McCain too old for Internet, e-mail?

mccain1.jpgAlthough 38 percent of Americans surveyed think “too old” describes John McCain somewhat or very well, there’s no indication that McCain, 71, isn’t physically up to being president. But voters might wonder whether McCain is too out of touch with modern technology. McCain admits he hasn’t mastered the Internet, and he doesn’t use e-mail. “I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail,” he said.

54 Comments

  1. JMWalker
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 6:04 am | Permalink

    Great, in the age of instant communication, we got a ludite running for prez. Figures.

  2. Posted July 28, 2008 at 6:19 am | Permalink

    That explains why McCain wants to invest a billion dollars into advancing research into banging rocks to make fire.

  3. Regular
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 6:32 am | Permalink

    On a positive note, McCain won’t have any email scandals if he doesn’t use it. :D

  4. Boxlock
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 7:34 am | Permalink

    Exactly Regular, and a President surrounded with folks to take care of that.
    Not wasting time on the Internet would make him much more productive and efficient.
    Look how much time is totally wasted right here.

  5. outlander
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 7:41 am | Permalink

    It’s what staffers are for. Although I suppose it’s OK to consider yourself superior because you spent the 10 minutes necessary to “master” the use of the internet.

  6. SHADOW_KNOWS
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 7:42 am | Permalink

    McCain/McSame the Bush/Duhmya’s wannabe a 3rd term may not make it to election day ,he’s so old! Not to mention he still has to go help Bush/Duhmya clear some brush off his Wac(k)o suburb of Crawford,Tx on those longest of any prez’s vacations to get in the practise of being the 3rd termer’s clone.

  7. writerdog
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 7:45 am | Permalink

    A wise man once told me: A students work for B students and B students work for C students.
    A student are very focused on one subject and are the best at that subject. B students are can focus on a couple of subjects and are best at those subjects. C students can focus on several subjects at the same time and are smart enough to hire the A and B students ending up owning the company.”.

    No one knows everything, what is important is that they are smart enough to know to hire people that know what they do not.

  8. lindainks55
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 8:00 am | Permalink

    I don’t think it should matter whether or not McCain uses the internet. I would expect someone applying for POTUS to understand this important part of today’s world. How would one fully understand without using it?

    Also seems inefficient not to use the information highway. Even if I had McCain’s (wife’s) millions I wouldn’t want others doing everything for me. Where else is he so behind the times? How many areas? How many are critical functions of the office he is applying to fill?

  9. rsmueller
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 8:22 am | Permalink

    If McCain does not use email, then why have I gotten three emails from John McCain in the past few weeks?

  10. Indie
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 8:29 am | Permalink

    Well —- Johhnny the Old was a poor student at the Academy — finished 5th from the bottom of his class —– more than likely he lacks the intelligence to grasp the simple mechanics — he was a below average pilot primarily because he was a fly by the seat of your pants flyer never really concerned about the mechanics of his airplane or flight —–

    In this case — McCain does not = Bush —- Bush did better at Yale —- how sad for both of them and of course our country

  11. Phantom
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 9:34 am | Permalink

    Bet if Mccain had’ve been vice president instead of Gore, the internet would still be used exclusively by the govt. and a few Universities.

  12. Posted July 28, 2008 at 9:41 am | Permalink

    “. McCain admits he hasn’t mastered the Internet, and he doesn’t use e-mail.”

    Well I don’t have a cell phone. But that is because I am poor.

    McCain aint poor. Well, his wife isn’t anyway.

    What is he retarded?

  13. Phantom
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 9:49 am | Permalink

    He’s a Leader for the Twentieth Century!

  14. lindainks55
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 9:51 am | Permalink

    And thanks to progressive work like Gores those entities have moved along to internet 2 and we have access to much of the world’s body of knowledge. You don’t get those kinds of achievements from people who aren’t progressive!

    I did hear he wants to make napping a national sport. Suppose he can work it into an Olympic event? Gotta go with what you’ve got!

  15. Phantom
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 9:54 am | Permalink

    Sure he’s not from the Yoder community?

  16. GMC70
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 10:35 am | Permalink

    “McCain admits he hasn’t mastered the Internet, and he doesn’t use e-mail.”

