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Boon Mee

John McCain at least has a sense of humor..



Laughing, I suspect, at BO going down in November...heh...

McCain's humor often backfires - Ben Smith - Politico.com

sabang

Now that is one ridiculous statement- the Bush admin has done an about turn on two of it's basic tenets of ME policy within the last fortnight...

"WASHINGTON — John McCain and his aides jousted Monday with Barack Obama's campaign over Obama's contention that the White House is adopting his ideas on dealings with Iraq and Iran.

Over the weekend the Obama campaign pointed to the Bush administration's talk about a "general time horizon" to withdraw U.S. troops in Iraq and its dispatching of a high-level State Department official to Geneva to meet with Iranian diplomats last weekend about that country's nuclear program.

Obama has said he would be willing to meet with Iran's leader and has been calling for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq since 2006, prior to the surge."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politic...1-mccain_N.htm

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Travelmate

Current U.S. Senator from Arizona and running as a Republican for President of the United States. He is a war hero and was a prisoner of war during Vietnam. However, being a war hero does not qualify anyone to be President of the U.S. He is a traitor to the Republican party and masquerades himself as a Conservative by stabbing his party in the back and voting with liberal Democrats on critical Congressional Bills. He has cosponsored many Congressional Bills with very liberal Russ Feingold of Wisconsin (McCain-Feingold) and Edward Kennedy of Massachusettes (McCain-Kennedy). He has numerous times voted against tax cuts and limited Congressional spending. This man will do anything and say anything by relying on voter ignorance to become President of the United States. He can easily criticize his opponents but can't take the criticisim towards himself. He has attacked his Repeblican opponents and calling himself the "most consistent Reagan Conservative." What a joke and a clown. To prove he isn't a Conservative, he was endorced by the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Go figure. Unfortunately his tactics coupled with voter ignorance will probably result in the Republican nomination for President.

Norton

..... A predictable GWB term if I've ever heard one. An absolutely meaningless phrase. Exactly what is a "time horizon", much less a "general time horizon"? Is it measured in days, weeks, months, years or barrels of BS.

sabang

Well, I just don't think theres any way to break this gently to McCain supporters. The guys a Dufus-

The crusty ol' Repub says he has no clue how to use a computer. Isn't that cute?

Dear McCain presidential campaign:



You know what's funny and cute and just a little bit sad? Wacky old pre-industrial war-hungry guys admitting they don't know a computer from a microwave oven, a hyperlink from a heart med, can't turn on one of those newfangled PC things if his life depended on it and/or he wanted to see what his weird tattooed bi-curious grandson is posting on his MySpace home docking station whateveryoucallit. Adorable!

Cuter still is when said wisecrackin' curmudgeon admits he depends on the wife to show him how it all works, to log on and open a browser and check e-mail and describe what it all might mean out there in Interweb Cybertown, as you get the distinct feeling the old guy has no idea what makes it go and believes all this crazy gizmongery is for troublemakin' whippersnappers anyway, as he pines for the days of teletype machines and prop aeroplanes. Charming!

Or, you know, maybe not. Because you know what's depressing and just a bit beyond sad? A serious presidential candidate — that is to say, yours — who thinks it's harmless that he's actually one of those guys, who admits and, by extension, most every aspect of modern multimedia and technology, except perhaps the exact specs of the nuke required to annihilate Iran and/or take out a big pile of "gooks."
See, word has gotten out. Your boy John McCain says has no clue how to work a computer. He's an admitted tech illiterate, couldn't Google his way out of a DailyKos to save his Yahoo.

But here's the disturbing part: This confession of ignorance apparently bothers him and his campaign not at all, as they apparently believe any sort of tech know-how isn't really required to run our deeply busted-up ship of state, that you need no real firsthand experience with the most definitive technology of the past 100 years to make decisions that affect the entire planet. Go figure.

So then, the valid question: Is it a big deal? Should you care? Because McCain's I'm-just-a-clueless-old-guy comment has caused a bit a stir, with anyone with a functioning DSL line calling it a bit of an embarrassment, a bit like running for captain of the swim team while admitting all you know how to do is splash around in the bathtub. Gosh, Senator, don't you think you need just a passing understanding of the culture in which you live to qualify you to oversee the damnable place? Doesn't it help?

