McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

loriw — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:36:40 GMT

Excellent points Andrew, keep up the good work.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

cks24 — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:50:22 GMT

The counterpoint to this argument would be that while not necessary for the daily responsibilities of being president, some literacy in new technology is an important asset for understanding the way technology (and particularly the Internet) are radically transforming American society and the global economy.

While it's true that his aides and advisers would be able to convey this to him, there's a certain level to which it's difficult to grasp the enormity of the transformations without having actually used the Internet. Take 20th Century analogies and imagine the president trying to make decisions about the airwaves that would affect the future of fledging radio or television technologies, without having actually used or experienced either.

The broader point liberal blogs are trying to make is that John McCain, at least in this particular area, is not a part of the cultural, social and technological experience that most Americans are living. Not a deal-breaker and not a roadblock to completing the duties of President of the United States, but you could see where Internet-active voters in particular would see this as a concern in the "shares our values" or "understands people like us" categories.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Andrew Romano — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:01:17 GMT

Good points, cks24. Wish they weren't so often expressed through namecalling, though--"he's so old" and the like. Best, Andrew

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

loriw — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:37:05 GMT

I always swore that I would not be one of those mothers who calls her children to help her "program the vcr". However I find myself calling him to reset the clock in my car and programing the radio to scroll the musician's name and song title. Am I stupid, not by a long shot.

I could sit and read the book that came with my car but that would be a pain in the buns when my son already seems to know how to do it. Some of the reward for having kids is that hopefully they do some things for you when they are adults.

So my point here is that McCain has people. The do the things he probably could do for himself after he learned, but it would take him a lot longer to do it for himself. A good manager always delegates. A President must delegate or he/she would be buried in minutiae and rendered useless if he or she micromanaged the business of running the country.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

chuckhasker@yahoo.com — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:18:06 GMT

I see you do read the comments Andrew. After a two day absence and not peep from you it was good to hear your voice. I for one missed it. Chuck Hasker

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

cheerios — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:04:44 GMT

The comments critical of McCain bespeak a HUGE need to start spending more time off-line.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

EvanLee — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:07:30 GMT

The point is, at some point new laws are going to be made regarding the internet. How is a man who doesn't understand the internet supposed to make smart decisions about something he doesn't even know how to use...

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

raddave — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:24:07 GMT

I could care less that McCain cannot use the internets. I am more worried about the other subjects he seems out of touch with. Such as, defending Czekoslavakia a country that has not existed in 15 years.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

danna111 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:37:52 GMT

How many Presidents would know how to fly a modern fighter, pilot a Sea Wolf Class Nuclear Attack submarine, or launch a plane from the deck of a carrier? Knowledge of a technology doesn't mean one can't manage it. Internet be damned and other technologies that blunt our minds from real people. I would rather have someone seasoned in 1st person inter-personal communications than some stupid email robot. The President is lucky if he can get a spare moment to enjoy a nice quiet moment away from technology. Don't kid yourself, the internet is not what will make or break a president. They are too driven to get caught up in such trivial minutia. What will he seek? A good online deal from clearance specialist? Flowers? Some special interest website from which he can draw valuable decision-hearty info?? Not. He's too busy. Internet law is such a bogus arguement. Don't get caught up in your own clamshell world thinking that this is real. This is a toy compared to the job of the Prez.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jblackwell88 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:42:56 GMT

We're just splitting hairs here. There is no fundamental difference between Obama and McCain on any of the issues that matter. Their Internet usage is neither here nor there. No matter who wins, we'll still be running a world empire, intervening in foreign countries, sending tax dollars overseas, have no southern border, millions of illegals running amok, and a Federal Reserve printing monopoly money hand-over-fist. Its all going away folks.. the only question is, who do we put in the drivers seat for when this bus hits the curb?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

wildlifeusa — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:49:12 GMT

For the past 8 years, we had a predident who was completely ignorant of the rest of the world. We don't need another one who can't use a computer! The guy is not uptdate, he is way too old!!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

beowolf747 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:52:02 GMT

The internet would be another way that the President could get closer to the people. A president could surf as an average joe to get a kind of pulse of the people.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

FatherWolf — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:01:05 GMT

All these excuses for McCain, saying that he has staffpeople to tell him everything, point toward an out-of-touch elitism. Everybody's saying that McCain doesn't have any contact with the world that most of us live in, and doesn't need to. A president who is that isolated from the lives of ordinary Americans will not be able to govern sympathetically and effectively.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jblackwell88 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:12:14 GMT

This article could be about anything, and the same apologists would appear cheer-leading for their team.

We're heading into a new world where oil production is peaking, recession is unavoidable, the dollar is collapsing, banks are failing, our military is over-extended, our national debt unfathomable, our foreign allies few, our will to enforce the law absent, our nation more Balkanized and unassimilated than ever... and we're making fine points about the ability of the candidates to use the web. McCain and Obama both need to be run out on a rail, tarred and feathered with every other member of Congress.

Its too bad we can't have two separate governments : one for liberals and another for conservatives. That way the conservatives can teach their children whatever brand of religious ignorance they prefer, then conscript them later for some foreign crusade, while the liberals can give up their own firearms, have gay weddings and tax themselves to death, right up until the point California turns into Republica Del Norte and they find themselves fleeing into Jesus-land. Obama thinks we should all learn SPANISH. Forget about McCain using Google for a minute and consider what it means for a president to refuse to steer our national destiny, but instead SURRENDER it to the third world.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jpsha — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:12:46 GMT

Andy - While the ignorance is understandable, it does make it hard for him to understand some issues, like technology in schools.

Also, your image of the limitations of 71 year olds is appalling! At 68, my mother started a new career in Technical Writing, learning new systems rapidly and well.

It is exactly the "idea that McCain, 71, would understand anything beyond Yahoo! Mail, Google and Amazon is preposterous" that is causing the uproar. If he could not acquire those skills, then they fear he'd have a hard time learning a lot more new info than that! And you make the case for them.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

thomcom — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:23:38 GMT

I was initially alarmed at McCain's admission that he can't use the Internet, just like almost everyone else. Then I thought, at least he was truthful about it and determined to learn more about how to do it. It was refreshing to hear a politician not mixing words.

The fact of the matter is he hasn't needed email and web browsing for his success. As for being capable of handling technology, how many of us could fly a fighter jet and land it on an aircraft carrier? Not many, I suspect. This shows the man's capability to do what he sets his mind to, and if he wants to learn how to use the Internet, I'm confident that will happen.

As for being in touch with those he governs, it is McCain who is calling for Town Hall meetings - face to face unscripted encounters with real people throughout our land. Why is Obama, the technologically superior being by comparrison, refusing such venues?

Having had the Internet as an integral part of my business life for the past 16 years, I know how much of a filter the technology can be. Even the most sophisticated online meeting applications can't come close to being side by side with another human, able to see what they really mean during a conversation. We all have to admit that the Internet has by some degrees distanced us from face-to-face realty. Perhaps that's why Obama is not as comfortable with the press asking him questions as is McCain.

I live with Internet technology every day, and advise clients on how to use it. The one thing I always emphasize is the fact that an emai can never replace a phone call, and a phone call can never replace sitting down beside the person you really want to understand.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

braindeadly — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:24:32 GMT

I wish that people would admit that the job of president starts at 5am and doesn't stop until 10pm. McCain is too old. Look at how they age in the white house! He missed his chance in 2000 when Bush and Rove impugned he and his wife's reputation. If one looks back at his record and what he has said previous to running for the 08 presidency, he is by far a changed man. The old McCain, a younger man, would have made a great president. As for Romano's comments, what good are they? We don't need the press to defend candidates, we need the press to get back to sorting out fact from fiction. The more the press focuses on hearsay and silly remarks made about candidates' comments, the worse the campaigns become. There are too many professional opinions on both sides of the aisle printed in the press today.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jblackwell88 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:35:45 GMT

I agree braindeadly... maybe we should focus on the issues, like the amnesty bill for illegal aliens that McCain co-authored with Ted Kennedy last summer.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

snpnt — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:03:03 GMT

I agree with us older folks about who really cares. But to a younger person who knows no other way, it would be mind boggling to them that the president doesn't know how to "surf". Yes the issues are the most important thing, but the internet has been the most important technological breakthough in the last 15 years and even though Mr. McCain has not HAD to use it, I would like to know why he doesn't WANT to use it. Yes face to face is best, telephone is 2nd, but don't we want a president who also looks and uses 3rd option? ALL of us responding here use it. I appreciate his honesty but he should spend a little time on the internet and it most likely would propel him in the eyes of youth.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

MikePhoenix — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:25:39 GMT

Uh huh, it is certainly not relevant that McCain isn't bright enough to perform functions that the average 12 ysar old can do easily. Using google requires you to type a couple of words into a text box and click a button. But what the hell, we've had one mediocre mind as head of the executive branch for the last 8 years. If you think the results of leadership of that intellectual level have been good for the country, then by all means, vote for more 4 more years of the same. Hope y'all are really wealthy, otherwise you are going to have the pleasure of watching your kids grow up in a society where the standard of living is consistently deteriorating..

So, Andrew, I guess you don't think the fact that McCain doesn't understand the economy is a big problem, either. How about the fact that he forgot to pay taxes for 4 years on property he owns in California? The amount of sucking up to this fool from the mainstream media is just astounding.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

TerryBolt — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:28:20 GMT

It shows a remarkable lack of curiosity. We all know what a great idea that was the last couple of times. If he had been using "a Google," perhaps he would have known that Czechoslovakia hasn't existed for ten years. Get out of the tank Newsweek, you're starting to get soaked.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jane.simpson.wilson — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:28:05 GMT

I worked in Broadcasting for twenty years, and the first thing I did after I retired was to dump all tech and become a Luddite. Okay, It took me four years to come back, but guess what, I didn't miss a thing.

For a Commander-In-Chief, I trust that he has a whole staff is on the keyboards for him. The Lack of the Internet didn't seem to slow down FDR, JFK, RFK or even our Alzheiemer's-challenged Reagan. POTUS is not geared to surf, his job is to assimilate everything that comes to him in the a.m. and consilidate it into a plan for the day.

Dude, If my Prez was surfing, I'd be concerned. He has more important things to do, like, THINK!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Maximus Marvelous — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:37:17 GMT

AMAZING what these old fossils can do without a computer on their desk...LIKE WARREN BUFFET who built a 50 billion empire without a computer. He doesn't GIGGLE OR GOOGLE, NO CORPORATE RESEARCH, NO FINANCIAL PLANNING, NO BLOGGING, NO SCHEDULING, on a computer, and he's a very good friend of Bill Gates. STRANGE? Bush is the same and like it or not, he's the Pres., Buffet is a Billionaire, and Johnny is a Senator. The rest of us must just be swimming in a sea of digital garbage. Maybe we've lost the ability to "SCREEN" out the essentials.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pjmarnj — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:45:52 GMT

Lets give McCain back the years he spent as POW so he can come up to speed on googgle, giggle and gaggle.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

fouroh — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:34:27 GMT

Anyone that is computer illiterate in this day and age is a dyed-in-the-wool dinosaur. I'm 73 and a high-school dropout. I got my computer degree when I was 58 and, yes, it's in computer technology. Where has he been while the computer field has been expanding? Oh yeah, that's right, trying to keep up with his trophy wife. Sorry, but if you're that far behind the times you're too old to be POTUS.

fouroh

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

infogiant — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:48:58 GMT

So what? Our current President is so insulated by his bubble and refusal to read the news that he's only listened to people like Rove and Cheney. Pardon me if I prefer someone who not only knows how to get to Google, but also how to find articles of interest. This is a freaking joke, and judging by McCain's lack of knowledge on basic facts like Sunni vs. Shia or that his economic advisor who deregulated the mortgage industry in the late 90's thinks further deregulation is the key to the "mental recession" we're in. Maybe if he knew that we're in the information age and not the stone age he might want to figure out the single most powerful information tool in the history of the World (tied with the printing press).

http://infogiant.wordpress.com/?s=mccain

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

vakosh — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:21:25 GMT

Doesn't matter. Obama apparently can google and look where it got him. He's a candidate with no experience that the public ain't buyn.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

doc1010 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:23:20 GMT

Infogiant, if you are equating occasional mistakes in a speech as lack of knowledge, then I much prefer someone who doesn't know the difference between Sunni and Shia, vs. someone who has visited 57 states with only 2 more left.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

4carol — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:23:23 GMT

You can't tell me that a person who is even mildly curious wouldn't want to know how to use a computer; they've been around for how many years?? Besides the fact that they are the way to news, opinions and issues as much probably as TV was in the early 50's!

Not sure I'd want him even reaching for a phone at 3:00 a.m. with that kind of non curiosity!!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

bfjones666 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:27:03 GMT

Not being computer literate IS a reflection of a larger issue which has come up an will continue to come up with McCain. He is too old to be trusted to run the country. He is out of touch with regular Americans and he is in bed with another "low information" hero, George Bush.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

McNumbNut — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:28:02 GMT

Someone needs to hit [Alt]+[F4] on McCain's campaign...

"Press any key to continue" ... Sorry McCain, the any key is the space bar, they just forgot to label it... Doh!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

skulnick — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:34:01 GMT

No, you're totally right Andrew, why should the President of the United States know how to use the greatest communication tool since the telephone?

Really, you folks in the press really need to stop carrying water for McCain. I know he makes great ribs, but a little objectivity now and then never hurt anybody.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

4carol — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:34:54 GMT

I read your issues along with the comments almost daily, but am very suprised that you would allow such a comment as from SCHLANG!!

It is one thing to say against a candidate something that is pertinent to the article; but it is quite another just to falsely attack either candidate!!!

I am very dismayed that this type of hype is allowed!!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

airikamishel — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:37:34 GMT

Well perhaps Senator McCain is preoccupied with reading and becoming informed on the issues that he is to vote versus surfing the web...I hope he is busier listening to the experts and becoming as well informed as possible versus just knowing how to Google something....

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

tonytrotter — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:38:54 GMT

I Care! I would like a President who is in touch with what is actually happening in everyone's life TODAY. Technology touches nearly everyone's life and it will most likely be what saves us from ourselves if anything can. His ignorance of something as simple as Google is a bad omen in my book.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

airikamishel — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:41:20 GMT

Just because he does not use it frequently does not mean he is ignorant to it's effects and many facets and it's immense importance to the world today...

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Prt10 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:48:12 GMT

I am willing to bet that David Souter's clerks use compulaw or some other legal internet search engine. I do not think this is a make or break issue - but it does show a generation gap. If he went to apply for a job in the business sector this would not be an acceptable situation. You have to be computer literate and that includes the ability to do a basic search. Children are learning this in grade school - so I think it is more than the ability to do some on-line shopping!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

krcOhio — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:02:50 GMT

As someone that has not quite made a decision between the potential nominees, I find this issue very important. As a young tech savvy individual I could not be more concerned about the direction in which someone such as McCain could lead this country. If he does not embrace technology now, why should I think that it would not affect his policy later? When the budget calls for cuts what will be the first thing to go?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jblackwell88 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:02:57 GMT

I loathe McCain, but at the same time I recognize its not fashionable to be old and white.

Which is better, an old doddering fellow with the wrong ideas, or a sharp witted fellow with equally WRONG ideas? Is there an option between warmongering and socialism?

America deserves everything it gets. We had a lot of good people running this time, but America collectively lacked the common sense to figure out who they were. Maybe 10 or 15% of the people in this country understand the nature of our problems. Do any of you REALLY understand how the banking system works, WHY we have inflation, or massive credit card debt? Does anyone here KNOW what the Federal Reserve does, or WHY our nation is an unreflected commitment to Israel no matter WHAT that country does? These things will not change, because they are hints to our true owners. Americans do not have a choice. You have the illusion of choice, and this keeps your attention off the people who really pull the strings, the ones your labor is conscripted for one tax dollar at a time, one interest payment at a time. The function of the president is to guard this system. Its to convince you that its NORMAL to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks against your future earnings, plus interest over 30 years, while our OWNERS sit back, do no work, and make a mint off your interest and GAMBLE with the currency to the point that their banks fail. In past times, the problem was identified as USURY, but in modern times its been legitimized as a neat way to make money off people in bad situations. And when the banks fail, the federal government acts only to keep the USURERS afloat, allow them to continue the scam, this gradual process of transisting all the wealth of this country from you to the banks. They don't care about your house. They only care that your house continues to conscript you for 3 times its value. And of course the American people go along with it because we are all ENTITLED to possess these things, we want to borrow, borrow, borrow. Because we want it NOW and we deserve it - we're Americans! Down the line, all of this is going to cave in on itself, and the Federal Reserve is going to start running the presses full bore, counterfeiting new dollars to try to keep us happy just like they tried this May. They think there is energy somehow in that paper thats going to get some work done. When that doesn't work, they're going to be scratching their heads trying to figure where wealth CAN be cannibalized from ( the middle class ) and thats what scares me the most about Obama. Socialists do not produce wealth; they're in the business of seizing and redistributing it. If you cannot get your constituents to WORK then you must be in the business of taking from those who do.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

bobwil — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:03:16 GMT

Not being able to use the Internet in today's world is like not being able to use the telephone. While your standards are incredibly low, I still require a minimum level of competency from the person that I'll vote for President.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ademeyer — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:05:02 GMT

My Dad got into using a computer in his early 70's and outpaced all of us in mastering it for work and pleasure. He died last fall, still living in his own home at 83, but greatly diminished in his mental abilities due to a brain aneryism he suffered at 78. My mom never got the hang of the simplest use of email. 10 years later she is in an Alzheimer's unit.

You are a young man, Mr. Romano, and I suspect you want to protect an older man you admire. I am 49 years old and have watched my parents and older relatives decline. I know facts of life you will eventually learn; that people are not indestructible, even the brightest and most vigorous will lose their physical or mental abilities sooner than we expect.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

martyduffy — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:18:58 GMT

This isn't a skill issue it is a connection issue. Computer use has become a different way of communication for many if not most Americans, and John McCain doesn't understand it and probably never will. He is locked into the past by his relationships and habits. They keep him there where he will be disconnected from the world was really live in today. That isn't the kind of president I want running the country.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

mothersoprano — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:20:12 GMT

Stop carrying water for McCain. The rest of us who weren't invited to the barbeque need healthcare, economic relief, a safer, cleaner environment, better schools, the list goes on and on. Critical thinking is involved here, so McCain, who finished near the bottom of his class in military school is hardly qualified. The nerve of you people, actually nominating this old, blundering, lying fool for the highest office in the land. McCain is absolutely pathetic.