    So what? As has been noted above, that’s what staff are for.

    If I had a choice, frankly, neither would I. I am less than enamored with all this “wonderful” technology myself. What have we accomplished? We have the information of the ages at our findertips, and we use it to dial up porn and created our own 15 minutes of stupidity on YouTube. The cell phone, for many, has turned our private family time into unpaid on call work, where one is expected to take work calls at all hours. For those, the cell phone is not freedom at all, but a chain.

    Yea, the future’s just great. Where’s my flying car?

  17. Posted July 28, 2008 at 10:47 am | Permalink

    As many of you are aware, John McCain’s campaign is a total disaster – and it gets worse every day. He doesn’t know the difference between Sunni and Shia, he doesn’t “get” this economy thing everyone is on about, and he thinks Czechoslovakia still exists.

    While his opponent, Barack Obama, is drawing unprecedented crowds, McCain’s non-events would be completely unattended were it not for the Secret Service (who have to be there) and the few reporters who are assigned to cover him (usually as punishment for having pissed-off their boss).

    That’s why McCain is counting on you – the totally misinformed, the ignorant, and the just plain dumb – to keep his candidacy viable.

    In furtherance of that effort, please don’t smarten up before November. John McCain’s only chance of getting any votes is your continued stupidity; don’t let him down.

    If you believe that the high cost of gas is the fault of the Democrats, despite the fact that fuel prices rose while the Republicans were in control, please don’t start putting two and two together now.

    If you believe that Obama is a radical Muslim and a Christian with a too-radical pastor, please persist in ignoring the contradiction and continue to accept that both of these things are incontrovertible facts.

    Should you find yourself noticing that McCain doesn’t seem to know what he’s talking about, take a break from listening to him. A little time out can renew your faith in his ability to eventually figure things out.

    Please do not abandon reliable sources like FOX-News, no matter how shrill and desperate they sound in the months to come. If their fine journalists are saying things that are the complete opposite of what you know the facts to be, remember that they could be right and the facts could be totally wrong.

    Do not fall prey to the idea that change is needed in our government, or that the direction the Republicans have taken the nation in the past eight years has been wrong-minded – or even insane. Losing your job, your healthcare coverage, your savings and your home are not the worst things that can happen. The GOP has plunged the nation into unprecedented debt – you don’t hear them whining about it, do you? Put that flag pin in your lapel and soldier on.

    Please keep focused on the idea that the War in Iraq is going swimmingly. So far, we have lost a mere 4,000-plus US troops, and a only few million Iraqis are dead, maimed, orphaned and/or displaced. Do NOT allow common sense to dissuade you from believing that McCain’s idea of staying the course will ensure victory within the next hundred years or so.

    Above all, do NOT lose sight of the character of the candidates. Obama may be eloquent, well-informed, admired and respected by world leaders, a man of vision and perception, hopeful about implementing positive change, enthusiastic about our ability to put the country back on the right track, and willing to work tirelessly to undo the damage done by eight years of the Bush administration’s policies.

    If you find yourself thinking that these are the qualities we want and need in a president, McCain will probably lose. In fact, if you find yourself thinking at all, McCain has already lost – big time.

    So don’t start thinking. Don’t inform yourself. Don’t question anything. And for the love of God, don’t smarten up – because John McCain is depending on your stupidity. It may fall squarely in the slim-to-none category, but it’s the only chance he has.

  18. GMC70
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 11:00 am | Permalink

    Obama may be eloquent, well-informed, admired and respected by world leaders, a man of vision and perception, hopeful about implementing positive change, enthusiastic about our ability to put the country . . .

    Yadda, yadda, yadda. One term fits Obama like a glove besides “vision, perception, hope, change, enthusiasm . . . ”

    Empty suit.

    There’s no “there” there. No resume. No experience. Who’s propping him up (besides a compliant media?). More Tony Rezkos?

  19. Rage
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 11:00 am | Permalink

    It’s not necessary for McCain to “master” the Internet (whatever that means), but doing everything via the face-to-face, phone and snail mail is just not how intelligent leaders function in modern America.

    One might argue that political leaders, like Senators and Presidents, must be aloof from the tools of the common people, having servants (staffers) to keep them up to speed. Security concerns have also be cited.

