exactly. If there were ever a metaphor for "McCain is a dinosaur", this is it...nt

[ClassWarrior]

30. Out. Of. Touch.

Confused. Clueless. I'd say he lost his bearings if I thought he ever had any.

NGU.

[GreenTea]

31. Maybe he's going for Joe & Josie sixpack's vote, like Bush who they'd want to have a beer with.

But then, he already has their vote, if indeed they do vote.

Being computer illiterate takes only a little time to solve if one cares to. But McCain seems to be saying it's OK if you too don't.

Certainly in this day and age and in public office it's nothing to be proud of that he can't or won't.

[opihimoimoi]

33. What a dull guy.....listen to his interviews and its obvious...just like Bush, can't talk crap bout

anything cept low level shit...Even that is suspect....Bush can't hammer a nail for shit....whad about Clone? Can Clone handle a hammer? A Chainsaw? How bout Marbles then? Can he shoot?

What about higher level stuffs like taking care of our Nation? Making it more Healthy, Wealthier, and Wiser....just like Ole Ben Used to say....what does he have to say> ?

What about World Peace? What would his comments sound like?

Without the computer to learn of the current events, feedback, on the Internet...its hard to get a pulse of the Nation. Without the Pulse...then its easy to dwell on ones own gut feelings usually based on lessons learned ages ago...like in High School. McClone is stuck in an age 40 plus years ago....he is the General who fights this war with the tactics of the OLD WAR.....

[DavidDvorkin]

36. Only you trendy kids who spend your time fooling around on the dang things

Computers are just a fad. They'll go away, any day now.

Why, when I was a boy, we didn't have those stupid computers, and we were just ... bored a lot of time. I'd have been in Heaven, if I'd had a computer and some of them Internets tubes things.

[Skittles]

79. LOL....DavidD

:rofl:

[BklynChick]

37. he's way too out of touch in so many ways to be POTUS

[Ichingcarpenter]

39. From his website.... How does this thing work?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

41. LOL!

Great pic! :thumbsup:

[IDemo]

43. He's still using his first laptop -->

[eppur_se_muova]

68. Popular Electronics, 1976?

Am I close? :D

[IDemo]

69. Close

Radio Electronics, 1973, courtesy of Don Lancaster

[eppur_se_muova]

78. Dang, I shoulda known better -- by '76 you could buy one of these ...

[DuaneBidoux]

48. This means he must get his news through a filter. Unable to go searching for himself.

I think this is one of the most powerful things the Internet has to offer: the ability to go searching here and there, all perspectives, and decide where and what you want to look up. If he is unable to search the "Internets" this means he is completely dependent upon those around him who feed him the news.

[nxylas]

57. Republicans may decide to find it quaint

The same way that *'s lack of intellectual curiosity and inability to form a coherent sentence was spun as down-home, folksy charm.

[mentalsolstice]

59. This guy should be his VP to make up for his lack of skills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hrxde-Uslo

[blogslut]

61. Don't ever change, Johnny

Seriously. We like you just the way you are. :evilgrin:

[ProSense]

62. Posted about that

here, but it sank.

[LeftishBrit]

63. He might be even more dangerous if he could!

I.e. use it for surveillance and other nasty purposes.

Unfortunately perhaps, I'm sure he would have plenty of staff who do know how to use a computer.

Let's just hope he doesn't get in!

[rox63]

64. My elderly Mom thinks computers are evil - But she's not running for president n/t

[NorthCarolina]

65. The internet...it's a series of tubes

eom

[windoe]

66. Even Bush said he uses 'the google'

but he's crazy, no clue as to what that means. McCain is not running on brains, he's running on crust.

[opihimoimoi]

71. Does he still use his 286???

[Blue_Tires]

76. he became bored after "mastering" geocities and prodigy