Now, even though it is obvious that McCain should not be the President of the United States, it is not a forgone conclusion that Obama will win the election. Thanks to media hacks such as yourself, this race could be close. However, if you Republicans pull out another victory by lying, distorting the issues, and let's not forget good old-fashioned cheating, then all of you out there voting against your own best interests will have yourselves to thank for the destruction of your own country. Good luck to us all! Here's hoping that reason will prevail.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ndrock — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:22:25 GMT

I'll take the guy who may not know how to use the net or a computer, because he is experienced and smart enough to make sure that the people around him that do all the work required by a computer, really know about computers and the net.. Does anyone really think the president sits in his office all day and sends emails, chats in a chat room, and does top security business via the Internet? I am betting McCain knows as much as the average person when it comes to computers. One does not have to be a "computer geek" to be a president. That what staff is for.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Robinann — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:23:08 GMT

In this day and age, the computer, texting, and IM are as necessary as air. I come from a state where our Governor texted a "friend" over 800 TIMES in one month!! I certainly expect my President to, at least, know the fundamentals about the computer. Even my 80 year old mother can log on, send emails, and surf.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

paulte — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:24:57 GMT

Very sound reasoning Stumper! After all, he'll have assistants to do any necessary web stuff for him like research. I know that Presidents still use the phone and post anyway. No need to e-mail. I know I've sent stuff to Bush by e-mail since the White House has one for the public to contact the President. I find it more convenient than writing. Even the Pope has an e-mail nowadays. I've used that too to ask him to excommunicate Nancy Pelosi but he didn't comply as yet. However, if you want to get a reply from the Presdient or the Pope you have to send your communication in writing. So McCain is safe on that ground!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ndrock — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:28:08 GMT

Like all of Newsweek's reports about McCain, it is always the worst, and Obama is always the best, and the oh so brightest. The pages of Newsweek shine like the sun when reporting on Obama, and look dark and black when reporting on McCain. Newsweek is just another Hollywood rag that prints half truths and innuendos. Nothing but a bunch of liberals at the helm.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Prt10 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:36:18 GMT

ndrock-I am not sure what articel you were reading - this seems to be defending McCain.

And yes he will have assistants to do these things for him. But again I have to point out if McCain went to a job interview almost any business related position would require basic computer skills. I think our President should have a grasp on the basics.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

BillPal — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:36:54 GMT

So what if McCain is inexperienced in the latest technology, it simply means that he was about the business of the country, whereas, Obama had time to play with his toys. Where are all of the AARP people when Obama continuously speak about our age. We need to ban together and show him there is strength in numbers. We may not be as savvy, but we still VOTE!!!!!!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Prt10 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:38:30 GMT

ndrock-I am not sure what articel you were reading - this seems to be defending McCain.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

curryjm — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:44:25 GMT

Good grief, even my 78 year old mother-in-law sues e-mail and the internet! Of course, us "kids" had to show her how, but she was willing and anxious to learn. McCain's apparent lack of interest in something that has become as common as the telephone makes me wonder.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Finnigan — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:56:31 GMT

Not a bad point overall, mr. Romano. Let's be honest though-- Bush stopped using email when he found out that messages regarding torture and cooked intelligence were easily traceable in this medium. McCain won't lose because he's out of touch on technology; he'll lose because he's out of touch on issues.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

joheel — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:58:21 GMT

So, if I am following the logic of this argument correctly, first hand experience in applying the concepts of an admittedly broad but critical area of the US economy, namely technology, should not be a consideration for a presidential candidate because they can still educate themselves on the broader aspects and leave the actual application to others? Surely, I am missing something, because isn't that the core argument with which McCain is trying to differentiate himself from Obama in military and national security matters?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

dagdavid — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:03:47 GMT

It DOES show a lack of curiosity and it is a great indicator of just how out of touch McCain really is. So what if he has no need to actually surf the web himself, he should at least want to know what it is all about. This man has been in the Senate so long that he has completely lost touch with every day society. It is an embarrassment.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:04:18 GMT

I'd work for John McCain in a minute. My skills are that I can program anything to do anything. I live in software, and was in college for over 18 years. One of the images of John that has repeatedly come to my mind is from the "Quantum Leap" show. Where Dean Stockwell is shown being a military man and being hurried away in the grassy jungle. The way the plot goes is the modern day Dean could have helped the Dean of the past get out of captivity. This brings tears to my eyes. God bless senator McCain. I will not forget you.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

amber09 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:21:06 GMT

I don't buy the reasoning its McCain's age for his internet ignorance. I'm almost 66 and know the web. I'm disturbed because it shows how out of touch McCain is of the real world. He can't relate to normal struggles because he has never faced them. He was shelten by the milatary and then by his wife's money. He has no idea how it feels to worry about paying your bills. Obama's mother was a times on food stamps. His grandparents made modest incomes. Obama knows how the common folks feel.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Joe Milkman — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:35:01 GMT

I would rather have to teach McCain about the internet than teach Obama about the military, National Security and Foriegn Policies. Never mind teaching him how to make up his mind.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:36:30 GMT

amber09, I have to disagree with you. To tell you, the honest truth. In all the jobs that I've had, Internet people are at the bottom of the food chain. In many instances, there is someone at the top of the ladder who doesn't know squat about how the Internet is implemented. The guy at the top can come directly off the street, and know nothing about how things get done. He can give orders and down the chain the orders flow. This system really works well because all you need is someone to give good direction. I feel that John McCain can do this. This is the standard rule that I have seen. And, I feel you'd be a fool to go against the grain. The praticality of this situation is seen in not wanting to get caught up in all the details, let the team do its work.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

madge — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:36:38 GMT

here's the thing - it may not show ineptitude. it does show, however, a total reliance on the research and opinions of his staffers. if he's not out gathering news for himself on occasion he is relying on them completely for their take on matters. after bush jr., i am no longer comfortable with a president who trusts everything his staffers tell him as actionable and complete facts. i want a president who works with others, sure, but i also want a president who thinks for himself, researches for himself, and considers all sources of available information and opinion at his disposal prior to making decisions like, oh say, invading a country.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Tut_Aint_Cummin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:37:39 GMT

Well, we have President "Pootin'" talking about the "Internets" and now McCain not knowing how to use the "Internets." At least McCain could blame it on his age. I will not worry too much about his emailing ability as I worry about him not remembering what he said yesterday. It should also be noted that John McCain's class rank at the USNA is 894 - out of 899, so intelligence is not his forte.

He was the original "Playa" in his young days, and much like our President Pootin', he seemed to have gotten this far simply based on his connections.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ObamaNow — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:41:27 GMT

You people are pathetic. Internet knowledge is all relative. I am a programmer and to me ALL OF YOU ARE COMPUTER IllETERATE! Yes it shows how out of touch he is if he never googled...because being on the interntet gives you some sort of moral superiority...more than half internet use is still porn...maybe we should make the creator of YouPorn president...

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

turkeyfish — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:42:56 GMT

This just another pathetic attempt to avoid consideration of the consequences of a McCaine presidency, so we can elect mediocrity to serve as a mouthpiece for corporate interests.

McCaine's inability in this area only underscores his inability to understand how the world is changing or how America can hope to keep up, If other world leaders are ahead of him in understanding the significance of the internet revolution, how is that going to make America more competitive?. His would only be a presidency like Bush's, always behind the curve. Just because the American dream is dying, we don't need to elect a president, who is nearly dead himself and could well be before his first term is up. People who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it. With McCaine about all you get is history, no competence, no foresight, just more Bush/McCaine slogans, like this article. America needs solutions not campaign slogans.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

dianewatson1 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:44:43 GMT

Andrew - that is about the dumbest article you've ever written. You are officially an idiot. Anyone of McCain's stature who is seeking the highest office in the land should have learned how to use a computer by now. And now amount of excuses from you will cover up that fact. McCain is a dottering old fool and I wouldn't trust him to take out the trash in the White House. But I guess we know who your voting for.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:47:51 GMT

If I were to explain the Internet to senator McCain I would say. The Internet is like the what the 1950s computer was suppose to be. In the 50s, the movies showed us pictures of incredibly fantastic machines which could solve any problem. Today, we have the Internet which has accomplished what the movies qlorified them as. I would sneak up to him and wisper that in his ear. God bless senator John McCain

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

fireworksforjeffy — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:01:35 GMT

" and legislators (and presidents) regularly make laws about stuff they've never actually experienced firsthand"

Remember Ted "The Internet is a Series of Tubes" Stevens? Andrew, many legal issues that will dictate the future of the internet will come to court and congress very soon. In order for a politician to make the decision that benefits Americans the best, and not just the decision that gets lobbied the hardest, it's absolutely imperative that our leaders actually understand, at least in an elementary sense, the technology which they are debating. McCain's generation is known by our society for its ineptitude with newer technologies. I do not want a president without a basic understanding of computers, and contrary to what you say, a complete lack in internet literacy is indicative of a lack of even a basic understanding.

This is getting pathetic. I am inches away from stopping visiting MSNBC.com, and you are not helping, Andrew. This is not an objective piece of journalism by any standards; playing down such a glaring weakness has no benefit to Americans trying to make a difficult decision. If you want to support McCain, that's fine but PLEASE refrain from downplaying the concerns of those who care about this election.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Newsweekbhg — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:05:24 GMT

Posted By: Joe Milkman (July 15, 2008 at 10:35 AM)

I would rather have to teach McCain about the internet than teach Obama about the military, National Security and Foriegn Policies. Never mind teaching him how to make up his mind.

Well maybe you can teach McCain not to anger other nations by suggesting that we continue to ship cigarettes to them in order to kill them. (Good foreign experience my A@$)

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

rhatchman — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:07:06 GMT

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Basic computer skills are required for almost any white collar ENTRY level position in this country - but you're saying it shouldn't be a prerequisite for being President of the United States?!

It is becoming unreal the lengths to which some in the media will go to make McCain even a palatable candidate.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

bcrawf2033 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:10:12 GMT

I think it's important that Senator McCain possess computer literacy if for no other reason than to be able to relate to what the young people and businesses are using on a global scale. Text messaging, e-mails and the many other features available through technology today have changed the world and the way we communicate in it. Information today moves at lightening speed. Senator McCain possesses knowledge from the past that needs to be passed on to the next generation. I'm sure heads of state in other countries are sending e-mails and using technology to its fullest. If he wants to be President, he needs to move into the 21st century and get with the program. Obama 08!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

wrecktafire — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:11:17 GMT

Thanks, Andrew, you are 100% correct. I am a software engineer whose uses computers all day, and programs autonomous military vehicles. I know calculus. I read U.S. Supreme Court opinions in detail. I know what LIBOR is.

Yet I don't have a Facebook. Does that make me dumb?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

mommy591 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:20:45 GMT

In the 21st century I feel MCcAin should have some knowledge about computers.Sombody already said he should be able to use the computer in order to relate to the younger generation.Computer Skills tests are required in North Carolina in order to graduate from high school.It would be funny for a student to say well the Prwsdient doesn't have computer skills then why should I!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:24:11 GMT

Well, Andrew, your lament about name calling in the blog forum is welcome. I read an article recently quoting a man who was described as a fairly intelligent voter by all appearances who had had begun to believe that Obama is a Muslim because so many people repeatedly say that he is, despite the fact that he is not a Muslim. This has taken the place of swift boating, as thousands of bloggers repeat this over and over again to try to somehow discredit Obama as a candidate. Many of these are the "religious right" who were drug into Bush's corner by Karl Rove's tactics in 2004, and want religion now to be a major factor in every presidential election. This process breeds an equal and opposite effort by Obama supporters to say equally discrediting things about Mc Cain. These same "intelligent" voters need to hear that Mc Cain is a closet Muslim, just about as true as Obama is a Muslim. If not that, then just pick any unpopular activity that might repel a voter. They need to hear that the senator's brain will not last as long as the office he seeks and note that his increasing tendency to react angrily at minor things is one of the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and that if he is elected and his mental faculties dwindle, then people we have never heard of will be using his power to do what they will with this country for their own selfish ends. It would be very interesting if the next president is chosen mostly based on pure hogwash in slanderous blogs, but who would have ever believed that a candidate's performance in a war would have been so twisted as in the 2004 Swift Boating. Finally, the success that the Bush campaign had in 2000 unfairly raking Mc Cain over the hogwash coals to knock him out of contention can be given some credit for what you now lament in its most recent incarnation. Thanks for all the articles. I always enjoy them.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

cowen123456 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:24:36 GMT

Newsweekforobama.com strategy...use the most unflaterring picture of Mccain always to paint a bad picture of the candidate. While Always..always use the most flattering pic of Obama to paint him as bigger, smarter and greater then he really is. Ask yourself this........when someone need to market an image to win....what does that say? it say the person has no substance to stand on and so he/she need to relied on a created image to win over support. So balant and so transparent....willy wabbit..tricks are for kids. Voters knows facts from fiction. Vote Mccain 2008!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

cowen123456 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:26:20 GMT

My friend can program software to the end of the earth and is considered a genuine genius when it comes to the computer and the net...yet, you ask him what the supreme court of the US actually is responsible for and his answer is....."what do you mean? what's a supreme court? who cares...."

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:27:50 GMT

And as far as computer literacy is concerned, I would rather have a president who does not spend time staring at a computer screen. His time is much more valuable than that and all of the facilities at hand are much more effective in making the executive decisions. If email needs to be sent, he can just speak it to someone who does this.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ScottSlemmons — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:29:50 GMT

Mr. McCain can't use a computer -- so Mr. Romano shrugs. "So what? He gives fantastic barbecue, so he's qualified for the presidency."

Of course, if Mr. Obama said <I>he</I> couldn't use a computer, Mr. Romano would declare that this was a major scandal and disqualified Obama from being elected dogcatcher, much less the president.

Our national media are oh-so-serious.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

misterjrthed — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:36:08 GMT

Agree about "the Google." Am concerned, however, about McC's tendency to change positions 5Xdaily, his inability to recall which lie he's supposed to be telling at the moment, his obvious ignorance of and/or lack of interest in significant issues. Little things like that.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

yahoo — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:39:44 GMT

I disagree - do we really want a president who cannot evaluate the biggest source of information on the planet without having it filtered through (unelected) staffers? It would be like electing a president who can't read. Think about it. Part of Bush's problem has been his inability to evaluate information without relying on the likes of Carl Rove and Cheney.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

SarahR — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:46:39 GMT

So what if McCain doesn't know how to use a computer? Oh, no. We've seen what a person with no intellectual curiosity can do as a president, and I don't care for a repeat. And frankly, I'd prefer to have a president who has had an honest job that required him or her to LEARN something other than politics, like how to look something up online. This country doesn't need another "imperial president" who has minions to do the thinking and research. We need a leader who is intellectually curious about the world around him.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:49:00 GMT

No, yahoo, the president doesn't have time to read all of anything and filter anything out of it. He picks excellent people to read it all and filter it to him in communications no longer than one or two paragraphs. Basic Executive 101. Forget the googling president. We can't afford one. However computer literate Obama is, I want him to stay away from the thing and use his time more wisely, and I suspect that he will when he wins the office.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:52:43 GMT

And Yahoo, Bush's error was in picking Rove, Cheney, and a host of other wrong advisers, not in having advisors glean the wheat from the chaff, sparing him the chaff. He first has to have the wisdom to pick the right people. Nixon's mistake, too, in another direction. Too many crooks.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

suzyq917 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:53:13 GMT

Bill Clinton sent one email while he was in office - to John Glenn. So, if in the last 16 years of presidency, neither have used email, I don't see it as an issue for McCain.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

The Third Policeman — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:54:07 GMT

Would you hire a person who will mainly be working with information who is computer illiterate? No, I didn't think so.

It's easy to label a "can't use email" narrative on this idea to avoid seeing what it really is. And McCain should no what it really is. He has gone in front of audiences and told them their manufacturing jobs are not coming back. What kind of jobs does he think they should be getting? If he was computer literate, he'd know.

Another important quality that computer literacy, especially working with a computer entails, is the ability to do one's own work. That dovetails with the ability to think for oneself. One vast gap between the two candidates is that one is not only eloquent but he writes for himself, i.e. he has a grasp of language which reflects an ability to think and discern, to quantify, qualify, describe and express. The other not only does not write for himself, can't handle today's writing tools, but clearly cannot think. Perhaps it's habit, enforced through the unintentional laziness of never having to become computer literate. I would also say McCain is not a smart man. But either way, since he has the quality of expressing sincere belief in any and every opposing side of every issue, depending on the audience he's speaking to, the results are the same. If he had to and could write, he would then think, and then have ideas. Instead, he has no ideas and spends all his time telling people what they want to hear.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pinkpanther87413 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:01:36 GMT

Those who need it and to understand it ie:The USA Government, better learn how! We MAKE our children learn! Why not the adults who others lives depend on???

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:06:45 GMT

The positives about a candidate and his intentions for the office are simply too dull and laborious for a high percentage of voters to digest thoroughly and use in voting. The negatives about an opponent are far more effective in taking away the opponent's votes. This principle is becoming more and more visible with the great volume of activity in blogs and the increasing tone of negativity seen in them. Take this point and note the increasing negativity in television campaigning from large money investments outside the party funding and, voila, we know less and less about the candidates the we elect in a fit of dislike for the one we didn't want. Once the winner gets the office, the country is already polarized, half of them praying that he makes the mistake that they knew that he would make all the time. We'll get used to it, just like all of the other changes as time moves forward. The vote is as good as the thinking that goes into it. It's what Ben Franklin meant when he said, "It's a democracy, if you can keep it". We now have a president who thinks that you can just invade a country and hand them one of these in a short number of years. We certainly didn't get him into office based on his broad foundation in history, law, government, philosophy, and grammar.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

v_gajen — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:08:44 GMT

Again Andrew Romano is coming up with some illogical defense of McCain.The question is not McCain's proficiency with computers.It is his mindset that is in question.Howwilling is he to embrace newer ideas,how inqusite he is,and how much of an inquiring mind he has. A country like US,can we afford to have some one who has not made a simple gesture to learn to use internet while the world is getting to be increasingly global and tech dependent.When the whole world is going paperless,a step in the right direction in our quest to solve global warming,here is a guy running for president who we expect to make a small gesture,at least symbolically, to join the rest of the world.And how about this,this is a skill that is picked up in elementary school!Is McCain smarter than a third grader!It is sad people like Romano are allowed to distort real concerns of the people to something silly.Is it any surpirise journalists are not trusted anymore?!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

mj it — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:13:17 GMT

Can we address the white elephant in the room.

McCain abandons his disabled wife for a much younger, richer beer heiress. That is why the big corporations will get and keep him in office - he likes being a kept man. And he'll keep us in Iraq - so they continue to make profits.

You know the big ones:

Haliburton - who moved offshore so they wouldn't have to pay taxes back to us.

Blackwater - who is accountable to no one.

The telecoms - who want to take your free internet away

Big Oil - well Iraq and drilling in our pristine areas.

If Obama came close to any of this - I wouldn't like him either.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

cnn357 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:14:28 GMT

The fact that mccain does not know how to use a computer does matter. Not because he will have to use microsoft office or "surf the net". That doesnt matter. The most important part is that he will have no understanding of how our lives are now dependant on our technology.

He doesnt know how we communicate.

He doesnt about the tools we use to learn.

He doenst know about how we socialize online.

This means he doesnt understand us.

He may understand that there is a wesite called myspace, but does he understand how it

affects society?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

cnn357 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:15:51 GMT

No one wants a president who is out of touch with the people.