Maybe not. Maybe McCain's apologists are right, the POTUS really doesn't need to have a working knowledge of what hundreds of millions of people use every day to live, work, communicate, shop and blog and breed and porn and tube and book. Hell, just look at President Bush — still giggles every time Laura plugs in the air popcorn popper, has an Irish drinking song as a ringtone, enjoys a working grasp of the English language that borders on infantile. Really, who says a president has to be even modestly versed in the culture of his or her day? Or even passably competent?
But then, that's not really the point, is it? The point, of course, is about social interconnection. It's about understanding the basic workings of one of the most powerful, fundamental engines of modern society, its staggering impact and consequence and reach. To not use or comprehend computers and the Net in 2008 is to basically confess to your own cultural irrelevance.


Look here, Senator, this is a link. You click it to take you somewhere else on the Web. Here's an example: When we click this link we see this page of — oh I'm sorry, this appears to be a big list of your most significant and appalling flip-flops, major issues you've reversed yourself on over weeks, months, years. Goodness, .

Well, let's scroll around a bit — scrolling is how you move up and down a large page to take it all in. As we move down here ... oh look, here's information about your famed McCain-Feingold bill on campaign finance reform. Except, oh dear, it appears you're no longer connected to the most high-profile legislation of your career. Heck, now that you're running for prez and need all the cash you can muster, who wants finance reform? I understand. What a maverick you are. Well, let's move on.

Here are nice video clips of you decrying the ugly forces of the religious right, and then later kissing Falwell's fat, nauseating ring. And here's you trashing Bush's useless tax cuts for the wealthy, then completely flopping over and supporting them. And whoops, gay marriage might be OK, then it's definitely not. Torture is absolutely wrong, then it's not. You say you're rather clueless about the economy and will need some lessons in basic finance, then here's you denying outright that you ever said that. Isn't technology amazing, Senator?
Wow, there sure is a lot of information about your bizarre inconsistency on just about every issue of note. Immigration, energy, health care reform, offshore drilling, Social Security, Roe v. Wade, and, oh my goodness, the Iraq war? You really are all over the place. One thing's for certain, though: your position on war and violence and America as ruthless pre-emptive aggressor, well, let's just say you can sometimes make Dick Cheney look like a peacenik. Scary.

John McCain, please log on / The crusty ol' Repub says he has no clue how to use a computer. Isn't that cute?

Nice political satire, but the underlying message is- Scary.

I'm curious to know what McCain supporters think of the fact he cannot log in to his own Email.

Texpat

Theodore Roosevelt, FDR and Ronald Reagan never booted a PC either.

In the years leading up to and during their presidency, they likely never bought a gallon of milk or waited for an oil change, either. They didn't have keys to their own house and didn't drive. The last time they touched a lawn mower was, well probably never.

I know a few 70+ geezers who want nothing to do with computers. Does that make them all backward and stupid? Don't think so.

Do you suppose BO could do his own taxes or (gasp) fly Navy jets? McCain is 30 years older than Obama -- generational differences are inevitable.

sabang

Thats perfectly understandable- PC's weren't invented yet. Genghis Khan never drove a Ferrarri, either.

It is not important then that a Presidential candidate can not even Log in to his own Email tex?

To me, it is astonishing that a senior Politician can be so hopelessly out of touch with the modern world. What else is he clueless about?

Texpat

Nope. Not a necessary part of the skill set I personally want in my president.

Good hair isn't either.

Norton

Not a McCain supporter but will respond anyway. I for one would not put much emphasis on a President's ability to use a PC or surf the internet. I'm sure the need will not arise to use the internet to make "informed" decisions. McCain may be somewhat an anachronism regarding the internet but for me it's his inability to comprehend the world has changed and requires a different way of approaching US foriegn policy.

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Texpat

Fair comment. He's old. Maybe too old. But like you said, a president isn't going to be an Internet geek -- even if he wanted to be.

Could you imagine the President of the US sitting down to open his e-mail every morning?