    In fact, if McCain actually works with his staff (as opposed to them doing all the work for him), the ability to use the technology in the most mundane ways–a quick note, an attached document–seems pretty mandatory.

    But a future president has to at least understand the technology to some degree. No, the man doesn’t need to run out and employ the latest cool technology. He doesn’t need to, necessarily, to understand TCP/IP. And he certainly doesn’t need to use, say, Twitter (nor does anyone else, IMHO).

    But, as someone whose current position depends critically on information, McCain’s wilful ignorance of email (it’s not exactly hard to learn) and the Internet in this century is appalling: it’s like being ignorant of the telephone in the last one. It’s almost comical.

    It shows an apathetic blindness to the realities of the modern world.

  20. Posted July 28, 2008 at 11:10 am | Permalink

    “. McCain admits he hasn’t mastered the Internet”

    I’d like that more fully explored.

    And explained.

    What? He can’t work a mouse and keyboard?

  21. Posted July 28, 2008 at 11:15 am | Permalink

    Wasn’t bush like this too?

    Didn’t he talk about the “internets” and how he could click around and surf around?

    I am reminded by McCain here of bush’s daddy and the supermarket scanner.

  22. CelticKin
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 11:37 am | Permalink

    My mom was 70+ years old and had cancer and she used the internet. She used it to find information about her illness, to read the news, to stay in touch with friends and family, to find recipes.

    The man can’t do with technology what four-year-olds can do with technology. How in the world is he going to provide leadership to keep this country competitive in a global society?

    That John McCain is internet illiterate is just ridiculous. Not to take this as an indication of how out of touch with our times he is, how unwilling he is to change, and how unprepared he is to move this nation forward is equally ridiculous.

  23. Grateful_Dave
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 11:39 am | Permalink

    McCain too old to use the Internet? Hell, he’s too old to distinquish between his arse and a hole in the ground.

  24. Phantom
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 1:14 pm | Permalink

    My 92 yr. old dad doesn’t like those ‘new fangled gadgets’ either. Bet McCain is still working on mastering the vcr!

  25. Phantom
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 2:01 pm | Permalink

    Bet he doesn’t even own a computer, or if he does, how to operate it. When you marry a millionaire heiress such things are trivial, and not a big part of your life.

  26. WichiWomn
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 2:07 pm | Permalink

    Actually I’m a low tech chick myself. I don’t have a personal cell phone – don’t want one. I don’t have a home computer since I gave it to my niece a few years ago. Naturally, running my vcr and dvd player mystify me as does my digital tuner. I prefer my old ‘dial’ tuner. I just figure if there’s something I want to watch on tv I’ll do it when it’s on. I know most of you will scoff but it works for me. I am internet savvy, started early on the home pc. I had to ask earlier today why one would want a wifi finder though.

  27. WSClark
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 2:57 pm | Permalink

    “The cell phone, for many, has turned our private family time into unpaid on call work, where one is expected to take work calls at all hours”

    Cell phones have an on/off button – press the “red phone icon” until the thing goes off.

    No more calls.

  28. Regular
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 3:07 pm | Permalink

    I wonder if Osama Obama googled the “57 states” he has visited?

  29. Posted July 28, 2008 at 3:12 pm | Permalink

    “and he doesn’t use e-mail.”

    You know what this means.

    Think about it.

    This means that John McCain doesn’t have any friends.

  30. Political_mama
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 3:29 pm | Permalink

    Why should he bother to learn to use the internet…he’s rich enough to pay someone to use it for him.

  31. Posted July 28, 2008 at 3:39 pm | Permalink

    McSame’s computer illiteracy is purposeful. He doesn’t want to know, he doesn’t want to learn. He’s like George HW Bush goin’ ga-ga over a supermarket scanner.

    This speaks to just how old John Sidney McCain the Third (for Shrub’s 3rd term) really is.

    Computers are not new technology.

    Okay, you had to be pretty geeky to get a TRS-80 in the 70s. And when I got my first computer (a KayPro II) in 1982, I was considered to be in the vanguard of personal computing.

    But McC*unt wasn’t all that old in the 1980s, and there are plenty of contributors to this forum who became computer literate in the 1990s.