Not knowing how to use a computer is the most out of touch you can get in 2008.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ffranken — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:16:01 GMT

Ummmm, I don't really think the point here is blogging and constructing a cool Facebook site. From an institutional standpoint email is the biggest advancement in communication since the telephone. It's great that George Bush doesn't use email, it's just one more example of how unbelievably inept this administration is. Why don't we look at some organizations that actually function efficiently. A much better question would be how many CEO's of successful corporations use electronic forms of communication. I'm going to guess all of them. To me this is just one more example of the often overlooked point that McCain has never actually "run" anything. Being a senator doesn't really require any managerial or leadership skills, so he's never acquired any, as Andrew points out and McCain's own campaign so painfully demonstrates.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

synykyl — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:17:25 GMT

"The liberal blogosphere's outrage du jour? "

I don't believe McCain needs to know how to use a PC to be President either, but what "outrage" are you talking about? Even the comments you selected yourself don't express outrage.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Loden Green — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:18:13 GMT

I just wish Newsweek would quit its charade of objectivity and run an editorial endorsing John McCain. Then we won't have to read "comments" like these by Andrew Romanao that just pander to McCain. And I'd really like for Romano to give us his "analysis" of why the media loves John McCain so much.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

CJM_MA — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:19:48 GMT

Maybe instead of reading blogs John reads books?

I also agree with the poster who commented how much easier it is to teach someonehow to use the net vs teaching someone the basics of our military. Lets keep the debates legit please. This is rather silly.

My background is a Embedded Software Engineering / Aerospace. So i smile at all of you 'internet experts'

That being said, gobama '08 FOR REASONS OTHER THAN THE INTERNET!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sparky716 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:27:21 GMT

So he can't use a computer....he's old and from the past...we need a president that lives in 2008 not 1900...the past is the past its over we need a president who lives in 2008 and we will get one with Obama.

Obama 2008

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

scythia — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:27:50 GMT

1. "Secondly" is not a word.

2. "Finally, George W. Bush gave up email when he was elected in 2000. The reason? National security worries."

LOL! Is that why Ford took the tape recorders out of the Oval Office, too?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Stumperthumper — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:28:31 GMT

"So my point here is that McCain has people. The do the things he probably could do for himself after he learned, but it would take him a lot longer to do it for himself. A good manager always delegates. "

That's what they said about Bush. I'm pretty much done with candidates whose incompetence in some major facet of ordinary life is excused away.

McCain doesn't know anything about economics? "He has people."

McCain doesn't know anything about modern communications? "He has people."

McCain doesn't know how to pick people? Ruh roh.

Bush had people, too. Will McCain's people be different people or the same people?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

wwew — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:29:39 GMT

not knowing how to use the internet in the year 2008 is akin to not knowing how to read in 1908. But I'm sure the the idiot lapdogs in the media like Andrew Romano would cover for McCain then too. "He can get people to read the papers for him! He has staff!"

The internet is the greatest shaper of our culture right now. It's changed how the world communicates, socializes, entertains, learns, researches, and shops. You know how many trillions of dollars the internet has generated? Do you know how many billions of people use it daily?

It's fine my grandmom has no clue what "a google" is but not the guy that's running for the president of the US. And Andrew Romano is a moron for suggesting otherwise.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

alibidrain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:30:04 GMT

Who really cares if John McCain can't use a computer.

The issue here, rather, is the remarkable tendency among the McCain's fanboys in the press to race to McCain's defense - no matter WHAT the issue is.

Besides, isn't it time for you to write another article about how Obama is a huge flip flopper, while ignoring and covering up McCain's 50+ flip flops on EVERY single issue.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

goatroper — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:31:27 GMT

The larger issue is not whether McCain surfs the web or emails; it is that he continues to show a disdain for learning as he showed when he was at the bottom of his class at The Naval Academy and barely passed out of flight school. He admits to knowing little about the economy and demonstrates that by condoning Bush's economic policies which are dismal failures. John McCain was and still is a bad student. I am sick and tired of accepting mediocrity as a virtue in our presidents. Aren't you?!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

synykyl — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:32:32 GMT

"Maybe instead of reading blogs John reads books? "

Only if they are printed on scrolls. (Sorry, I couldn't resist ;-)

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:34:24 GMT

What got Obama the nomination was not knowing how to operate a computer as much as hiring people who knew how to use the internet to collect a fortune in campaign donations from a databank of 150 million mostly small donors, and keep them coming back with repetitive email requests. Mc Cain's disability in this was first in not realizing the awesome capacity of email and the internet to collect funds, and second, in apparently hiring people who did not know this, either. Not a good start for a man who wants to become president and then start appointing people to get things done. Hillary also failed in this same way, having all the other elements that would have allowed her to snuff Obama out early in the primaries and probably make a really good president. It's a fast moving world out there and Mc Cain's ability to adjust to all of this is really up for grabs. I can just see him turning away a bright and up to date mind for an old fart with a suit and tie who is just about as ossified as Mc Cain. Good luck, America, in picking the right man for the job, your own self. Forget all of the irrelevant religious crap. Vote smart.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sparerib — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:34:34 GMT

I read international newspapers on the web, and I learn a lot from them. It scares me that I might be more well informed than my president, At least I have ready access to information that I can access quickly and often, that he doesn't have access to--simply because he's too dumb to Google? My grandkid at eight is apparently more computer literate than he is. Something is wrong here.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

TXIndependent — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:35:27 GMT

The issue with McCain's computer illiteracy is not what it reflects about his "intellectual curiosity" or anything else about his character. The issue is that he is not current with the times. The internet and computer technology now permeate every aspect of modern life. A person who lacks a basic comprehension of this fact can not truly understand how people work and live and play, and the technological challanges faced across the planet. Such an understanding is critical to appropriate decisionmaking in today's world. Have you ever tried discussing basic stuff such as e-mails, texting, or going to a website with someone who doesn't have a clue? Would you ever want that person making the decisions that will ultimately impact the lives of you and your family? Its not that there is anything wrong with tech-ignorant people, of course not. But the simple fact is that they are not in touch with what affects most folks today and this has to be taken into account when considering qualifications for public office.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

CJM_MA — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:38:55 GMT

Do you really want our president sending out vital information and the ONLY thing standing between this message and Iran is a 64-bit encryption?

This topic is rather rediculous.

How about bank closure? Economics? Iraq?

Whats next "Obama doesnt like the baseball" how un-Amarican???

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

TheVigil — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:40:07 GMT

Got to disagree with Mr. Romano here. I personally don't understand how McCain's going to adequately shore up our economy when he's not literate in the technology that increasingly nearly every aspect of our manufacturing, retail, service, and especially tech sectors are based on. And cybersecurity is a MASSIVE part of modern national security practice.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Bass Pro — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:41:20 GMT

McCain isn't going to lose because he lacks the brains to use a computer. He'll lose because he's willing to send our finest young women and men to die in iraq just to gain the votes of a small percentage of mouth-breathing right wingers who are as out of touch as he is. Dead Soldiers for votes, definitely not a winning combination.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:42:12 GMT

The Internet is a new technology. I do not know for sure, but I think marrying a new technology could be detrimental. It's like the current tv show "Battlestar Galactic". What if the enemy were to exploit it and defeat us. The Internet should be looked at as only a tool and nothing else. Senator John McCain was responsisble for the surge, that's enough for me. My vote and future is with him, not the newcomer Obama. I think of this, "The doers do, those who can't do teach.". Obama is glorified as a law professor isn't he.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

rodneyhopper — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:42:23 GMT

So, Andrew, McCain apologist much?

I disagree with your summation that being computer illiterate will hamper his presidency. As technology comes to the forefront of even our most senior citizens' lives, legislation will come across more rapidly that involves an understanding of the issues at hand.

Do we really want a computer illiterate making decisions on Net Neutrality?

Do we want someone making decisions about the privacy of email communication while simultaneously being unable to engage in said email communication himself?

Do we want a computer illiterate making recommendations and naming nominees to the FCC?

This is obviously not the most important factor in deciding who the next president will be, but to say a severe lack of knowledge on the basics of the Internet and being a self-proclaimed "computer illiterate" will in no way hamper his presidency is ludicrous.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Steve M — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:45:24 GMT

Nonsense. McCain defenders don't have a leg to stand on with this counter-argument. My parents, who are 92 and 87 years of age, learned to use the internet and email within a day or two.

I can't trust the intellect of a guy who tells us "I know how to win wars" when he was shot down fighting one that we could not win and desires to continue with another disaster.

How can this man lead our country into a better future?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Bass Pro — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:45:40 GMT

McCain won't lose because he lacks the intellegence to use a computer. He will lose because he's willing to send our finest young women and men to die in Iraq just to get the votes of the right wing mouth-breathers who are as out of touch as he is. Votes for dead Soldiers, not a winning combination.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

nicolewoman — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:46:11 GMT

While a future President of the US need not be a computer wiz, he or she should know the significance of technology, what it can provide for us as a nation, and the weaknesses of it as well. You only really come to discover and know this by using technology yourself. It really is not enough to "appreciate it" in this day and age. By the way....I am computer savvy and I read constantly, both books and print newspapers. One does not nullify the other. Senator McCain really needs to "get on board" at least at a minimal level.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Stumperthumper — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:52:14 GMT

My father is 76. The other day he emailed me a blog post about McCain's inability to use a computer.

This isn't about being old. It's about being completely out of touch with how the modern world works.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:54:33 GMT

Steve M , Senator John McCain is responsible for the surge in Iraq. The Democratics have indirectly killed American soldiers because of depression etc. John McCain was shot down on a mission he begged to go on. His A4 had 3 alarms. The one telling him a missile was headed toward him went off. He decided to accurately place and drop his bombs without evading the missile.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Bass Pro — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:02:06 GMT

Stumperthumper has made a very good point. Older americans don't want to be depicted as disabled by age. It's not funny for a person in McCain's position to pose as the ignorant poster boy for Seniors. It's insulting to those who continue to contribute to society, not to mention those who serve in the Armed forces. How inane to think that ignorance and unwillingness to learn is an endearing quality. How sad.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

bjorn50 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:08:19 GMT

We stand ready to teach Senator McCain and any other candidates everything they need to learn about computing!

In fact, someone already produced a sample commercial with John McCain and John Scherer, aka The Video Professor. (Andit wasn't us-but we love it!)

The Senator will even be able to logon to Newsweek.com, and post responses. Just look for an online name including Potus.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=M9Jbw2-f8IQ

Brian Olson

Vice-President of Public Affairs

Video Professor, Inc.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Nadnerb in NC — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:09:00 GMT

Andrew - nice try, but no sale!!

His computer inexperience is revealing. It shows that he prefers the "old way" of doing things. (i.e. - chest thumping and military bravado instead of actually sitting down with your "enemies") That's not what we need int he White House now.

Also, GWB "gave up" email, not for National Security concerns (per se), but as a way for he and his minions (Darth Cheney) to circumvent the rules to prevent there from being any evidence of his known wrongdoing. (I.e - Using the RNC email addresses, which don't come under the same set of rules as the WH servers)

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Arob — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:10:05 GMT

This shows that McCain is out of touch. It appears that when republicans cant understand or comprehend there is allways an excuse of why. Bush was mildly retarded child who was not able to use reasoning to think. No, McCain is not as bad, but if you are not able to use reasoning or understand a task of sending an email you are the one that is out of touch. He should not had ran for president if he is not able to send a email. Amercan people are so stupid or gullible. It appears to be a negative if you are intelligent, have reasonable thoughts, and able to work through a problem by thinking with sense, but if you are able to shoot a duck out the sky thats the guy I want to be the president. How can americans be this stupid over and over again. Once again it is just not the email issue.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Jurr — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:11:36 GMT

It's as easy as Point & Click. The fact that McCain still has people to open his e-mail is outrageous. It tells us has is not willing to nor even interested in Trying to learn. Not the best quality I've seen in a president. We aren't talking about an obscure device that has little or no practical application, but a tool that's online in 2/3 of American homes & virtually every business.

McCain has been a meg-millionaire since 1980, and yet even though he's had the means and access to revolutionary equipment, he has never bought into that 'fad' called technology.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

mikemaj — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:13:04 GMT

McCain should not be a President. Period that's all.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:15:06 GMT

Bass Pro, attacking someone because of their age is morally wrong, and even illegal. There is nothing wrong with senator John McCain. If there was something wrong with him how could he keep his job, money, wife, and his whole heritage. How can senator Obama be two faced and yell about racism and base his campaign on age.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

PaulaAnnSimpson — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:29:41 GMT

This is a ridiculous argument. Would you make the same argument about McCain's inability to drive a car? Use an ATM? Use a cellphone? Read a book? So, your premise is thus - someone else does it for him, so he need not be bothered learning how to do it for himself? Because he has more important things to do? That's pathetic. My inlaws (69 and 76) are more internet savvy than I am and I'd sure prefer either of them to someone who is so PROUDLY clueless and has no idea what the internet means in today's world.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

AndyO — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:34:56 GMT

Indeed, why does a President need to know how to use a computer, surf the internet? Or, why does he need to know the price of a loaf of bread? Or how to get insurance companies to pay health insurance claims? Or how to drive a car or any of the dozens of other things the American people do every day?

Because the President should be in touch with the American people and have some grasp of how their lives are. John McCain is a multi-millionaire (by his 2nd wife) who has no clue what life is like for most Americans.

And your piece is just another example of the "BBQ-stained" press leaping to McCain's defense.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

AndyO — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:36:03 GMT

I meant to add:

If you have someone else doing your surfing for you, THEN YOU ARE AN ELITIST!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

joe1022joe — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:37:02 GMT

Any President of the United States who personally were to transmit anything over the internet would be guilty of a security breach. An President of the United States who relied on information he obtained personally from the internet would be exhibiting his own ignorance.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

MiddleAmerica — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:45:21 GMT

So what? You must be joking. It is true that a lot of the older generations don't know how to use a computer. Like my parents. But I also know how ignorant my parents are compared to the younger generation who DO know how to use a computer and check out the internet. But I guess McCain's ineptitude with regard to computers and the internet explains why he doesn't think telling a Pennsylvania TV station that he used the Steelers D-line when interrogated by the Vietnamese, when in reality he wrote in his book that it was the Green Bay O-line, would be easily exposed as a lie. NEWSFLASH TO MCCAIN: All these lies and flip flops on policy will be exposed because the information is available on the web. And all the false accusations that Obama is flip flopping will be exposed as lies too.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:45:22 GMT

I like chris4mccain's idea that it is age discrimination, and illegal, to call attention to Mc Cain's age. Mc Cain is a doddering, drooling, griping old fart who can't be counted on to last in a full term of the presidency without losing a great number of his marbles, not that he has enough even to start. This is because he is too damned old to be our president. The risk is too great. Don't hire him. He's too old.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Nadnerb in NC — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:46:23 GMT

ChrisL - where do I start?

The Democrats are responsible for depressing the soldiers in Iraq? So, it's the Democrats that keep sending our soldiers back for their 3rd, 4th, or 5th tours of duty; not the POTUS who refuses to listen to his advisors who hear from the "boots on the ground" that we're not going to "win"?

And you seem to know Senator McCain's medical records better than the rest of us. Any chance you can get him to release them all to the public?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

brenda49 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:46:25 GMT

Andrew, come on now , you seem smart enough to know no one in the united states can work without using the internet. So yes everyone should care if he doesn't know how, even more freightening than using the internet is the fact that is doesn't know the economy and admits it. How could you even begin to think these things don't matter. The man still thinks and said it again this morning that Czecklosolvakia is a country. I definately think you may have lost your mind too, at one time I thought you were a bright young writer as I have read many of your articles. Now I am beginning to wonder. You should think long and hard on how much it matters whether he knows enough about anything before writing such a column. Keith Olbermann should be all over you!!!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

peace and love — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:47:49 GMT

The only people who wouldn't care about this would be other senior citizens who also can't use the computer.

Not necessarily ignorant but not the swiftest either.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

MiddleAmerica — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:48:12 GMT

Maybe if he had a computer and could get on Wikipedia, he might know the difference between Sunni and Shiia. Or he might know something about the economy. Or he might know how stupid his jokes about Iran sound if he saw himself on Youtube.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:48:43 GMT

olderwiser , So, you call the man responsible for the surge in Iraq names. He was a hero in Vietnam, and he is our Iraqi hero. Don't lie, tell the truth. We all need to thank senator John McCain for saving our butts in Iraq.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:50:00 GMT

Talk to Gutenberg about al of this.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

abe4600 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:53:04 GMT

I think the only thing McCain knows is how to run is a war. I am all for McCain becoming the definse guy, but not a President.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:53:49 GMT

Gutenberg caused a few Popes a good deal of misery before the church caught onto using it themselves. Print. By press. Radical new idea. Popes had scribes. Ink and pen. Need a copy. Write it again with pen and ink. Try to get all the words the same as the last one. The old and crotchety are always the last to catch on. If you think Bush was stubborn in the face of failure, just try Mc Cain.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Hipsone — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:53:54 GMT

ChrisL4McCain, why is every comment out of someone's mouth or keyboard Obama's responsibility?

Freedom of speech is the lie we tell and lots of people take advantage of it. If the President is restricted from surfing the net currently, McCain or Obama will face the same issue and follow the same requirement. Folks, look at our life; gas, food, housing, childcare and other energy prices are destroying our nation. I think McCain's computer skills are the least of our problems.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:56:40 GMT

Well chrislformccain, you said a while ago that Mc Cain knew that missiles were coming at him by the alarms in his cockpit and, in spite of all the effort it would take to train another pilot to train and the millions that his aircraft cost, he chose to drop the bombs, a few thousand dollars worth, on a useless target, get hit by a missile, lose a plane, and lose the use of a pilot. That, my friends, is total incompetence, not heroism.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:00:20 GMT

And, by the way, we are losing our butts in Iraq, chris4mccain. Check out the cost and the return on that cost. That's what we call losing.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:03:04 GMT

Hipsone, I have looked at what Barack Obama offers, and can not accept it. My assumption is if someone is saying bad things about John McCain then they are saying Obama doesn't have those bad things. There is nothing wrong with senator McCain. I feel honored to stand up for him any day of the week.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

barbara474 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:07:52 GMT

A great deal of attention has been given of late to that forensic science of profiling. What, Andrew, is the 'profile' of a person who has not taken the initiative to learn the most information-accessible resource that is available to virtually everyone? You invoke what your parents can do on the internet. Another example is my Mother who, until forced, would not use a telephone answering machine(this also being a commonly used tool). I would say that her profile parallels Mr. McCain’s far better than someone whose only deficit is a particular feature of a tool, and it is that of someone who is either intimidated (as she is) by technology or just can’t be bothered to put the effort into learning. This is the salient issue behind all of the ‘hype’. It begs the question of what else he can’t be bothered to learn. If information is the ‘high ground’, then first hand possession of correct information has got to equate with better qualifications.

The internet is the 'great information equalizer' in society today. No longer are the needed facts reachable only by those with a vast library and time to do research, hence no more insider exclusivity. With this tool everyone has the ability to make factually credible decisions and statements on-the-fly. Your point about 'a google' is pithy because the use of the tool is the point and you are just one more person trying to make the topic be about trite internet jargon (though from the opposite perspective).

Perhaps if Mr. McCain availed himself of the internet and the plethora of information on economics(pick any category) he would not have to rely on the likes of Phil Gramm.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Bass Pro — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:11:32 GMT

olderwiser, Without scrolling back, I know idiot chris4mccain said something to rile you. Anyone under the gun can screw up. I'm sure you know you went a little over the line. I'm one to talk.