You have 30,426 new e-mails.

sabang

Heres my take on it. I don't place much emphasis on a bloke in his senior position being computer savvy, as such. But how can you be so ignorant as to not even be able to check your own Email? Thats as easy as falling off a Log- we are talking total computer illiteracy. What sort of total lack of intellectual curiosity, or unwillingness to learn does that reveal?

I indeed think that this is significant, as is the fact that his campaign seems to apparently think it is not important.

chinthee

I don't think the fact that he can't operate a computer is damning by itself as a reason he couldn't do the job, but rather, is deeply embarrassing if nothing else.

Remember a President is a wordsmith, even if those words are written by others. Having to rely on hand-written edits of speeches seems beyond old fashioned. In the same way that I suppose he learned to use a typewriter in his day (maybe he didn't?), it's just plain inexcusable not to be able to operate simple technology at hand relevant to his profession to be able to collaborate and share with his speechwriters at least.

FFS, even Blackgang's 95 year old mother is writing him emails. Pathetic.

Texpat

McCain is a senior senator -- 1987. He probably hasn't personally written a letter in years. Presidents don't write e-mails either.

They live in a different world than we do. They have staff that do everything. Anything they write can be subpoenaed. That's why they jot notes in the margins of hardcopies and shuffle it off for the staff to correct.

Can you imagine a senior senator or a president shuffling through thousands of e-mails to reply to his college buddie's invite to a BBQ? Never happen. I've worked with LL many times. The number of people lining up for facetime with these people is endless. To suggest they might be frittering away at the computer sending e-mails is hysterical.

chinthee

Tex, I don't ever suggest a President spend his day on emails, and am fully aware how catered-to senior executives of any profession are, and especially US Senators with big staffs. However, find me a Chief Executive in any field who can't tap out a letter, email or browse the internet and I'll show you somebody out of touch, and not just out of touch today, but out of touch decades ago, because that's when he should have at least adopted a modicum of knowledge of the medium.

sabang

^ Yep, wot 'e said.

I don't want to make this a personal attack on McCain- I happen to quite like the old bloke. But CEO material he is not.

Texpat

Given that his vice president invented the Internet, you think Slick Willy would have been more atuned.

It's not because they can't. It's because they don't want to and are advised not to.

CNN
Jan 28, 2004

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) -- The archives of the Bill Clinton presidential library will contain 39,999,998 e-mails by the former president's staff and two by the man himself.

"The only two he sent," Skip Rutherford, president of the Clinton Presidential Foundation, which is raising money for the library, said on Monday.

One of them may not actually qualify for electronic communication because it was a test to see if the commander in chief knew how to push the button on an e-mail.
Former Ohio Sen. John Glenn has the distinction of being the first American to orbit the Earth and the only person to receive an e-mail written by Clinton when he was in office.

The e-mail was sent with the help of Clinton staffers to the space shuttle while it was in orbit and Glenn was a part of the crew. It praised Glenn for his return to space after almost 40 years.

Rutherford said Clinton, who relished the chance to speak to voters, did not make time to send e-mails, even though Internet usage exploded during his presidency.

"He's not a techno-klutz. I don't think President [George W.] Bush sends e-mails, either," Rutherford said of Clinton.

"Most of the decisions in the Oval Office are made through decision memos," Rutherford said.

The 40 million e-mails of the Clinton administration are almost exclusively comprised of memos, notes and correspondence among his aides and cabinet members
Then as now, Rutherford added, Clinton was more apt to write personal notes or telephone than communicate through e-mail.

CNN.com - Clinton's gift to Internet age: only 2 e-mails - Jan. 28, 2004

chinthee

This is getting tiring. We're not discussing the actual merits or advisability of using email (an insecure communication medium) as President. We're discussing knowing how to and taking the time and interest to learn how to use basic modern technology. How can you be relevant in discussing technology issues if you haven't at least played around with and are facile with basic computing?

From all indications, McCain can't do any of it. Yes, we all know Bush and others do not use email. I don't know if Bush can point and click or print out a word document or not. If not, shame on him.

Norton

According to George, he uses "the google".

chinthee