    Nobody expects a 72-year-old to suddenly start to learn how to operate these “crazy electronic typing machines.” But he’s had the opportunity for nearly 30 years to learn something and simply chose not to.

    John (”I know how to win wars!”*) McCain lives in the past.

    * (Really? What war have you ever won?)

    Iraq is his chance to not lose Vietnam again. Maybe. His presumed nomination is his chance to not lose the contest with Shrub in 2000. Is (admittedly minimal) grasp of economics is pure 1980s Reaganomics, the philosophy that got us into the fiscal mess we’re in.

    Anyone who proudly struts and brags in the year 2008 that he knows nothing about computers is like the the 1930s dowager who boasts she’d never learned to drive a car.

    McBush is probably nostalgic for rotary phones and TVs with rabbit ears.

    The guy’s a coot.

    He’s Abraham Simpson’s older, more senile brother.**

    The only thing you can expect if you vote for John Sidney McCain the Third (for Shrub’s 3rd term) that’s possibly different from George WMD Bush’s Reign of Error is, perhaps, McC*nt might dedicate more attention to keep kids from playing on the White House lawn.

    ** Are those his real teeth? I thought I heard some denture rattle on C-SPAN this morning.

  32. ANTI
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 3:52 pm | Permalink

    Oh yeah MonkeyC*unt,
    Obama has ears like an elephant!

  33. ANTI
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 3:53 pm | Permalink

    and I hear he is a stutterer.

  34. fleettwood
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 3:57 pm | Permalink

    “But voters might wonder whether McCain is too out of touch with modern technology.”

    I’m just happy the eagle is finally getting back to the real issues that are before us in these troubling times.

  35. Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:00 pm | Permalink

    “ANTI” –

    To argue the case at your level, I’ll have do go lower.

    Uhm…

    “John Sidney McCain the Third (for Shrub’s 3rd term) has the jowls of a musk ox.”

  36. ANTI
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:03 pm | Permalink

    Obama was overheard calling his wife a dirty n*gger lover by a reliable source.

  37. ANTI
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:04 pm | Permalink

    I offer no proof of course, but I think you get my point.

  38. Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:09 pm | Permalink

    No, that wasn’t Barack. That was you calling Michelle a… well, it’s your word.

    John Sidney McCain the Third (for Shrub’s 3rd term) was boinking Cindy, the Arizona Beer Queen, when he was still married to Carol… and Cindy was 17 years old.

    (Luckily, it was in Arizona, where they’ve adjusted the laws on Age of Consent to accommodate the lifespans of sheep.)

  39. ANTI
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:12 pm | Permalink

    John Sidney McCain the Third (for Shrub’s 3rd term) was boinking Cindy, the Arizona Beer Queen, when he was still married to Carol… and Cindy was 17 years old.
    —–
    I take it you were there? Or did you get that second hand?

  40. Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:14 pm | Permalink

    For all you know, “ANTI” –

    I was running the camera.

  41. fleettwood
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:16 pm | Permalink

    “…was boinking Cindy, the Arizona Beer Queen, when he was still married to Carol… and Cindy was 17 years old.”

    At least he has something in common with the Greatest Democrat President in our Lifetime.

  42. ANTI
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:17 pm | Permalink

    Well, post the vid if it’s true….but I’ll bet it is a rumor like the “C*unt” story. Just B.S., let me know if I need to get my rubber boots.

  43. Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:25 pm | Permalink

    “ANTI” promotes internet pornography –

    “…post the vid if it’s true…”

    You’re trying to get me to post child pornography? (I bet that makes you hot.)

    Sorry. I don’t keep that kind of material. You’ll have to check with your regular sources.

  44. ANTI
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:33 pm | Permalink

    “You’re trying to get me to post child pornography? (I bet that makes you hot.)”
    —-
    You filmed it. I bet that makes you hot.
    —–
    “You’ll have to check with your regular sources.”
    —-
    The source would be you MH.

  45. AndreaA
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:37 pm | Permalink

    McCain’s a joke. How do I post this comment? Do I uhhh double click in the box? So confused by this technology.

  46. AndreaA
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 4:38 pm | Permalink

    McCain’s a joke. How do I post this comment? Do I uhhh double click in the box? So confused by this technology.