How's things. I'm in the fishing mode nearly every day. McCain's ignorance of the internet is bliss. He should be glad he doesn't know what a loser he is in the eyes of most Americans. The mouth-breathing Limbaugh lovers must be in cardiac arrest with his as their only hope.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pbriggsiam — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:11:53 GMT

You don't think that in this technical age, it's unimportant for our President to be literate in his use of the computer and the internet?? Are you being deliberately stupid? It's important that our President know how to use one of the primary means of disseminating and absorbing information for all Americans.

Truly, Mr. Romano, you are clueless once again. It's like reading Jonah Goldberg in the LA Times. The only reason Newsweek keeps you is to get the outrage traffic.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:12:34 GMT

olderwiser, there have always been wars. We are fighting the war in Iraq to prevent terrorists from completing another 9/11. The cost means nothing. Do you mean we can accept a 9/11 every few years. We are moving towards a recession, but we will come out of it like we always have. When I vote for John McCain, I will be voting for a financially sound, safer, and stronger America.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

wonering? — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:14:42 GMT

My concedrn with McCains trivialization of his lack of computer knowledge is that many voters will no longer consider him a viable presidential choice. It is now the information age. In the early 1900's it was the industrial age. If, when the automobile had become as used by the population as the computer is today (not only in the USA but worldwide), the candidate for the office of President had trivialized the importance of the automobile, the entire world would be very different today. Our countries current status (failing quickly, though it is), as the richest, strongest and most desirable country in the world was mainly built on the auto industry. It required a national highway system, it employed thousands and thousands of people and lead the way to the largest middle class in the world, which led to the highest standard of living in the world. It offered manufcturing plants to in which to build military machines, including tanks and jeeps and planes. It required cheap oil and changed our nation from an agricultural one to a modern one. Without a person in office, with the vision to see the importance of that invention, along with others, like electricy, where would we be? Maybe not dependent on oil, but certainly dependent on other countries and not in charge of our own. I am leaning toward McCain, even as a lifelong Democrat, but this admission really threw me. Remember when the saying "What's good for General Motors is good for the country." was true? If we had had for the past 50 years more Presidents with vision and the ability to see the true importance of technology, that saying would still be true, instead of a depression looming at the door and GM almost bankrupt. Someone needs to sit down with McCain and explain for two days what world we are in, by opening his eyes to the net, because the future is here now.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

C. MacLean — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:15:15 GMT

My father is 75. He is a brillant man, well-educated, with an engineering background, and fascinated by the internet - it's potential, it's ability to tap into information. But he is absolutely computer illiterate. Why? Because, in his words, "I never learned to type. When I was growing up, only women learned to type."

McCain probably finds himself in the same situation.

I am firmly voting for Obama, but on this issue, I have to say that McCain's inability to navigate the internet does not disqualify him in any way, shape or form to be president.

Typing, even using a mouse, is not a substitute for critical thinking skills, and ability to surf and blog does not make one an intellectual giant - witness the appalling number of ignorant, bigoted, irrational posts on this and every other blog.

If McCain needs to access the internet, he can hire people to do it for him. As president, he still needs to be able to assimilate the information he receives - it doesn't matter how he receives it.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Bass Pro — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:19:58 GMT

olderwiser, I'm sorry I scolded you. chris4mccain has his head so far up ole rushbos butt, his brain isn't getting any air. He thinks the terrorist are headquarters is in Iraq. He thinks those terrorist fighting there are all there are.. He doesn't know terrorism in the USA came in a small package of 10 terrorists. He thinks bin Laden is so tied up in iraq that he ceases to be a threat. He deserves our pity.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Ofi14 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:20:08 GMT

McCain's lack of interest in the internet isn't troubling? This kind of technological illiteracy already has highly disturbing implications in our current government.

For example, does anyone who knows what Skype is even think the FISA bill is relevant? Skype has tens of millions of users worldwide who make pier to pier encrypted phone coversations over the internet. These are impossible for the government to eavesdrop on, even if Skype fully cooperated.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

mj it — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:20:48 GMT

Well McCain has been a "kept man" ever since he abandoned his disabled wife and 3 kids for a younger, richer beer heiress. So why does he need to know anything?

The big corporations who will do anything to get and keep McCain in office - don't want him to know very much either. He is their tool - they like to keep their tools dull.

The corporations who need McCain to keep them in Iraq and at war for their own profit are:

Haliburton - who moved offshore so they wouldn't have to pay taxes back to us.

Blackwater - who is accountable to no one.

The telecoms - who want to take your free internet away

Big Oil - well Iraq and drilling in our pristine areas.

If Obama came close to any of this - I wouldn't like him either.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:20:51 GMT

pbriggsiam, your asking too much. John can use a computer just like everyone else, I'm sure of it. It's a false argument when you think about it. But, if your argument were correct then your expecting senator John McCain to have every single degree there ever was, from Neo-Platoism to Nuclear Physics. Come on, any baby can use a computer, so can John. John McCain is big on secrecay right or wrong? Ease dropping is a concern on the Internet, so it sounds like John doesn't want to have anything to do with giving away secrets. He protects the most basic things.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:22:20 GMT

Did you nice people know that it wasn't until 9/11 that the FBI became more literate. They used to have old computers and had serious problems because of it. So, how can you complain about senator John McCain.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Bass Pro — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:26:55 GMT

C.MacLean, who could argue with anything you just said? In McCain's case the only thing he won't need help with is sending our young women and men to die in Iraq. Why? Because if he doesn't agree to do that the far-righties wont finance him and wont vote for him. What kind of person would sacrifice soldiers to realize his own selfish ambition? How could anyone aid and abet him by voting for him? How could anyone share the responsibility for the immoral slaughter of our Soldiers by voting for him?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Bass Pro — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:29:38 GMT

chris4mccain, Quit while you're behind. Everyone here is handing you your butt. If this was a boxing match they would stop it. It's easy to see why you consider McCain intellegent.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

mj it — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:30:05 GMT

McCain has been in bed with the big telecoms who want to take away our :"free" internet. Read the following on McCain and the telecoms:

Recent reports on McCain's relationship to telecom lobbying focus on his noted opposition to "net neutrality" efforts aimed at preventing broadband companies using their ownership of internet "pipes" to discriminate between content providers based on profitability. At present, the internet is a "neutral" playing field with free and equal access to all, and any censorship or "gatekeeping" by carriers strictly prohibited. On grounds of "free competition," however, McCain has supported the efforts of broadband carriers such as Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon at gaining congressional permission to control access to websites on a two-tiered basis consisting of a fee-based "fast track" for more profitable websites and a "slow track" for sites whose owners can't afford the fee. In effect, carriers would be permitted to replace our current open internet with a fee-based caste system, and even to block access to competitors' websites.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

JasperNicky — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:31:09 GMT

We have lived for almost 8 years with a person in the White House that has appears to be absolutely clueless in so many really critical aspects the US must address. Case-in-point: just this morning I read that Bush speaks of the strength of our economy at a time when millions of Americans are facing foreclosure, bankruptcy, business failures, rampant inflation, unemployment and sky-rocketing gas prices. He thinks that if you just keep feeding people the "everything's okay" message, then they'll belive you as they're packing up their belongings to go live in their car. He apparently relies on staffers to provide him with his information and does little if anything to discover the truth himself. Since McCain apparently does this as well, this is scary. We can't afford another 4 years of someone who lives in a carefully constructed world of delusion. We need someone who will look at problems from all possible angles, construct teams from all avenues of life and points of view and then take the best possible answers and implement them. I want a President that will take the important issues and research them himself so that he can intelligently preside over his cabinet members and not have them shape policies that simply fit someone's political agenda. These next 4 years are going to be really difficult for our country. We need someone who can at least get on the Internet himself to check the pulse of our nation.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

BoomersRock — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:31:51 GMT

First of all, as someone who works on computers all day long, as a certificate in computers systems mgt, and is on the leading edge of the boomer generation, I really think computer literacy is over-rated. It is a tool and nothing more. I would think Senator McCain has more important things to do that surf the web..I know I waste more time on it than I care to admit.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:31:53 GMT

Bass Pro, you lost the argument, so you attack me!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

mcleodmn — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:33:19 GMT

I'm convinced that Andrew RomanO'reilly just likes to stir the pot and watch people go nuts. He's just selling a periodical. Although, I think that he'd be better off amongst his peers at the Weekly World News reporting on Bat Boy.

McCain would be the oldest president ever. Unlike race or sex, age can actually be a problem. Is McCain suffering from an age related disease? Well, I think the jury is still out on that one. But to deny logic is to suggest that he is no more susceptible to mental and physical ailments than someone younger than him. Especially when compared to someone roughly a quarter century his junior. I think there could be an argument made that he's showing a mild cognitive decline, which is actually a symptom of the third stage of alzheimers. This isn't even taking into consideration the 5 years of mental and physical torture he received as a POW. Oh, I should mention the solitary confinement, also. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anyone?

And when it comes to the physical aspect.... good god. Start with the fact that he's geriatric. Then, add the fact that he was injured bad enough in a plane crash that he can't lift his arms. He was tortured for 5 years, at one point it was so bad he tried to kill himself. Now, sprinkle a couple bouts with cancer on top. Finally, he produced a "limited release" of 1700 pages of medical records. 1700 pages is a limited release? Really? Internet ignorance aside, you can call him a hero if you want, but don't tell me this mans age isn't an issue. This the recipe for a comprimsed person, in every aspect.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

JasperNicky — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:36:18 GMT

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pavliga — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:37:11 GMT

Presidents do not need to be prolific emailers or web surfers. We're electing a commander-in-chief of the military and leader of our country, not a receptionist.

Would we stop going to our trusted family doctors if they revealed they'd never had the urge to go online? Or refuse to fly aboard a 747 if we learned the pilot never Googled, IMed or blogged?

The Internet is no more than a tool, and the higher one rises in business or government, the less one actually employs such tools rather than relying on an aid whose time is not quite as valuable. We want a president for leadership and making important decisions, not for the ability to do online research or send emoticons to other world leaders.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Bass Pro — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:39:48 GMT

chris4mccain, What argument? Here's some advice free of charge. Throw in a few Husseins, Barrys and NOOBAMAS. Spice it up a little. Take a few tips from the HolyRoller. If all you've got to offer is the FBI had old computers, why comment at all. Weak

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

thrasher32 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:42:40 GMT

Like it matters anyways, McCain is unelectable.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

loriw — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:43:11 GMT

scythia,

Secondly IS a word and has been for a long time. You could probably goggle it.

McCain could probably have told you it is a word without looking it up just like I was able to do.

For nins...The New Little Oxfrod Dictionary page 495.

What shape would this country be in if Clinton had spent all his time on the computer looking up porn.

Refer below to the computer IT person who spoke to the amount of time that computer users spend on

porn sites.

Sorry, McCain does not need to be able to use Google and Face Book to be qualified to be POTUS.

Did Obama's computer tell him there 57 states?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

orion12 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:45:05 GMT

It is difficult to believe that someone of McCain's stature is not competent using the internet. Well no big deal as far as I am concerned. It shows he has not given it much thought, maybe and does not consider it to be that important. But it raises questions of the profile of the man himself. How interested is he to learn new things? Does that make him a potentially bad listener? Is he just too old fashioned? I am not criticizing the man, but just amazed at how he has allowed himself to be so challenged. But in the final analysis, he does not need the internet to be a president. People will do all of that for him.

And that brings me to to the question of Obama and experience. Do most people realized that Obama does not need to be an expert in everything to be president? Same as McCain. Their staff will do all of the background work for them. So who do we need as president. Someone who is intelligent and has ability to listen, learn, curious and make good decisions.

McCain should make an effort though to be more computer literate.... It just looks bad to many that he is not.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Richard1327 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:45:41 GMT

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11750.html

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

MiddleAmerica — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:46:40 GMT

McCain might also have had a better answer for that reporter who asked him about how insurance companies cover Viagra but not birth control, if he'd had a laptop with WiFi to bring up his voting record on the subject. He could have done a lot of research in that eternity where he squirmed and rolled his eyes and hemmed and hawwed and eventually asked for a pass until he could consult what I don't know, to find out how he stands on the issue. Seemed like an easy question to answer to me. Either you believe that is wrong and sexist on the part of insurance companies, or you feel like birth control is wrong somehow and shouldn't be covered. And this soundbite of McCain being dumbfounded is amplified by the interview of GOP governor of SC, Mark Sanford who when asked to name how the economic policies of McCain would differ from Bush became just as stupified as McCain and had to apologize for drawing a blank. Doh!!! No, Mr. Gramm, it's not the American people who are in a mental recession, it is John McCain, Phil Gramm and apparently Mark Sanford too. Did I come across as whinning?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Spinner — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:50:42 GMT

The internet and computer use is important. I'm not much younger than John McCain, but I learned to use the internet in about 30 seconds. So many people in their seventies not only send emails, but have online shops as I do, or have blogs, keep track of stocks and financial dealings online, and sell on ebay (which is a lot of fun). The fact that John McCain shrugs off a tool that is such an important part of understanding business and the corporate world is very telling. Scary, actually.

If I had a doctor that didn't go online or use computers, I'd get rid of him/her. Most hospitals now require doctors and nurses to use computers routinely, both for professional growth and for entering and locating information on the patients they care for. McCain needs to wake up, or the world will pass him by.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Bass Pro — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:51:16 GMT

pavliga, please tell me you're being sarcastic? Are you trying to tell me a graduate from Medical School and an Airline Pilot could be computer illiterate? McCain's campaign slogan should be vote for a reducton in knowledge. Now that fits nicely in the Republican play book.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

peace and love — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:52:22 GMT

Mr. McCain is completely anti choice. It doesn't matter what he says in this topic, his record clearly shows this.

He is not the moderate that his GOP handlers would like to have everyone believe. He wants to overturn Roe V Wade.

This is off topic but I felt it's important to get it out there as Mr. McCain is lying already to the American people about his stance on this topic.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

robertmarc — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:52:55 GMT

I respectfully disagree. The President should know as much about information access and retrieval as Ben Bernanke, Michael Griffin and Elias Zerhouni. Under Dr. Zerhouni's leadership, NIH established PubMed Central as a free public digital archive of biomedical literature. I expect the President to read about avian influenza H5N1, follow hyperlinks, launch a spreadsheet, create a data array and analyze it without hand-holding. A President should have demonstrable skills in law, economics, science and technology and be willing to commit to his or her own continuing education.

Though some legislators may choose to be spoon-fed by webserfs, that is no excuse for ignorance of why, where and how data mining is done and validated; for not being able or willing to access and digest original sources (e.g. PubMed, JSTOR, Lexus-Nexus, etc) at 3AM just before or after the apocryphal Red Phone rings.

Folksy declamations of computer ignorance are campaign gambits, often disingenuous, uninteresting in the main, but troubling if true. Sen. McCain's words are disturbing because they mirror the incumbent's disdain for technical knowledge and suggest (certainly unintentionally) that he is ill-prepared to cope with emergent technology issues, complex economic and energy policy shifts, intelligence assessment, health care economics, or trade. It is a little late to start to learn about GIS technologies that shape your campaign when you are already running for President. Many Republican contemporaries of Sen. McCain are extremely computer-adept, having honed their information management skills to function in a challenging business world. Those in small businesses know that most professional, technical, legal and fiscal transactions are obligatorily computational. Many farmers are GIS whizzes. A President who grasps this but dimly and seems to dismiss it is likely not our best choice to forge foreign or domestic policy, wage war or restore prosperity, whatever your political flavor dictates.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Arob — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:54:41 GMT

Once again Americans are so ignorant. It is just not the ability to use the internet. It is the ability to think logically and McCain is not able to do that effectively. Being shot down from an airplane is not going to help me keep job or lower gas prices. We need someone who is aware of what is going in everyday living.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

McNumbNut — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:55:36 GMT

ChrisL4McCain said: "Did you nice people know that it wasn't until 9/11 that the FBI became more literate. They used to have old computers and had serious problems because of it."

No, the problem over 9/11 was in communication [or lack of] between the FBI and CIA databases. Google DEFCON (Hackers convention) and FBI Computer Crime Squad, the FBI knew ways to hack into your computer way before 9/11.

In the "Information Age", there is no excuse for not learning how to use a computer. McCain out of touch is an understatement.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Bass Pro — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:56:28 GMT

I'm outtta here. The best defense the McCain supporters have made to his lack of computer knowledge is ...You don't need intelligence to be president. They have also made another point very well. You don't have to be intelligent to vote for McCain.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

nohawksforme — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:57:45 GMT

I believe lack of interest in learning new things (computer skills) DOES exhibit lack of curiosity. How can you logically argue that it does not? I am 68 years old and use my computer everyday. I scan news from many sources, "google" for answer to any question I might need answered or find a good recipe. Finally, keeping in touch with family & friends is priceless!

Can't say I'd want an old guy, who lacked the good sense to use a computer, to be in charge of all of us. Heaven help us!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

s_otoole41 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:00:33 GMT

His inability to use the internet is just one example of how out-of-touch and past his prime McCain really is. His top economic adviser and campaign co-chair, whose deregulation obsession caused Enron and the mortgage crisis, calls us a "nation of whiners," while McCain's wife talks about traveling in her private jet, racks up $500,000 credit card bills, and owns 11 homes. This isn't the man we want leading us in the 21st century after 8 years of failed Republican leadership.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

dmihailescu — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:03:39 GMT

That put's another dimension on McCain's out of touch with reality.

He lives in another world where he sees himself dropping bombs on enemies of the US, fix the economy, running the stock prices through the roof and commending respect from knee jerks to generals.

But it appears that he is clueless on most of today's subjects!

That Vietnam thind was a loooong time ago!

Can we really afford an ignorant and not willing/being able to to learn in the White House?

I thought Bush is a living examole of what's happening when clueless people take the office.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

KenTpa — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:05:08 GMT

Despite all of your snark Andrew, the point here is that as we move further into the 21st century, it is essential that our leaders, particularly the president, understand how the internet opens the path for effective interaction with the citizens of this country. Virtual townhalls, online referendums, and other ideas of interactive democracy can only be brought about by leaders who have the vision to utilize the technology to lead us into this new era. You can’t a vision for the future, when you’re still trying to figure out how the confounded thing works!

It doesn’t mean he has to know the difference between a bit or a byte, or how these networks all come together to make it work. But Sen. McCain doesn’t even have a modicum of understanding of basic PC use when he says “I’m learning to get online myself and I will have that down fairly soon.” I don’t know who is teaching Sen. McCain how to get online, but I help him have “that down” in about an hour.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

KarenInPA — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:08:19 GMT

There are broader issues here than whether McCain is comfortable sending an email or looking something up on the Web. Would we be comfortable with a President who didn't know how to find a book in a library or use a dictionary? The argument that they "have people do that for them" tells me that they're comfortable isolating themselves from the nitty gritty of the world, and that they are willing to trust others to judge and filter their information and facts.

"People will do all that for him" may be true... but should we, as the electorate, be comfortable with that? Who are the people who will decide which facts and which "spin" should be presented? Will the President have the ability to find out for himself that the wool's being pulled over his eyes?

One of the things that has made me thoroughly uncomfortable during the current Bush administration is that it has been so blatantly self-referential. Even during the campaigns, W's appearances were accessible ONLY to "loyal" party folk - not the general population, not undecided voters, certainly not to those who might disagree. Since the election, it has been clear that the information that has filtered upward has been shaded, shaped and, in some cases, fabricated to reinforce the desired outcomes. This is the inevitable outcome when a President abdicates responsibility for directly interacting with the electorate.

If you recall, past presidents (good and bad) read their own newspapers and watched/listened to the same newscasts as the general population. From that, they understood the "tone" and "mood" of the country they represented. They also gained an empathy for the "common man" that their decisions would affect, and were well-informed about the culture in which they lived.

Given how much business, personal interaction, entertainment, and cultural programming has moved to online sources... not only email, but the blogosphere, Second Life, Facebook, and more... how out-of-touch would our Chief Executive be if he had no concept at all of what those venues mean, what they look/feel like, how people communicate through them?

Can you imagine if FDR, for example, knew that radio existed but "had his people listen to it" for him? Would he have been able to use that medium effectively to communicate with the American people in his Fireside Chats? He understood the intimacy of the medium and how powerful it was as a way of reaching and inspiring individuals during a difficult time for the country. Today, the radio in the living room has been replaced by other media... the TV, the Net in its many incarnations... and the next POTUS needs to personally understand and be able to use those "new" media to connect with the American populace.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

HPATB4M — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:16:19 GMT

I picture McCain being like a few of my relatives-young and old. They've figured out how to surf and use email quite well but they fall for every scam that lands in their inbox and then they forward it to me. Maybe he'll get an email, forward it to all of america and Microsoft will magically pay off the national debt - but he'll only have 10 minutes to hit send.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

amber09 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:20:17 GMT

Is it really important that McCain can't use the internet? Is it really important that he doesn't know that Czechoslovakia has not been a country for over 15 years. Is it important that Lieberman had to whisper into his ear the difference between sueni and sheia? If these things don't scare you, then I quess they aren't important!!!!!!!!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

HPATB4M — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:25:25 GMT

Perhaps not being computer savy is no worst than expecting the President to know what grocery itmes cost or how long the wait is at the ER or how to juggle bills each month. When have we had a president who wasn't disassociated with typical daily chores and hurdles?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:28:55 GMT

amber09, you'r a comic right. The things you point at are trivial. Anyone can make those minor mistakes. After all haven't you ever heard of "we're only human."

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

EmleeL — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:30:30 GMT

It may come as a surprise to some BUT there are other sources of information than the internet and most of those sources provide more detail than the internet. When I search the internet I often find material that just scratches the surface but when I need detail I have to read a book on the subject. And I really don't want to spend 3 hours looking at a computer screen when I have to research a detailed subject. I am sure McCain has had the normal curiosity to look at the internet but just hasn't had the need to learn..he has had a need. And for the person here who is blasting Cindy McCain for her good fortune to be born wealthy - Michelle Obama has adjusted well to having money - she said "the rebate checks were just enough to buy a new pair of earrings". Must be nice to spend that kind of money on one pair of earrings......but at that level they all enjoy the good life, so none can be singled out no matter how they try to play the game for us.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

gcavanaugh — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:33:31 GMT

I'd much rather the president spend time working to better the country than Googling or surfing the internet. This is just like people being outraged that George W. Bush didn't have his iPod filled up with hundreds of songs - I think he has more important things to do, and so will McCain.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

EmleeL — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:34:56 GMT

I am going to pre-empt my error - I was trying to retype - he hasn't had a need. My previous comment doesn't make any sense - I apologize.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

nonsequitor — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:37:15 GMT

Obviously the blogosphere was way to much time on their collective hands, nothing better or more productive to do with their time, are unfamilar with such basic concepts as delegating low value tasks to subordinates, information overload, paralysis by analysis, et cetra, ad nauseum, ad infinitum. The presidency is a 24/7/365 job. And for those who are ignorant, the modern computer (balistic calculations) and Internet (secure communication networks) would not exist without the US military. Thank you very much and Admiral Grace.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ashleyg1985 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:37:58 GMT

I will start by saying that at the moment I don't support either of the jokes that I see running for president. When it comes to the safety and security of myself, my family and my country I don't see how it is important that my president can open up an internet browser or forward time-wasting emails. My own mother, much younger than McCain, calls me nearly every time she is on the computer needing me to walk her through every step. Does her computer illiteracy mean she is simply being stubborn and not trying to learn about and utilize the technology of the 21st century? All it means is that adults in today's society are guilty of just being older. They didn't grow up in a time when if you didn't have AIM or Myspace then you were an outcast. Apparently being a Senator and a Presidential candidate, McCain must have done something or learned something, and I'm pretty sure that being entirely stubborn and unwilling to learn did not get him here. The fact that he says he has his staff open it up for him, but he'll get it down soon shows that he is learning. He just won't necessarily be writing his own HTML scripts for myspace or uploading hundreds of useless pictures of himself on Airforce One to facebook anytime soon. I don't think it is necessary that our future president understand all of the technological mess that goes with computers, technology, cell phones, and network security. I'm pretty sure the Information Technology and software writing gurus for the government know how to secure information and I am also pretty sure that any person young or old can understand the importance of securing electronic information.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

peace and love — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:38:08 GMT

gcavanaugh: Thanks for the laugh.

The next President will have important things to do. That will be cleaning up the mess that the current President has created - from the war to the economy to the environment. Very busy indeed.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Sovereign77x — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:42:59 GMT

I have to agree with Andrew here: to believe that McCain will be ineffective as president simply on the basis of his "surfing" skills (or lack thereof) is ridiculous. I think we've become so dependent on the internet that we've forgotten what life was like before it (and I'm saying this as a 30-year-old internet addict). One of the problems with the internet is that while it allows us to absorb limitless quantities of information at high speed, its ease of use has prompted a general sense of laziness and eroded the discipline previously required to obtain knowledge. I confess, there are many times I will do "a google" to look up something interesting, only to find myself googling something else before I've finished absorbing the information from my previous search. I'm hardly alone in this ADD inclination.

Like many things in life, the internet is both a wonderful blessing and a tremendous curse. Just as the printing press made knowledge accessible to the masses, the internet has spread information beyond the ranks of the university elite. However, the communal nature of this medium makes it hard to distinguish information which is well-researched and worthwhile from ideas which are hardly fit to print. After all, hasn't the internet been the primary vehicle for spreading the false rumor that Barack Obama is a radical, fundamentalist Muslim?

Perhaps McCain is old and inflexible. Maybe he truly does lack curiousity. Nevertheless, to arrive at this conclusion solely on the basis of his internet usage is perposterous. McCain could just as easily get his information from well-informed staffers or by *gasp* cracking open a book! Last I checked, some newspapers continue to print. While not as convenient as browsing, these methods of research often help a person to develop a higher level of focus and more effectively internalize the information he/she seeks to acquire. Of all the legitimate greviances that a person may have with John McCain, I don't believe computer knowledge can be counted among them.

Of course, as an avid blogger I am a bit of a hypocrit in decrying the evils of internet reliance. If you'd like to check out my ideas on this and other subjects, you can visit my site at:

www.strangelegacy.com

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

unm — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:46:41 GMT

I disagree with the main tenant of this article. I am 66 years old, not much younger than the Senator and I am very computer proficient. At one point I could even program. Why is this important? Knowledge today is primarily transmitted by electronic means over the Internet. Backgorund material essential to a President is out there online. You must be computer literate to head any organization today in the US. Please don't hold George Bush up as an example of anything. Perhaps if he could have checked facts for himself instead of having "aides" tell him what was going on we would not be in the mess we are in. As a fromer executive myself I found my ability to go online essential to my decisions.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

nettkitten — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:48:37 GMT

I have to disagree. We've just experienced 8 long years dealing with a p-resident who didn't know the difference between Yahoo and Google and couldn't put together a cohesive technology policy to save the rest of our lives. In the end his lack of internet savvy actually was telling and the country should have listened. Anyone who hasn't taken the time and effort to familiarize themselves with the internet as a research tool and communication device can't possibly lead our country into the future because technology IS our future. Elect someone who doesn't understand this and our time as leader of the free world is over. And, BTW, my 65 year old mother has been online longer than I have!!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jbkmcd — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:55:44 GMT

Now, who is the elitist? The problem is not that he has not used the internet, it is that he has lived an existence which has so far removed him from the experience of the rest of the country that he has had no need to. His accusations of 'cool arogance' seem hallow when his own pampered existence has removed him from understanding basic technology (or, it appears, geography, healthcare policy and the difference between Sunni and Shia)

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ChrisL4McCain — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:56:19 GMT

nettkitten, "internet" is not "Internet". Please capitalize the first letter in Internet. If you make a mistake about this then you may be wrong about senator John McCain. Anyone going into a library can be shown how to use the Internet, it's easy. John can learn. The Internet is not a secure communication media.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

dlibert — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:57:01 GMT

Is McCain capable of arousing even the slightest curiosity about something he doesn't know anything about, like the internet, . 99.9% of all people, from the very old to the very young, would want to find out what it's all about, and they have My 92 year old mother wanted to know what the internet was and since it's rather difficult to explain, I suggested that she find out for herself. I showed her how to click the browser icon and she figured out the rest in less than 2 hours. Now I can't get her away from the computer. ".....learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon." This is a quote from a moron who is too set in this ways to be President and your a moron for giving him a pass on this. Obviously you'd vote for a Republican no matter what.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

dlibert — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:59:47 GMT

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jp_negri — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:02:06 GMT

If McCain doesn't go online, how are we ever gonna get embarrassing photos from his Facebook page showing him doing bodyshots in Daytona?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

nirak — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:02:47 GMT

I have to disagree too. We had a President for almost 8 years who didn't read a newspaper.

For many the newspaper has been replaced by the Internet and to say he can't use it, is ignorance.

McCain has been a Senator for many years, but I think that was sheer luck. He isn't any more intelligent than Bush. Might be his age and that is not his fault, but for a President I like to see someone who is alert at all times. God help us all McCain answers the phone at 3AM

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

nirak — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:02:54 GMT

I have to disagree too. We had a President for almost 8 years who didn't read a newspaper.

For many the newspaper has been replaced by the Internet and to say he can't use it, is ignorance.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

nettkitten — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:07:12 GMT

Just one more thought...doesn't anyone, here, find it ironic that we all consider this issue to be important enough to discuss and that we are holding our discussion on the internet? If the president's computer literacy is a topic vital enough to warrant such heated debate then it only seems logical that the candidates should know about it. Unfortunately McCain will have to rely entirely on his aides and staff to imform him of the discussion and to accurately relate to him the details of our conversation. Now: has anyone, here, ever played the game "telephone"? What it comes down to is this: Do we really want to elect a president who will have to rely upon the sagacity of aides and staffers to relay vital information to them? Do we really want someone who doesn't personally read and respond to the issues that we, the American people, consider to be important?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

MTR1973 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:07:41 GMT

I didn't read any 'outrage' in any of the 'liberal media's reaction to the fact that McCain can't stop admitting what a bad president he would be. I am heartened by the fact that people are seeing through to the bigger issue of him being flat out of touch with everyday Americans and the issues and lives that we live with and deal with on a regular basis. We have already had 8 horribly damaging years with Bush - not just because of the messes he's gotten us into financially, environmentally and our pointless wars, but his role modeling of intellectual laziness and 'there's only ever black or white, no gray' type approach to leading the free world. We CANNOT afford 4 or 8 more years of an intellectually mediocre dumbass in the white house, we just can't. It spreads too quickly to the rest of the population.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

m3rkvry — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:14:50 GMT

Do you realize that you could make this same argument to suggest that having basic knowledge of international relations, or economics, wouldn't make you a better president? You can have insight about nation-building that would preclude you from needing to know anything about what's going on in Iraq, right?

I'm sorry, I usually think you're insightful, but this is absolute baloney. Just because Souter had some tech-savvy interns who could explain basic ideas about file-sharing to him doesn't mean he has an intuitive understanding of how the Internet works, or how it's supposed to work. Ted Stevens has tech-savvy interns too, and it clearly didn't help him sound or act competent. A better comparison would have been between the Music Industry and Napster - because they didn't fully-understand the nature and the psychology of file sharing, they chose to treat it as a simple petty-theft issue instead of finding a way to embrace the technology - and as a result, they lost millions before they adjusted to the one-song-download model. I see that as a direct metaphor for all the mistakes the Bush administration stumbled through in executing The War before it stumbled into the Surge strategy.

And why does it matter? Because as any intelligence analyst will tell you, The War is being fought on the Internet now. Cyber-attacks are coming from China and Iran; information about suicide bombings is being traded in chat rooms. If the next president manages to stop the next major attack, it will be in part because of intelligence gathered online.

Understanding new technology means understanding communication on an entirely different level. It means understanding that cultures which used to avoid each other because of distance now regularly interact because they share language. It means being able to quickly and competently respond to a hacking attempt designed to strand a major city without power. And it means having the basic knowledge to ask the analyst that hands him a photo of four missiles taking off from Iran the question that NO ONE in the Mainstream Media bothered to ask: "Could any of these be Photoshopped?"

As McCain himself is fond of saying, we need a president who is ready on Day One. And that includes someone who gets "a Google".

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

hotsopdotcom — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:16:35 GMT

The bigger problem is that McCain is cocooned and he isn't listening to you:

http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007827.html

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Sovereign77x — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:17:58 GMT

*Sigh* After reading some of these comments it's little wonder that politics are such a mess in this country. We the people have devolved into society of backwards political priorities. Andrew makes a very good point about the possible reasons for McCain's lack of internet experience. Perhaps he's right, perhaps he wrong; nevertheless, it frightens me that we use these silly, stupid, and trite criticisms to avoid the hassle of carefully analyzing the actual positions of the candidates. I have many concerns with both John McCain and Barack Obama; nevertheless, they are based on substantial issues such as their positions on Iraq, the economy, the environment, etc. Few of the people attempting to divine anything about McCain's personality by his lack of Internet usage hold a degree in psychology. Are they any different than those who make assumptions about Barack Obama because he attended a madrasah as a child? It's time to stop blaming Washington for our problems -- we're getting the politicians we deserve.

www.strangelegacy.com

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pearsoncrz — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:23:09 GMT

The only ones making a big deal out of this are the ones who aren't going to vote for him anyway.

Big deal.

I prefer a president who knows how to delegate to one who ignores the person talking to him to answer a text message on his crackberry.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

nettkitten — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:23:44 GMT

BTW - Chris4McCain: Your semantical notation on the difference between "the Internet" and "the internet" really has no bearing in this conversation. The one being differentiated by it's commercially marketed identity from the other being a technical explanation of "the system connecting computers around the world using TCP/IP" (American Heritage Science Dictionary; www.dictionary.com) has nothing to do with the fact that John McCain cannot use the technology. Period. His concession to learn, now, strikes me as nothing more than an attempt to placate and assuage a voting populace evidencing it's dissatisfaction with elected officials who are so far removed from the daily reality of their constituents. I, for one, don't think that I am misjudging a man who only learns something new because the rest of us point out his intellectual laziness and well-fed complacency. I would also appreciate it if you would direct such comments to everyone on the board rather than singling out one posting when, as evidenced by a quick read of all 200 comments, here, you are the only one thus far to capitalize the word "Internet" thus making your suggestion a comment on all of our opinions rather than just mine.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

kay0007 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:26:38 GMT

The idea that someone can’t be president because they lack one specific skill is simply ridiculous. I’d be more concerned with a president whose only contact with the military has been through a video game.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pearsoncrz — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:31:54 GMT

MTR1973, who do you think are "everyday Americans"?

Many homes do not yet have computers in this country, and I doubt that most people have crackberries either.

Moreover, in my experience, most of those bastardizing the spelling of common English words are the same ones who tend to communicate in text messages instead of actually talking and listening to one another.

You can't negotiate peace over the internet, you can't draft legislation using text messages. Googling is little more than an index search in a classic printed encyclopedia. Yes, it is faster, but that doesn't make it better, especially when young users have not been taught to discriminate between the various resources a google taps into, and Google itself is organized to promote the websites that pay more rather than the ones that are the most credible and reliable.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

thrasher32 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:32:17 GMT

"The only ones making a big deal out of this are the ones who aren't going to vote for him anyway. "

You must mean people with fully functional brains, because the way I see it, only a mentally challenged individual would vote Republican after the last 8 years.

Like I said before, McCain is un-electable, he can thank Bush for that. Stop wasting your time and money, John, it's pathetic.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

weelzup — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:34:06 GMT

If you were on the board of directors for the world's largest, most powerful, and most technologically advanced corporation and you had to choose a new CEO, would you choose the guy who is in tune with your networked corporate culture, or the guy who hasn't touched a computer in 72 years?

People, WE are the board of directors... and our choice is clear.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pearsoncrz — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:35:38 GMT

nettkitten, you are preaching to the koolaid drinking choir - the ones you would like to convince aren't checking in here and aren't participating in this discussion. It isn't that important to everyone, only to the ones who wouldn't vote for McCain anyway.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pearsoncrz — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:40:21 GMT

thrasher32, thank you for your elitist response. It proves my point.

The ones using their brains aren't drinking the koolaid and using use ephemeral issues as the basis for voting for Obama, a man who is so clearly unqualified for the job.

I'd rather have a president who actually knows what the Joint Chiefs of Staff do, the way the executive branch is organized and operated, than someone who thinks he can get "the" answer by googling an issue. Is that how Obama put together his platform for the primaries? Is that why he's busy rethinking everything he said he stood for when he was working to beat Hillary Clinton?

What a bunch of baloney.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pearsoncrz — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:43:22 GMT

LOL jp_negri, too funny!!!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

j.n — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:43:24 GMT

If McCain cannot use a computer,that might explain why he destroyed five jets that probly cost about $15,000,000 apiece even though they had very little computerized equipment onboard at that time.

It do not take much of a brain to operate a computer,it takes a lots more brain to operate the country than it does a computer,I can operate a computer plus I have built half dozen computers from mother board up,but I would not be able to operate the country,do we want a president with stone age mentality in twenty first century?.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

roy_byrd3 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:51:33 GMT

To me, it's pretty important that a President be at least somewhat computer literate. It speaks to his being current with the times and his constituentcy. McCain is a decent man but as president...., I don't think so.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Starflyer — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:52:47 GMT

The scary thing about McCain's admission of technical illiteracy is the cavalier way it's offered: "Hey, I can't even USE a computer -- ha, ha, ha. Isn't that funny?" Frankly, no it's not. He sounds less like someone we can trust to help naviagate the choppy waters of the future, and more like a sour-faced great grand-uncle decrying 'these newfangled fads' -- ala Ted Stevens ranting about a SERIES OF PIPES :-( :-(

Such a demurral seems preposterously out of touch with the mainstream of American society. How can we convice our adult population to retool themselves with new skills for a new age, when our own would-be president thinks emails should be printed out and handed to him?? If he doesn't think technical skills are important now, he certainly won't help a retrenched worker who needs retraining.