  47. outlander
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 5:53 pm | Permalink

    “John Sidney McCain the Third (for Shrub’s 3rd term) was boinking Cindy, the Arizona Beer Queen, when he was still married to Carol… and Cindy was 17 years old.”

    ————————-

    I wonder why MonkeyHawk would lie about how old Cindy McCain was when she met John McCain? He said she was 17 when she was actually 23.

    MonkeyHawk is one of those liberal liars who believes that the the ends justify any and all means. If he posts something, don’t believe it without checking it out.

  48. outlander
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 5:55 pm | Permalink

    BTW McCain’s son has been serving in Iraq and still may be there.

  49. Pedant
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 8:24 pm | Permalink

    outlander
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 7:41 am | Permalink
    It’s what staffers are for. Although I suppose it’s OK to consider yourself superior because you spent the 10 minutes necessary to “master” the use of the internet.

    :lol:

    2 points.

    One, the idea of “that’s what staffers are for” is laughably old-fashioned. I don’t know whether you’ve been paying attention or not, but “staffers” — where staffers = secretaries — are dinosaurs. Do you have a secretary, er staffer?

    Two, McCain’s problem ain’t time. He’s confused by the whole concept, THAT’s the problem.

    The reason this is significant is that being clueless about the internets in 2008 is the same as throwing up a big old white flag of intellectual surrender in the face of what you yourself can be learned in a measly 10 minutes. And, if push comes to shove, this is an easy and obvious way for Obama’s campaign to portray McCain as Bush’s 3rd term.

    After all, we’re all still paying the price for twice electing a president who’s intellectually incurious. And hell McCain admits he can’t even “start the internet” on his own PC. Why in the world does McCain deserve another 4 years to show us the full retail price of Bush’s intellectual laziness?

  50. Posted July 28, 2008 at 8:51 pm | Permalink

    “BTW McCain’s son has been serving in Iraq and still may be there.”

    Sometimes this is sufficient in addressing a post…

    So what?

    This has been one of those times.

  51. WSClark
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 9:11 pm | Permalink

    “At least he has something in common with the Greatest Democrat President in our Lifetime.”

    The Monicor was twenty-one.

  52. outlander
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 9:11 pm | Permalink

    One, the idea of “that’s what staffers are for” is laughably old-fashioned. I don’t know whether you’ve been paying attention or not, but “staffers” — where staffers = secretaries — are dinosaurs. Do you have a secretary, er staffer?
    —————–

    Sigh… Pedant, I think I’ll just let your rather obvious ignorance speak for itself on that point.

    Now, with regard to McCain being intellectually incurious. Possibly. Do I wish he was a tech savvy? Sure. As I have pointed out, he is not my first choice, or my second choice, or my third. Well, maybe my third. But we are stuck with the choices we have. And compared to the empty suit that is Obama, well there is really no choice in my mind.

  53. Phantom
    Posted July 28, 2008 at 11:24 pm | Permalink

    He’s like Novak, too old to even drive.
    Novak issued citation after hitting pedestrian
    Columnist said he didn’t realize what happened until cyclist stopped him

    Alex Wong / Getty Images file Columnist Robert Novak speaks to reporters after he testified for the I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby trial Feb. 12, 2007 in Washington, D.C.
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    updated 2:50 p.m. CT, Wed., July. 23, 2008
    WASHINGTON – Syndicated columnist Robert Novak said he has been issued a $50 citation after hitting a pedestrian while driving in downtown Washington.

    Witnesses said the collision occurred about 10 a.m. Wednesday as the 77-year-old Novak was traveling near K Street in his black Chevrolet Corvette.

    D.C. fire department spokesman Alan Etter said the victim was taken to George Washington University hospital with minor injuries.

    Story continues below ?
    ——————————————————————————–
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    ——————————————————————————–

    Novak told WJLA-TV he was cited for failing to yield the right of way. He said he didn’t realize what happened and continued driving until a bicyclist stopped him.

    David Bono, the bicyclist who witnessed the incident, told The Associated Press that the pedestrian was hit in a crosswalk and was splayed across Novak’s windshield.

  54. Posted August 2, 2008 at 8:28 pm | Permalink

    This thread is pretty sublime!!