Europe, India and China are sailing right past us, leaving our technical prowess and thought leadership in the dust. All this, while a would-be president can't even be bothered to learn what grade-school students are taught about technology?

That is a frightening thought.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

roy_byrd3 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:53:47 GMT

And the fact that GWB doesn't use a computer is pointless. We all know he's a complete idiot!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Jurr — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:54:23 GMT

Pearson, 2/3 of American households have a computer AND are online. 4 in 5 Americans know how to access the internet.

Faster IS better when it comes to communication. War of 1812: The battle of New Orleans took place 15 days after the treaty was signed. 2100 men died needlessly and that wasn't even the last battle (although it was the last major one) that took place before news of the peace treaty made its rounds.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

j.n — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:56:15 GMT

If McCain do not know how to operate a computer I hope that he do not start fooling around with that red button when the screen says Ridgecrest,Ca.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

lancegutzman — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:56:59 GMT

"It do not take much of a brain to operate a computer,it takes a lots more brain to operate the country than it does a computer,I can operate a computer plus I have built half dozen computers from mother board up,but I would not be able to operate the country"

--- Exactly.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

taztaz — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:00:34 GMT

Do you think the Video Proffesor would make a great chistmas gift? This is unbelievable,

that a man in such a critical position in the world could laugh off his abilities, but I guess a charcoal stick and a piece of tree bark are tough to master too . Vote for him, not in this lifetime.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Dollared — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:01:01 GMT

Thank god you're here to defend John McCain, Andrew!

Tell me: would it be better if he understood how the world works?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

tonica — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:02:23 GMT

GW didn't know much about the "internets" either. Or much else. It showed. Ultimately, we need a man who is in tune with the world as it is today. The internet revolution is as world altering as the industrial revolution. If the president doesn't intuitively understand what that means... it is a serious negative. It isn't about "I'm not good with email." It's about "getting it." I am concerned our future president may not be. A president needs to be scientifically, economically, socially, politically, and yes... technically literate.

I like John McCain, but this is a large concern for me. What else doesn't get get at the gut level? I want the candidates to have that science debate as well: http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/ He has a year, though. Maybe he will have some time to update his familiarity with the modern world.

-tonica

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:02:31 GMT

The name Mc Cain't takes on a new meaning.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

j.n — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:13:23 GMT

The almighty knows that I am no christien,he also knows how I hate GW for how he has screwed up the world,but I would much rather see another four years of GW than I would one of McCain.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

rjdpa — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:19:38 GMT

In light of the fact that Senator McCain is is not very popular with the younger voters, I think that it's extremely foolish for his "handlers" to allow him to make this kind of statement. While I admire the honesty I think it shows very poor judgment to highlight what will be perceived as a weakness by such an important segment of the voting public. That being said, in reality, I don't feel that it's all that important for him to be computer literate. I sincerely hope that our President has better sources of information available to him than the Internet. It seems to me that a great number of people are of the opinion that a good President needs to be the master of every aspect of the office when in reality a good President will surround himself with the best and the brightest advisors and listen to what all of them have to say and then make a decision. In my opinion John McCain is that type of man, one that isn't so taken with himself that he can't listen to the advice of others and who will weigh all of that advice and make an informed decision that he truly believes is best for our country. That's the kind of man I want in the White House, isn't that what all of you want?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

nycwahoodem — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:23:39 GMT

How does Reader S.M. not understand that Justices have clerks research a lot for them in their lengthy time to author decisions? Presidents often have to make hasty decisions and I'd like one who generally understands the nature of the world in 2010 instead of 1910.

Seriously, my mom is almost 70 and can google with the rest of them. Hell, she's a libertarian but still respects the value of an education and the pursiut of information. The fact that he's not ever at home and curious about something demonstrates the same lack of curiosity that has plagued Bush.

But keep on making sure no one inquries about McCain while you defend those who poke fun at Obama. Maybe you'll get a barbeque invite Andrew.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

vmac — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:34:17 GMT

My 79 year old mother-in-law has been using the internet for years now--McCain is old and out of touch with the 21st century. He has a one track mind--WAR

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sjpersonal — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:10:49 GMT

Clinton is asking for money, not to retire her debt but to add to her 2012 campaign fund. Read below.

Has any of you received an email like this one?

Hillary Clinton Asks To Keep Donor Money for 2012

July 14, 2008

By Jason Horowitz

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is sending out letters to donors asking permission to roll a $2,300 contribution to Clinton’s 2008 general election coffers to her 2012 senate election fund instead of offering a refund.

The letter, read to me by one recipient, includes a photocopy of a handwritten note from Clinton that says, “Dear friend, your commitment has meant so much to me over the course of my presidential campaign. You were there for me when I needed you the most and I’ll never forget it. I hope you’ll help me continue to fight for the issues and causes we believe in by filling out the enclosed form in support of Friends of Hillary.”

The form says, “I hereby verify that my 2008 general election contribution may be designated to the 2012 Senate election. I designate the entire amount to the 2012 primary election. However if I have already contributed to the 2012 primary, I designate any amount in excess of $2,300 to the 2012 general election.”

“If we do not hear back from you by August 28 2008 we will automatically refund your contribution.”

This donor, at least, had no intention of signing. “Of course I’m going to get my money back,” the donor told me.

From the PUMA site, but I am going to try to find a verifiable site regarding this. I am also going to post this on Obama's website. If this is true I am pissed, how dare she beg for money to clear up her debt but at the same time ask her donors if they will fund her 2012 election campaign. They should be the ones paying off her debt.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sjpersonal — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:10:54 GMT

Clinton is asking for money, not to retire her debt but to add to her 2012 campaign fund. Read below.

Has any of you received an email like this one?

Hillary Clinton Asks To Keep Donor Money for 2012

July 14, 2008

By Jason Horowitz

“If we do not hear back from you by August 28 2008 we will automatically refund your contribution.”

This donor, at least, had no intention of signing. “Of course I’m going to get my money back,” the donor told me.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Wisconsin Voter — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:16:10 GMT

McWar cant even use a computer and he wants to be President. LOL

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Wisconsin Voter — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:19:30 GMT

Maybe if McWar could use a computer he could figure out that Czechoslovakia is not a country anymore!

This is Republican "experience" for ya! McWars speeches are about countries that are not countries any more!!!

You want a President that talks about fake countries!?! For two days straight!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Wisconsin Voter — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:30:56 GMT

Think about it, McWar can't even get to this page if you told him exactly where it is!

How do you say you are in touch with the American people if you need help reading E-mail?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pojo68 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:04:59 GMT

This shows a lack of curiosity on part of McCain. Think about it - in the 1960s, a fighter pilot was on the cutting edge of technology. So, McCain had some exposure to computing technology. Once he was out of the Navy, he seemed to forget all about the technology and made no effort to keep up.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

craifel — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:13:37 GMT

Watch out, this one's even dumber than Bush!!!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

notroubleatall1963 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:18:27 GMT

He's too old to run this country, figurehead for the GOP or not....

We need someone with more brains that the average American or else how can we respect and look to a leader in times like these?

Don't settle for mediocrity. Vote for Obama.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sharenews — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:27:10 GMT

SJ says: Clinton is asking for money, not to retire her debt but to add to her 2012 campaign fund. Read below.

Has any of you received an email like this one?

I say: I havent seen the email but I have no problem with it.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

speckelbelly — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:34:31 GMT

IF McCAIN CANNOT WORK A COMPUTER, HOW IS HE GOING TO HANDLY THE NUKE FOOTBALL?GIVE IT TO SOME ONE ELSE?

OBAMA 08!!!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Think_About_It — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:46:56 GMT

Some points to consider:

1) The comparison to George W. Bush's internet knowledge before he took office is really irrelevant. In 2000, only 44% of the American population used the internet, Google was barely 2 years old and there were no mobile internet devices like the BlackBerry. Even when Bush was re-elected, Facebook was still only open to Ivy League colleges and there was no YouTube to affect the culture. YouTube is now so much a part of our culture, news programs regularly refer to it and even show clips on the air. Even this article on an MSM site embedded a YouTube video in it. In 2008, 70% of Americans use the internet - and if you consider that some significant percentage of Americans are too young (babies) or are incapacitated (mentally retarded, disabled, blind, etc), that means by far most Americans that are capable of using the internet do actually use it. To compare George W. Bush's lack of internet use in 2000 to McCain's lack of internet use in 2008 is comparing apples and oranges. (Usage stats here: http://www.internetworldstats.com/am/us.htm)

2) The argument that if you have aides at work to fill you in on things that, you therefore have no real incentive to go online makes no sense either. The internet provides communication to loved ones (email, Instant Messaging, photo-sharing, etc), entertainment and many other purposes. Besides, he didn't say that he has to depend on his aides for helping him with computers, he said he calls on his wife. Unless she's on the payroll, I believe that completely invalidates that argument.

3) McCain has admitted that he doesn't understand the economy as well as he should. He certainly doesn't understand technology as he should if he can't even use email without calling his wife for help. What else doesn't he really understand and what else is he out of touch on?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Driver of wagons — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:12:04 GMT

One advantage "Mccain't and isn't able to Govern" has not being able to use a PC he will be spared from reading this crap or anything else that this author farts.

When is NewsWeak going to sh!t can this little guy

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pinkpanther87413 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:23:46 GMT

We are at WAR with technoterrorist! One of many to come, and your asking if OUR Commander-in-Chief needs to know computers??? When the world we WAR with, are!! You do the fkng math! Better yet answer: YES, HE NEEDS TO KNOW, OR WE WILL ALL DIE WHEN HE CAN'T FIGURE HOW TO DISSARM A NUKE OF OUR OWN, DROPPING ON US, DUE TO LAUNCH FAILURE!!! WITHOUT HELP FROM A BATHROOM ATTENDENT, WHO KNOWS FAR MORE THAN HE! This man was a pilot, and learned to fly in a very short time, but in 20 years he can't Google? I'm a grunt of the old ways, but still can operate a computer, it's called PROGRESS! ADDING MACHINES, NO LONGER HAVE A HANDLE TO PULL DOWN, TO OPERATE! CAN'T HE WORK ONE OF THOSE EITHER? First world country, 3rd world leader? No, even Castro [the dead one] could operate a computer.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Wisconsin Voter — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:42:03 GMT

"Help I've fallen in 1980 and I can't get up!"

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sjpersonal — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:51:16 GMT

SHARENEWS, If it is not true then your PUMA sisters are LIARS because I got it from the website that YOU are always promoting. I will check to see if I posted the link, if not then I will!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sjpersonal — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:55:24 GMT

SHARENEWS I am sure that YOU would not have a problem with it. My problem with this letter if it is real is that, if Clinton is asking for donations to her 2012 Presidential campaign, the she OBVIOUSLY SHOULDN'T NEED OBAMA SUPPORTERS TO HELP HER PAY IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Galasso — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:00:34 GMT

Senator McCain is missing all of the wisdom of blogs and the eloquence of the writers who respond to Mr. Romano's insight. Most of it is just verbal "self-stimulation" anyway. I don't think the Republic will be in jeopardy if either of the candidates decide not to surf. It is extraordinary how much time is wasted by people who have access to the internet when they should be working. Ever walk by someone's desk who has 7 or 8 instant messages going at one time?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ER Doc — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:41:49 GMT

sjpersnal said: << SHARENEWS I am sure that YOU would not have a problem with it. My problem with this letter if it is real is that, if Clinton is asking for donations to her 2012 Presidential campaign, the she OBVIOUSLY SHOULDN'T NEED OBAMA SUPPORTERS TO HELP HER PAY IT OFF!!!!!!!!!! >>

sj, the request is to roll 2008 general election money over to her 2012 Senate campaign, not a Presidential campaign. As you probably know, it was possible for high rollers to donate $2300 to her primary campaign, and another $2300 in anticipation of her general election campaign. The general election money can't be used for her primary campaign expenses. As I understand it, she has a large amount of money dedicated to the general election, which was donated by contributers who'd already given the max to her primary. She is obligated to return that money to her donors unless they agree to let her shift it to her Senate campaign. That's what this is about. She needs "fresh" money from other donors to retire the debt she built up during the primary; these folks have already maxed out for the primary.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Wisconsin Voter — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:59:32 GMT

The point is that computers and the internet are some of the most BASIC parts of American life. This shows how out of date and detached McWar is from the average American.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

arless — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:57:01 GMT

The point is, the Internet and computers are absolute facts of life for most of us, and for the economy too. Do I think McCain-- you know, McCain who thinks Czechoslovakia still exists-- will be out of touch as a president? YEAH. And his refusal (and it is a refusal, in a rich man) shows he doesn't WANt to join the 21st century. It's like refusing to pump your own gas, and driving 10 miles to the one station that'll do it for you (not that McCain even drives his own car). You separate yourself from the real world, and you increasingly live in a fantasy world. Look at Bush.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Oilfieldguy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:12:38 GMT

Heh,

running on his record in a CD age. No problem here.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Oilfieldguy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:16:17 GMT

Heh,

A dial-up mentality in a gigabyte reality. No problem here.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

pinkpanther87413 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:19:01 GMT

Oilfieldguy

You mean an 8 track mind in a gigabit world. I agree at 3am he will answer his rotery phone [you know the 12lb office phone] and take 5 min figuring which end you speak into, lol!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Matt429 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:37:57 GMT

Even as an Obama supporter, and U.S. Army captain, I take much less issue with McCain's computer illiteracy than Senator Obama's lack of understanding in the realm of military operations and logisitcs capabilities. He (Obama) was right to oppose the start of OIF, even smarter to re-evaluate his policy now that conditions have changed, but not so smart to reaffirm a 16 month pullout date. I returned from a 15 month tour in Baghdad last fall; There's no way, everybody's getting out of there in 16 months. Each month that a brigade departs, requires a very complex reshuffling of responsibilities for operations and logistics for the adjacent units. To do that, month after month, for 16 months would be A) impossible and B) (assuming it were possible) highly detrimental to the success of ongoing operations.

That being said, we do need to transition out of Iraq. There has been much success in the last year, and we ought to honor the sovereignty of the Iraqi government, while not leaving them so unsupported that they will fail. Pulling a few (3-5) brigades from Iraq and redirecting their replacements to Afghanistan over the next 1-2 years would be a much more sound military and political objective.

Sen. McCain is no expert either. His understanding of the political dynamic in the so-called "War on Terror" is very much flawed. There were no terrorists in Iraq before the war, and after the invasion, there became many. This year, there are now less. But "terrorists" are not a discrete quanitity. These are people, with motivations and influences that build or diminish. The lack of support from the suffering people of Iraq, has caused many "terrorists" to lose their motivation for indiscriminate carnage. So has the persistent sacrifice and commitment of Iraqi and U.S. soldiers and marines.

McCain is a man of great judgment and great character. I would be satisfied with him as my Commmander-in-Chief. However, Sen. Obama is also a man of great judgment and character (despite what Fox News would have you believe) and I would be more satisfied with him as my leader in terms of domestic and foreign policy. I support Senator Obama precisely for the fact that he seems willing to observe and refine his policies based on the practical realities of the day. I also admire his humility, deference, prudence, and poise. Although, I am disappointed with his recent speech. It's great that he uses a Blackberry, and that's not what being President is about; but, he also has the most important qualities.

Great article Andrew.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

loriw — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:23:12 GMT

Matt 429

Thank you for your well written post. I have said for months that we need to hear from the soldiers that have been in Iraq and other places what they think about the candidates and their position on what to do about Iraq. Please get other military people to post. We have had some really good input from Retiredmarine also. But I feel we need to hear from more people in the military. I understand that they too are busy either currently serving (like my son-in-law who is in Iraq) or are home with family and job responsibilities but if you could please get them to take a few minutes to post and then ask them to spread the word. I for one want to know their perspectives. I promise to take their input and use it in making my decision on who to vote for in November. Matt429 keep posting.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

loriw — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:29:40 GMT

Dear Senator McCain,

Please take about 1 hour and have someone on your staff teach you how to Google and open and send e-mail. That way we (all the people) that have posted below can move beyond this petty stuff and move on to important matters such as the economy, war, and immigration.

Respectfully,

Lori

Indiana voter

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

an obama girl — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:34:48 GMT

Why does an old man like Maccain need to know how to use the internet?

His beer making, millionaire wife coupled with any $ left from his admiral father should be able to take care of him in fine fashion!

It amazes me how Macain doesn't want the government paying for anyones medical care but it is just fine and dandy for the american people to pay for his!

I'm a A retired Air Force Women and Obama supporter who thinks medical is a right of humanity not a military privledge!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

coolrepublica — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:11:46 GMT

I love people who say McCain should learn how to use the internet. If McCain is president I don't want him within 2 feet of the internet. I want my president working and not watching porn. Yes porn. Most men at work and at home use the net to get porn and women use it to get celebrity gossip.

I don't even think he is allowed internet access in the Oval office for security reasons. So what's the big deal. He's not going to be my internet pen-pal. I want him working his ass off doing things off the internet not on it. if he wants a facebook account let some 18 year old intern handle the account and the duty of adding and deleting friends.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

StacyN — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:31:02 GMT

Usually love your analysis, Andrew, but have to vehemently disagree. The fact that McCain doesn't use the internet demonstrates how thoroughly out of touch he is with modern life - the trials and tribulations of the people he's representing as well as the fact that the ability to manage information & communications are a competitive advantage for the US in a global economy.

The internet (or a search engine) isn't an ATM machine or a supermarket scanner (see: Bush Sr. controversy when he saw one of those the first time), but rather a revolutionary form of communication and media that a modern day president must not only understand, but leverage. In this era where knowledge, information, and the ability to use technologies to make people, process and organizations more effective, the commander in chief must have the vision to know what is possible. Otherwise, we will forever be susceptible to others (terrorists, competitive nations) who know how to use it better.

Sure the staffers would be the ones more fluent; but if the President doesn't have the raw intellectual desire or curiosity to understand how technology is changing the world, this is not an administration that will naturally lay out a vision that sets a US competitive stance based on innovation, information-based policy making. We are at the mercy of an administration that makes poor decision making, in large part due to the lack of analytical rigor or information transparency, making us all, as a nation susceptible to mismanagement, corruption, and outside threats.

Frankly, if my CEO (of a Fortune 10 company) were to not use email...to not know how to spend five minutes to do an internet search to see what the people are saying...and doesn't know how to use technology to rally support of constituencies, convey a vision, conduct research...I think it very much calls into question that person's ability to lead in today's environment. The most powerful person in the world better be able to get an independent read of how the world works.

Perhaps we would be in a better state with the economy with better information (and better oversight). Perhaps we would have understood the obstacles in such a strategic move as Iraq had we sought out information. And perhaps, we would have reflected on the Savings & Loan Crisis (of which McCain was in the midst of the fray once upon a time) and cracked down on Wall Street sooner.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

StacyN — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:31:07 GMT

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

badmaniz — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:20:55 GMT

its almost 2010 he is ain the dark age.i take that back the stone age 30-35 years still mo advacment with mcsame.how can u think of him as a leader.he can only lead us back to the dark ages.the men that watch porn at work are crazy and the reason we are in a mental ression.moraly bankruped and should be fired.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Mariama — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:22:56 GMT

Andrew, your parents use a Mac -- I do too, and after years of mac and PC use, I still prefer other methods of navigation and desktop management to minimizing. It's a Windows concept that appeals to some people and not to others. When it was added to the Mac OS, my husband immediately latched onto it, never having used Windows before. I had found it useful for Windows, but unnecessary for my Mac.

I'm nitpicking here, but my real point is this: your parents use a laptop. Cindy McCain doesn't come to their home and start it up for them. McCain is at a disadvantage culturally if he is not computer literate, especially since he is a politician. Kudos to him for recognizing the fact. Now he needs to become literate, which certainly does become harder the older you are. Good luck to him.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jjaffie — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:32:40 GMT

My grandmother learned the basics of email in 10 minutes. Now she was a pretty smart cookie seeing how she graduated at the top 50% of her class. I guess we can cut McCain some slack since he graduated in the bottom 1% of his class at the Naval Academy.

We know McCain has brass, but when talking about the Presidency intelligence & aptitude should be mandatory & McCain demonstrates very little if any of those qualities.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

MikePR — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:52:00 GMT

I think it goes beyond computer skills to the issue of where does John McCain get his information - the unfiltered news? President Bush doesn't read newspapers and only gets his information from his aides. Since John McCain has been a senator for years with an infrastructure of support, what are they telling him? Is it what they want him to know? Or, what they think won't upset him?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

RetiredMarine — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:09:04 GMT

It is amazing how many people out here think that knowing how to use a computer is the end all be all of existence and that anyone who does not, simply must be illiterate and out of touch with reality. Fact is, in todays society there are many (Most) younger people who are computer savy. Boy they can surf the net, use programs like it is cool, etc... But in real life, their "modern knowledge" starts to be a handicap. It is unbelievable how many people I have come across who can't even do simple mathematical calculations without either their computer or calculator. Many who simply can't understand how to use a book to their advantage. Many who although they have computer intelligence, they can not demonstrate an ability to use the knowledge. Prime example is an experience I had with several young Lieutenants. These gentlemen were extremely "book smart" but had the common sense and abilities of a rock. They could use a GPS system in their sleep. But let the batteries run out and have them navigate with a map and compass or even the stars and they folded like a little child. Bottom line is that modern technology is great and I encourage everyone to utilize it to the fullest extent. But not learning how to apply the knowledge and not learning a "back up system" such as the old ways are extremely foolish. When people criticize others for not being "up with the times", these same folks most likely couldn't navigate themselves out of a wet paper bag without an electronic device.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

rosenpc — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:20:30 GMT

I am a 58 year old, use e-mails, do internet search, have a website for my non-profit, and still consider myself a computer illiterate. Many people of my generation will label themselves the same way, and we function very well and quite successfully in our choice of profession, thank you very much.

What we need the most for the CEO of the USA is a honorable, visionary executive who can galvanize the nation towared a common good. Whether or not that person is with technical proficiency to every vital issues of the day is not entirely necessary ( homeland security, anyone ?) . We need leader not technician at the highest office. There are intellegences can't be measured by standarized tests, academic achievements, such as making sense of information, connecting the dots, seeing the big picture and having the integrity and courage to lead...

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

thehappyamerican — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:01:38 GMT

McCain DON"T need a telepromter to speak .

Obama needs someone who can use a key board to type what he says into the telepromter...or he can't speak!

McCain don't need a teleprompter AND someone to type into the telepromter to speak!

Obama could assure us HE knows how to use computers today ONLY if a smart person types that into his telepromter.

YES HE COULD!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Concert_Bflat — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:13:46 GMT

asfdaf

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Concert_Bflat — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:22:43 GMT

Not being able to use a computer reflect a since of resistance to learn something new that is all encompassing. As President, Mr. McCain will be learning something new, the Presidency of the United States and this affect of this position is all encompassing. His position concerning the computer or new technology would suggest the same results as Bush; a sense of stubbornness to learn. Unfortunately the Presidency requires listening, reading, doing, and acting upon. Bush was resistant to learning and it showed when he was ask to act on NEW dynamics of our society while in office.

He resisted and as his staff members that resigned use to say was that his greatest flaw is that he is very STUBBORN.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

yesyoucan2008 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:28:43 GMT

Teflon John,

You can't touch this guy, even though he is virtually clueless on the issues of today. I am surprised he is a Senator without this simple knowledge of computer basics. He has been a public servant his entire life without the full set of skills necessary in the 21st century. GWB is also computer illiterate (internets), which makes yet another similarity among the republicans. People say it doesn't matter, but to me intelligence of todays technology does matter when it comes to leadership in this new millenium.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

royalcat68 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:44:28 GMT

OMG I can't believe McCain can't use a computer! It is beyond comprehension that he hasn't bothered to learn the basics. I got my first computer in 1989, my niece showed me how to use it, and I don't know how I ever got along without it. I use it for everything. My 7th grade kids know more than McCain, horrifying! Somebody has been isolated from reality long enough. Time for the retirement home, McCain, oh I forgot he won't read this!

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

thrasher32 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:57:27 GMT

Pearsoncrz: Thank you for your typical republinazi response, you know, if you don't like what someone says, label him/her an elitist or liberal in an attempt to discredit what they have said.

Sorry, the KKKarl Rove way of doing things doesn't cut the mustard anymore. We're not going to put up with fascist neocon anti-americans anymore.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me three times, just shoot me in the head because I am a complete moron.

You're getting ready to vote for McCain, and I can only assume you were ignorant enough to vote for Bush twice, so this will be your third time fooled, fool. Get with the program and stop f---ing up our country.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

josemarti — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:17:37 GMT

Why is McCain laughing? Is he not aware of the assault Senator Obama and his Madame Defarge are getting ready to unleash? Once they are done beheading him, they will start getting the carts ready for us.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

amendment2man — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:18:33 GMT

Executives have teams who assemble information and are assigned to covering cedrtain aspects of processing and evaluating critical information.

Executive qualitiy is reflected in one's ability to DELEGATE duties to the RIGHT PEOPLE.

The intenet is a great source for oftentimes inaccurate info that needs to be verified.

The President cannot use E-mail as it is too accessible to unqualified sources. in other words this flap is irrellevant and is only created as a spin to reinforce the ignorant "youth Vote" which obama depends on. These folks( like obama) don't go in for specifics as they feel they can fill in the blanks of their knowledge through the use of the internets often anecdotal information which needs to be independently verified. Of course this market discounts that fact.

It is just another attempt to showcase his age which is irrellevant. He is the only hope in this election as obama is dangerous in his inexperience and unbridled rhetoric.

The obama camp just resorts to name calling and rhetoric to counter any logical information which may arise that doesn't suit their candidate. Third grade level politics, high school at best.

The computer for all it's labor saving graces can also be a large waste of time. perusing sites that purport info yet only intend to sell you something or advertise to you. reading information that is often erroneous and rumor mongering. obama himself has been a victim of this.

So John don't worry about it as I know you have executive experience and will assemble a great team to deal with this purported "disability"

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

amendment2man — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:39:01 GMT

to Thrasher: you are a typical obama supporter. it goes to prove what my previous post stated that you all will downgrade yourselves to name calling and profanity when pressed.

it 's too bad as I welcome your participation in the political process yet understanding is needed from your side.

The candidates have "platforms" which bespeak their stand on the issues.

your candidate(obviously obama) threatens to sefl destruct from the "ignorance" which you accuse the Mccain and republicans of. I guess by making up a funny name for republicans and Mr. Mccain; you feel this is sufficient substance that anyone not agreeing with you is "ignorant".

Well sir November will come as a surprise to you as those of us who are students of history see the parrallels of obama to George Mcgovern and Jimmy Carter. two highly disregaurded individuals.

Mcgovern also courted the "youth" vote and was projected as being able to win the office. He lost by a huge landslide and later tried to visit with castro and other rogue leaders to his great dismay he was discredited(rightly so) by his actions.

Carter managed to use the idealist "change" platform to get elected. The results were disasterous and highly embarrassing for America. His actions arguably could be blamed for the current "fundamentalist islam" mess as he empowered and acquiessed to the ayatollah khomeni ultimately giving rise to this "fundamentalist extremist islam" movement. He has continued to meddle by trying once again to OPEN DIALOGUE with rogue organizations(hezbolah). This has resulted in him being a dupe and mouthpiece for their objectives and demands.

obama has repeatedly called for the same dialogue. enough said.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

amendment2man — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:45:42 GMT

correction: carter tried to open dialogue with Hamas.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

tolkien1952 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:28:06 GMT

Usage of the internet is as Andrew is expounding is going to be a minimal concern with the individual we elect, essentially a moot point. There are far more important issues to concern ourselves with. And McCain did say he was beginning the process of learning how to use email, etc.

In large part, the upcoming legislation regarding computer system security and the internet will be decided by Congress. How many of your senators and representatives know all they should to decide how the bills that will become laws are written regarding these topics?

I don't believe McCain will be a bad president because of his lack of computer savvy; I believe he will be a bad president for other reasons. I don't believe Obama will be good president because he has some computer savvy; I believe he will be a bad president for other reasons.

I would encourage all of you to be much more upset that our presidential election choices are McCain and Obama- both prove to me that there is a much more serious problem than one's computer abilities.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

loriw — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:41:26 GMT

If you haven't read RETIREDMARINE's post below please do so.

It is a well written perspective on this issue.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

thrasher32 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:51:11 GMT

amendment2man: Lay off the crack, dude, you have lost touch with reality. John McCain has no chance of winning this election. Zero. Nil. Zilch. Nada.

First off I wouldn't label myself as an "Obama supporter", but more of an "Anti-Republican". You could also translate "Anti-Republican" as "Anti-war", "Anti-religious nutjob", or "Pro-American". One thing's for sure, I've definitely had enough of the GOP for my lifetime.

You see, the main problem is that most of us don't like the idea of our kids dying for a war that only serves to enrich those in power at the expense of our economy and our children's lives. Of course the other 800lb gorilla in the room is the economy.

Your "Parallels" to McGovern and Carter are nothing more than wishful thinking on your/GOP's part. I was alive and voting then, and those were different times and entirely different circumstances. Not to mention different people. I don't believe that any Democratic candidate, no matter who he/she might be, would ignore the mistakes that you have detailed in an almost belittlingly simplistic fashion.

I think the only historic "parallel" we can draw here is the one that exists between Vietnam and Iraq, and I, for one, don't want to wait until our (American) death toll reaches 50,000+ to evacuate our troops from an insurgency war that will bleed us until we get out. The Soviets, who were (arguably) more ruthless than us were driven out of Afghanistan by a bunch of goat-f---ers with RPG's, so what makes you think we will ever be successful in Iraq?

I am really sorry to burst the bubbles of all of the so-called Reagan (tied with Nixon and Bush for worst president in U.S. history) Republicans, but George Bush has guaranteed that the next two decades will belong to the Democrats. I hope you all get a good taste of your own medicine, it's bitter as f--k but you ARE going to swallow it, just like the rest of us have been choking on the GOP's filth for the last 8 years.

Personally I hope we, as a country, take the historic step to prosecute and imprison Bush and everyone in his adminsiration who was involved in starting this entire Iraq tragedy. Do you hear me Cheney? Rove? Rumsfield? Wolfowitz???

I wish I could see the look on your face the day after the election in November. Just don't cry, OK? That's something Bush would do. Be a man.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

metzlerd — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:28:01 GMT

Mr. Romano: "I spend about 10 hours a day blogging, Facebooking and researching politics online, and still I'd have nothing whatsoever to add to a White House task force on, say, social networking in the military."

While that may be true. my hunch is that you are a single, well phrased, 10 minute search, ('A Google') away from being more informed on the subject than McCain could possibly be, as he would first have to come to terms with what a 'Facebook', 'MySpace' or a 'YouTube' is after his aids type up some kind of report trying to explain it.

Social Networking? Considering the point you were trying to make, and your choice of examples, was the irony intentional? Were you trying to disprove your own point?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

loriw — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:59:28 GMT

Metzlerd,

I have a hard time understanding how the POTUS would utilize Facebook, Myspace or YouTube in his or her day to day responsibilities of running the nation. If there were in fact information of vital national security on any of these sources don't you think it would be more expedient if say the FBI, CIA or Homeland Security first investigated the information for relevancy before presenting it to the POTUS. Do you really think it is critical that the POTUS to be able to use Facebook, Myspace or YouTube himself or herself? I've used all these sources as entertainment because in the majority of cases that is all they contain.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

amuser — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:06:58 GMT

Its not that McCain doesn't have these skills, but that he hasn't thought it important to learn these skills that concerns me. I agree, as RetiredMarine says, that tech skills by themselves are not evidence of common sense (see most of the comments below as proof,) but, as a teacher I realized that the internet is a powerful force in the world today, and so I learned how to use it. StacyN presents the arguments for being tech savvy very well, for those who are actually interested in this issue rather than just blowing hot air about the candidates or their pet peeves.

However, as others suggested, there are other far more important issues for us to look at--corporate greed, the spread of both left and right extreemism, global warming, and more. These show that the U.S. and other countries are so closely connected now by globalized economies ,cultural trends, and yes, the internet, that we cannot deal with our issues without thinking globally and long term. That's the kind of sophisticated thinking that I want to see in our leaders, and in our citizenry as well. We are, after all, supposed to be a democratic republic where we as citizens must constantly be involved in monitoring our government and our society. Without that, even the best leaders would be useless.

I support the candidate who is not trying to buy us off with tax breaks, but who asks us to participate in making our country and the world a better place, and who listens to all the people. If we really want to make improvements, lets keep our discussions civil, constructive, and openminded, otherwise we will have more years of bitter arguments while nations and the environment self-destruct all around us.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sharenews — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:25:33 GMT

Now THAT was a funny video above! Not likely to every take place in reality, but it was funny concept.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jjaffie — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:18:06 GMT

Being able to check email is not a high tech skill. Many of the 20% of Americans who don't know how to do that simple task are underprivileged, unlike McCain who has no excuses.

McCain missed more votes by far than any other Active Senator but at least he takes the weekends off. McCain has been in the Senate for 22 years but never thought the economy was a worthy subject. McCain graduated in the bottom 1% of his class at the Naval Academy. As a pilot McCain lost 3 airplanes in non-combat situations. Seems like there is a pattern of underachieving for McCain in everything but cheating on wives & beating the drums of war.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Wisconsin Voter — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:26:40 GMT

We are in a modern computerized world and McWar can't take the weekend to pick up a few things?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jjaffie — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:31:16 GMT

I bet McCain is still mystified about how they fit a lie detector in those black bloxes with lenses on them that the reporters carry around when asking him annoying questions about what he had said the day before.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sharenews — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:38:03 GMT

http://sendables.jibjab.com/ pretty funny

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

RO in Reno — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:34:02 GMT

Ok now let me try to understand this, he's not smart enough to get online, he know nothing about economics, except to continue bushonomics, he has a problem with diplomatic dialog prefering to bomb first and ask questions later,

He agrees with Bush that a trillion dollar plus expenditure, the death of perhaps as many as a million Iraqis and 4500 Americans is worth it because "Saddam is gone"

He regards Social Security as a disgrace.... not for the reason most of us do, the fact the government has spent the retirement funds of millions of Americans on his watch no less,

is indeed a disgrace.

And yes that is exactly what Social Security was intended to be is "everymans retirement."

And you want me to vote for this guy????????????????

Well I will just as soon as I find the 25 million jobs McCain claimed NAFTA created in the US...Fat chance of that

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sharenews — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:39:10 GMT

OBAMA Supporters. Encourage your Democratic Nominee to Participate in this Event:

NEW YORK TIMES

Obama Won’t Commit to Event at Military Base

New York Times | Kate Zernike | July 12, 2008 12:39 PM

By KATE ZERNIKE

Published: July 12, 2008

A coalition of military groups is planning a nationally televised town-hall-style meeting with the presidential candidates near Fort Hood, Tex., the largest active-duty military installation in the country. But so far, only Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, has agreed to attend.

CBS has agreed to broadcast the meeting live from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Aug. 11. The candidates would face questions directly from an audience of 6,000 people, made up of veterans, service members and military families from the base.

Full Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/us/politics/12obama.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

coop29 — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:24:24 GMT

Actually, its great to have an American leader with his head OUT of the computer! He probably has a much greater understanding of human nature and things that matter...things the cyber world does not teach you...which is most of what matters in dealing with real problems in the real world. Civilization is going backward - computers, texting, etc, teach you zero about working with real people on real issues...but they are great time wasters in the name of productivity...and dumb us down.

McCain's concentration on real skills is quite refreshing.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Ganpat — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:49:56 GMT

McCain, with a historic reputation for being a centrist, liberal Republican who can reach out to Independents and the Left, is dead-set on running a right-wing campaign in a year when right-wing Republicanism is doomed.

Know anyone stupider and more out-of-touch than this?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Bluegrass Woman — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:21:25 GMT

To Andrew Romano:

Stop trying to justify your support of McCain while you can, still, just look deliberately obtuse, instead of stupid. You should not have included the comment from 'Reader, WB'. His/her logic was to the point; and, your answer shows you missed the point, altogether.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

thrasher32 — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:23:50 GMT

"Know anyone stupider and more out-of-touch than this? "

Yeah. George W. Bush.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

katiec — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:43:52 GMT

Well, as a 72 year old who uses the web and loves it, I have to say a person who does

not is living in the previous generation. Of course, I don't have "staff" to do all the

research etc, but do think challenge of the mind is a must.

McCain is out of touch with the modern world. It is obvious in his actions, his

ideas and statements.

He will be more of a puppet than even Bush as it is clear he is incapable of

leading our country.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

olderwiser — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:55:24 GMT

I compliment Romano for a particular reason. Editorialists are biased, the same as no one is without bias. He has a slant to the party of the right. I have a slant to the party of the left. We disagree somewhat, but he puts it out and leaves us a place to disagree with him. Many people who are biased do not want anyone to disagree with them and offer the biased ideas just before running and hiding from any retort at all.

It is best to use the space that he provides to disagree with him with your best shot, not to complain that he should be fired, or do something ugly and unworthy of his kindness in giving you an opportunity to tell a whole nation, even a whole world what you think. You are actually published when you write in these blanks.

So, lighten up, loosen up, put on your thinking cap and give me something decent to read about what you think in this perpetual debate that makes a democracy work best. If you do a good job, you might convince someone that Romano is mistaken and that you are right. Good luck.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

radiantenergies — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:28:15 GMT

Internet is only one factor and neither candidate with have time for it. Ignorance however, has no excuse and the internet sure helps me better understand the world and grow in knowledge. Not using the internet at all almost could be perceived as illiterate and lack of concern and a mind fixed and closed to accept new ideas. Only one factor but surely an important one to consider.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Luda_Chris1 — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:52:09 GMT

Andrew Romano sets up a straw man when he takes an opposing position against those who claim that experience with the technology of the Internet is unnecessary for being an effective president. It's not a question of whether John McCain's inexperience with email or Google searching will hamper his presidency.

What will hamper John McCain's presidency is his lack of full exposure to a technological and social phenomenon that is to our times not unlike the impact of the invention of the printing press on the 15th Century and all 700 years of civilization since.

John McCain, as president, will address issues such as telecommunication and media policy, appointments to the Federal Communications Commission, commercialization versus "Internet Neutrality," rural expansion of broadband access, equal access for those who are poor, civil liberties, especially freedom of speech, in the environment of a dramatic revolution in communications and information, antiquated copyright law and policy, and the profound changes occurring in political campaign strategy vis-a-vis the Internet, to name a few concerns.

Clearly, Andrew Romano, himself, fails to comprehend the magnitude of this communications and information revolution, or so it seems. But, if he really does understand it, then his defense of McCain on this issue is disingenuous.

McCain is out of touch. Let's not praise him for that.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

todorov — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:07:36 GMT

I find it so very sad that in 2000 we were making fun of Al Gore for "inventing the internet" and now the likes of Mr. Romano and some of the other posters are making excuses for John McCain's computer illiteracy.

I am sorry but if my 75 year old parents can use computers without anyone's help, so should anyone who pretends to be qualified to be president of the United States. The last thing we need is another eight years of an incurious, uniformed, incompetent, out of touch person in the White House. Elect John McCain and that's exactly what you'll get. Don't say you weren't warned.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

loriw — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:09:58 GMT

to Thrasher32 who wrote..."know anyone STUPIDER...?"

uummm yeah...you.

STUPIDER is not a word and most 5th graders would know that.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Let me guess that you support Hillary because she is popular with the uneducated.

I hope you are not voting for Obama because he would like you to learn Spanish or another foreign language and I fear you have not yet conquered ENGLISH.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

rdoudna — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:21:25 GMT

McCain's lack of knowledge about computers is not the issue per se. The problem for McCain on this issue is that it underscores to many he is indeed old, at least mentally speaking. No one really cares whether or not McCain has mastered the computer and or similar gadgets or whether he needs to in order to be president. But the fact that he hasn't really tried to this point in his life underscores his stubbornness to holding on to and or living in the past. For me personally, McCain's age is a problem. His time to be president has come and gone. At this point in his distinguish career he should be sharing his wisdom with the future leaders of tomorrow. I'm not suggesting that the older generation go away or that they are incapable of performing at a high level, what I'm saying is that we raised our kids to be the future leaders of tomorrow, well, tomorrow is here, let them lead.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Judlseih — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:26:44 GMT

Is McCain in touch with the today's world in a sense of the state of the economy? Does he have any idea or perspective on the significance of the impact globalization is having on our competitiveness? Does he know that black people are not called colored anymore? Did he really finish in the bottom one percent of his class at the Naval Academy? Is it not the cutest thing to watch him take those "old man baby steps" when he walking?

Is Obama really a Columbia University and Harvard graduate. Is Obama's accomplishments based on his own merit or does he have family in the Pentagon?

We are taught not to accept everything we hear or read as truths, but to listen to what is REALLY being said and determine, for ourselves, whether or not is the truth.

If you were going to hire someone to run your company, would you rather choose a Harvard Grad? Or the bottom one percent of the Naval Academy? Simple question. Be honest with yourself. To me, these simple facts speak volumes. Now understand some of you have party ties that supercede what is best for your country and your childrens' futures. We're adults. The "in crowd" isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I understand that for some of you aristocracy is more important than meritocracy. But, truth be told, anyone can accept a handout.

Be truthful with yourself and answer this one question.

Who is the better candidate for this position in 2009?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Libertarian Paternalist — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:29:09 GMT

McCain has two great advantages.

1. He is fully accessible to the media, Obama is utterly secretive and is totally shielded by his handlers. Why, this makes me very anxious. Is his persona his real self or just a PR persona?

2. You know were McCain stands. He is straight forward, his political history goes back for a very long time. He is extremely consistent. Obama has no public views whatsoever. When he inadvertently says something or something is said to embarrass him, he distances himself so fast as if he were a ghost. He disawows mentor and friend as fast as shirts.

I don not like either McCain or Obama but I believe that McCain will be much, much better for the US economy. Obama has said he will stop and reconsider free trade, he is for huge pork belly spending, supporter the horrendous 300 bn farm bill, wants to raise taxes for all etc.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sharenews — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:49:09 GMT

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Including Leaners:

McCain 46%

Obama 46%

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows Barack Obama attracting 44% of the vote while John McCain earns 42%. When "leaners" are included, it???s Obama 46% and McCain 46% (see recent daily results). McCain is viewed favorably by 56% of voters, Obama by 54%.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

mal1 — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:11:57 GMT

The larger issue is one of the "old" guard vs. the "new" There are many older web users (I am 61 and have actively used the Internet since 1995) who will shudder at the thought of a Chief Executive who cannot use, and I suspect has little or no comprehension of the scale of the changes going on as we speak in global information exchange.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

rdoudna — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:12:41 GMT

Obama is for raising taxes for all? Come on guy, if you are going to make statements about the candidates at least be honest. Obama is not for raising taxes for all, just for people making over $200/$250K a year. He has stated this hundreds of time.

By the way, when the US dollar weakens against other currencies, is this not indirect tax to the US consumer? The republicans are mainly responsible for what we are dealing with today. McCain did vote for an ill advise war that ended up costing us billions in direct costs and billions more in indirect costs -- cost of oil for example. To me whether it is a tax or my gas bill going up, I end up on the bad side of the ledger. Now if it’s a tax, perhaps this tax might work to my benefit. Certainly the cost of energy has not worked to my benefit.

The fact that you know where McCain stands on issues is not by itself a great reason why to vote for him for president. Once again you failed to acknowledge that even the straight talk express has waffled on issues and change positions. By the way, I have no problem with politicians changing positions. I actually think that changing positions when the situations dictate shows true leadership.

Free trade -- Obama is for free trade, but he is against some of the clauses contained in NAFTA and other free trade agreements.

Reasons not to vote for McCain:

1. Voted for the War.

2. Believes the Vietnam War and Iraqi War were just wars, that is, he would do it all over again.

3. Age -- he is 72 years old! If he serves two terms he will be 80 years old! It's time to let the younger generation take the wheel and drive the boat.

4. Economy -- gas tax break? What was he thinking? Drill for more oil? Yeah, let's push today's problem off for another 10 years. Trickle down economics? Come on, how has this helped the average joe on the street? Yeah, they may be working but working harder and longer hours than ever, while at the same time American CEOs of fortune 500 companies are making 400 times that of their average employee -- highest level in the world by many factors (for example in Japan it is 18 times, Germans CEO make 16 times their average employee).

5. Republican -- they have for all practical purposes been in charge for the last 8 years! Were where they when the housing problem started -- I was talking about this 5 years ago.

6. Public servant for 26 years -- wow, and he just now understanding we need an energy policy?

7. Women’s rights -- has he ever voted in favor on a women’s issues -- family leave act, right to chose, birth control, etc.

8. Non-presidential -- poor jokes (bom, bom, bom Iran), afraid of technology, memory issues.

The list goes on. Will Obama make good on all his promises. Not a chance -- not even close. What Obama does for America is that he breaks up the current status quo, which has run its course. He's a muzzle to the neo-cons who in two GB terms managed to drive our status around the world into the ground. He’s new and different and we need that -- a breath of fresh air or if you like a break from the madness.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Coventry — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:13:55 GMT

Tired GOP platform aside, I could NEVER vote for someone so technologically illiterate. If he applied for an entry level job in my company, I'd laugh him out of the office. Tech literacy may be optional for an "average politician" of yesteryear, but in today's complex world, I'm not comfortable with his finger on the nuclear button. Sorry John, but if you need to have things spoon fed to you by others, check into a rest home.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

ASYRIA — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:16:35 GMT

I USE THE INTERNET ALL THE TIME,. FOR RECIPES, TALKING TO MY FRIENDS, ORDERING TICKETS AND ANSWERING ONLINE TO COMMENTS LIKE THIS.. BUT WHEN IT COMES TIME TO GET DOWN AND DIRTY AND LET SOMEONE KNOW WHERE I'M COMING FROM., TO SIT AND TYPE (WHETHER FAST OR SLOW) DOESN'T HAVE THE SAME IMPACT AS A VOICE OR FACE TO FACE CONFRONTATION. HAS. HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A PRESIDENT TYPING A TERSE RESPONSE EXCEPT IN A MOVIE. IF I HAD THE POWER TO START A WAR I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK PERSON TO PERSON TO THE OTHER WARMONGER AS WE MIGHT THROUGH ORAL COMMUNICATION BE ABLE TO SQUASH THE MESS BEFORE IT GOT OUT OF HAND. BUT IF I TRY TO HUNT AND PECK MY WAY TO A SOLUTION, MY LACK OF SPEED IN TYPING COULD LEAD TO A GRAVE MISUNDERSTANDING AND THE CONSEQUENCES COULD BE DISASTROUS.. GET A GRIP, INTERNET ILLITERACY MAY SEEM LIKE A BIG DEAL. BUT EVERY PICTURE I'VE SEEN OF THE OVAL OFFICE DDOESN'T SHOW THE SEAT OF POWER BEING POWERED BY THE INTERNET. ALSO REMEMBER WITH THE OVAL OFFICE BEING BUGGED, I'M SURE THEY HAVE SOME INTERNET-GEEK SQUAD, ALONG WITH THE SECRET RECORING DEVICES KEEPING TRACK OF EVERY UTTERANCE MADE BY THE PRESIDENT. (ASK NIXON) PLEASE STOP ACTING LIKE HE'S APPYING FOR A REGULAR JOB, WHERE TYPING SPEED, WORD, AND EXCEL ARE REQUIREMENTS FOR US TO EVEN SEEK A JOB. THIS IS THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, WHERE THERE IS NO LIMIT TO HOW HIGH YOU CAN GO WITHOUT BEING FULLY QUALIFIED FOR THE JOB.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sharenews — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:19:10 GMT

Asyria, you make a very good point. : - )

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

jjaffie — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:49:11 GMT

What happens if McCain is president & he tries to send something by the Pony Express because he is not even familiar with modern technology? McCain is stubborn & eveyone know it. He could potentially make bad decisions based on his very limited grasp of technology.

Maybe he could use 'a Google' to learn that Putin was never the President of Germany or that Czechoslovakia has not existed for 16 years.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

thrasher32 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:24:34 GMT

Loriw:

I was quoting someone who said "Stupider". I am aware that "Stupider" is not a word. Thanks for correcting me though, I always enjoy that.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Skibum609 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:57:31 GMT

Thrasher32 --- Just to let you know -- stupider -- absolutely is a word. Its an adjective. One may be stupid, but chances are someone else is stupider. Same as with dumb and dumber. Kind of funny that on a blog about using the internet no one saw fit to use GOOGLE - find an on-line DICTIONARY -- and learn that supider is a word. As far as McCain not being able to use google??? The liberals really must be grasping if they think its' a big deal. In my professional life I send out thousands of documents a year, yet I cannot type. I drive a car, yet I cannot fix it. I hire people to do things for me, even if I can do it myself. Obama never served so how does he qualify to be Comander in chief? He has no accounting degree so how can he sign spending bills? He has no medical degree so how can he make informed decisions on stem-cell research? Anyone ever notice that 90% of people who support Obama either get or want to get something from the Government? This fascination with technology is also totally misplaced. Information on the net? Its called Disinformation or Misinformation. On a last note lets bash McCain for being old. I mean there is a lot to hate about old America. There were a lot of terrible things such as being able to leave your house unlocked; knowing your neighbors; having a good job etc. Technology? It killed those jobs. Every single technological advance causes job losses. When your job goes to a foreign country understand its due to that technology you love so much.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Skibum609 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:57:33 GMT

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

thrasher32 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:14:58 GMT

Huh, I guess you're right, although clearly "more stupid" is preferable, in most cases, to "stupider". I was always taught not to use "stupider" because, well, it makes you sound stupid. Ah the irony.

As for the rest of your rant...I'm too confused to comment. But again, thanks for the correcting me, I do love that so much...

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

shawndead13 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:50:11 GMT

I'd rather have a President that does not use computers than a President that is distracted by using their blackberry every seven seconds, or checking on facebook. Computer literacy has nothing to do with leadership skills. Actually, most computer techies are the most inefficient workers in the U.S., constantly checking email, stock quotes, etc.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

shawndead13 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:50:15 GMT

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

metzlerd — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:29:34 GMT

Look, Mr. McCain's problem is not age. He's out of touch. Perhaps age has something to do with it, but I know plenty of people his age who know how to research and communicate online. Perhaps it's the fact that he has, (I'm sorry his wife has), $100+ million. He doesn't live like most of us. He gets free trips to the Bahamas given to him. He doesn't care about the price of gas. He gets Social Security, but lets face it, he doesn't need it.

And to whe wise cracker that says computer techies are the most inefficient workers in the U.S., I just want to say thanks. As a computer techy, I put in 60 hours last week to keep systems running so that people like you could type stuff like that into your blogs and emails. I don't get overtime, and yet I like my job, but I don't need somebody who doesn't know anything about it calling people like me inefficient. I don't have stocks, but I do check email as its a necessary part of my job, helping me to stay informed on what problems are occuring, what projects I need action, and helping others to do their jobs.

It makes me much more effective and efficient than I would be without it, and that is basically true for most people, which is why most people at most companies get email accounts. Companies do not implement email systems to make their workers Less efficient.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Driver of wagons — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:46:02 GMT

Is this what he is laughing about?

Senator McJackie the McJokeman, will prove to be even less serious and dignified in the role of Smirker-in-Chiefthen then what we have on the table right now. If that were even possible.

Last week, in response to a serious question about Iran, the Republican presumptive nominee joked about killing Iranians with weaponized cancer. This week, it's news about a joke involving gorillas and rape.

"Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, 'Where is that marvelous ape?"

In days past, it's been jokes about wife-beating, bombing Iran, Chelsea Clinton's looks, and Alzheimer's Disease. Based on these precedents, I can only imagine Senator McCain's forthcoming zingers about still-births, burn victims and Thalidomide.

Get a clue McCain Women don't like to be beaten and raped and also don't like to made jokes of on the subject

Wow Ho all of you people who are thinking about voting for "McCain't and isn't able to Govern"

So you want another Smirking Chimp for your next president?

Extend your non-funny PAIN with your vote for McCain

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

Karenn1 — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:04:23 GMT

sleepings pills and then wake up at 3.am to answer e-mail piece of cake.Press the button to get it on.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

sharenews — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:02:25 GMT

ABC NEWS

8 Min Video: Montage of Contradictory Statements by OBAMA on IRAQ

Subliminal Messaging, or Over-Active Imaginations?

July 18, 2008 5:54 PM

By Rick Klein

EXCERPT:

There is a longtime tradition in political advertising to look beyond the message to the subtext -- and even to the subliminal.

In that spirit, a veteran Democratic operative offers an interesting observation of the newly released anti-Obama Web video produced by the McCain campaign. The VIDEO is an EIGHT-MINUTE montage of sometimes CONTRADICTORY statements about the Iraq war made by Sen. Barack Obama.

SEE FULL ARTICLE: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/07/subliminal-mess.html

Warning: Make sure you are sitting down before you watch this video. . .you may become DIZZY.

SEE 8 MINUTE VIDEO: Being released right in time prior to Obamas trip overseas.

http://www.johnmccain.com/videolanding/documentary.htm

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

babelfisher14 — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:05:12 GMT

Remember what happened last time we elected an out of touch idiot who knew nothing about things like the "Internets"?

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

John_Toradze — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:42:50 GMT

The concern about Google is legitimate I think. It is because we had 7.5 years of a president where the public had serious problems piercing the bubble his handlers kept him in. Now, I don't think John McCain is kept in a bubble, but it is a concern. And since Google has been used for research now for 10 years, it's a sign. Google is so invaluable a resource for collecting information on almost any subject that I actually do think a president should know it and use it - including from the oval office.

A president should, once in a while, make a list of things he is being told by aides, sit down at a computer and see how well those things stack up against what he finds. Because, Mr. Romano, having been a CEO and analyst of asymmetric warfare information, I can tell you without a doubt that aides have their own agendas. Aides will fudge, falsify, and omit to spin things the way they want you to go. In the modern era, if a leader doesn't have the ability to do spot checks on what his aides tell him, he isn't going to perform as well as the guy who does check.

So if you talk to John, tell him, "Senator, you need to learn to use google and surf the net." Because he does. And if he can, it will be a way for him to show that he is at least a little flexible and capable of learning. See, Andrew, you're a young guy and you take learning and remembering things for granted. But guys in their 70's you can't take it for granted anymore. Lots of guys in their 50's start having memory problems, can't learn new things, etcetera. It's not imagination. Most of the guys I know really are pretty candid about their concerns. We all know that while some few really do stay sharp, like to learn, are engaged and fun into their 80's and 90's, most guys are losing their grip by 60 and know it darn well. I had four friends dead by the time I was 45 for gods sake. Heart disease, stroke, lung cancer. I know guys that were real smart, who by the time they were 50 had turned into couch potato bores.

Another thing you can tell John, since we now know for sure he won't ever read this blog, is that if he does engage in learning hard to learn things, that will help keep him sharp. Study comes hard to older people. But if you do it, the brain responds. If he'll review calculus, review statistics, throw himself word problems and solve them, it will sharpen him up. Studying for the Graduate Record Exam can be a real eye-opener to a guy, I'll tell you that. I did it when I was 50.

If john learns to use google, he will wonder how he ever got by without it.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

rapidron — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:45:17 GMT

It is just very telling that McCain is so computer illiterate; it has to do with his ability to act accurately and relevantly in today quickly on todats quickly changing times and issues, and also his mental acuity and attention to detail.

Additionally, I also fear that a president so reliant on 'handlers' for everything could easily be lead into incompetency (see Bush), or worse a lack of integrity due to the bias in which he is handled (also, see Bush). We want a leader, and although leaders delegate we do not want one that is quite so very dependent on others. They must at least be intelligent and capable on their own, this leader of the world. Let us not state that it's okay to be a goober at this job.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

MChieco — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:39:33 GMT

Lets say McCain was applying for a job to be an office manager. But he doesnt know how to use e mail. Would you hire him ? McCain is a nice guy that is onkly in the race becuase the rest of the republican field were psycho's. We already have had 8 years of a unqualified President. We dont need 4 more . Vote Obama. We dont need another etch a sketch President.

re: McCain Can't Use 'a Google.' So What?

quintue — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:51:28 GMT

What I find particularly disturbing, is that such a young columnist (judging by his mugshot) could possibly find any way to relate to or support someone like John McCain. I myself am Generation X (latchkey kids), and will be 40 in two years. I find that the Baby Boomers are (generally) the most overprivileged, spoiled, and selfish generation in American history. Now, Generation Y comes along and emulates the Baby Boomers since they can't think for themselves, having been coddled all their lives. It gives me great fear to think that I'm sandwiched between these two generations and their lack of vision.

I ask everyone under the age of 50 to read this article (link follows) and learn why we should look to the future and quit electing these old codgers who are stuck in the glories of wars past. Come on, people... we haven't won a single war since 1945, yet we parade around the globe like we're still some sort of superpower. Superpowers don't bankrupt themselves borrowing money from China over sand and camels in Iraq. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25888287/