Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<There are still ways to be literate with computers for people who are disabled. I think any President should know that. You can't have it both ways...either being tortured doesn't affect his health today and it's absurd to question it, or it does affect him, even in the smallest of ways.>> He has very limited range of motion and I'm sure it probably does impact him in many ways. Yes, there are ways for disabled people to use the computer. On the other hand, McCain certainly isn't the only person out there choosing not to use one. At least we don't need to worry about him looking at Internet porn. ;-)
Originally Posted By mele Whew...a relief to all of us. LOL Now, if he keeps his eyes off of chunky interns, we'll all be better off. ;-)
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Gee, why didnt we tell FDR to just get over his disability also - unreal.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 The main difference between the ads in question is that, um, one is true and one isn't. If that still matters to people. The Obama ad may indeed have been an attempt to bring up age - I'll even give you that. But it was factual. McCain DOESN'T use computers or email. Why that is (as someone pointed out in another thread, Stephen Hawking can use a computer and he's a lot more disabled than McCain) and what that means are separate questions, but the fact that he doesn't use them is a fact. Compare that to the McCain ad saying that Obama wanted to teach kindergartners all about sex before teaching them to read. That's just false. And, of course, malicious. Whatever the intent behind the two ads, they are not the same. One was true, one was false.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Stephen Hawking can use a computer and he's a lot more disabled than McCain)>> I would have to assume that a physicist has far greater need of a computer than a politician.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney I havent seen EITHER adds, so I can't comment much, all I will say is if they dont distort the truth, there shouldnt be any problems. Not to say they should be done or even affective, but if they are speaking to a direct truth, then its only questionable on how far it should go. But if either one is distorting the truth, inaccurate or just plain misleading, then that's something else. Again, I cant really comment, but if Obama's add is pointing McCain doesnt use a computer, and he doesnt, then there's nothing wrong with it. Poor taste, maybe as Biden said, but its the truth!
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan A politician that wants to remain relevant today would find a way. My wife's grandfather, at age 90, decided that computers were an essential way to follow one's investments. So, he did.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Yeah, it seems like when you are in that world of recieving/giving information to a public like politicians, journalists, administrators, publicists, etc knowing how to use a computer would be essential especially these days. I read somewhere (I think this site lol) that Larry King also doesnt ever do email. That just seem soooo odd to me for some reason for a guy in his position and power. He doesnt email ANYONE??? I guess with CNN resources, he can just call or hire a bunch of assistants to do everything for him. But yeah, its NOT to knock McCain on this, but it does look 'out of touch' as Mr. X stated. Presidents arent Gods, I dont expect them to know or even care about every sector of society be in social, financial, technological, environmental and etc, but it seems as President, you should be able to be a little knowledgeable in all of these arena's and I think knowing how to use a COMPUTER is not asking a lot since we are asking the same man to have intricate knowledge of military hardware as well. But it shouldnt be a reason not to vote for him.....there are plenty others in that case .
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <<Stephen Hawking can use a computer and he's a lot more disabled than McCain)>> <I would have to assume that a physicist has far greater need of a computer than a politician.> The point is, if you want to use one, there are workarounds even for severe disabilities.
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Originally Posted By DAR Well when McCain is President he can just order one of his minions to be his official computer monkey. <<That handicapped argument is total BS.>> Just for clarity, handicapped argument overall or handicapped argument for not using a computer?
Originally Posted By Mr X The McCain supporters using "handicapped" as the argument as to why he can't use a computer. McCain himself made no such assertion. Quite the opposite. He seemed quite proud of not understanding "those newfangled contraptions".
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <McCain said he was illiterate. He joked about it. He practically bragged about it. "Har har, I can't use a computer." "Har har, what's the difference between a mac and a pc?" "har har, I'm so funny!" < I am going to go out on a limb here and say if he can learn to fly a jet fighter - he can likely learn how to use a computer if he had an immediate need...
Originally Posted By Mr X Also, I'm not arguing whether it's true or not. It probably is. It's just a smokescreen argument, a way to invoke false outrage.
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>McCain himself said he was computer "illiterate".<< Not really. He made a self deprecating joke when asked whether he prefers PCs or Macs. He said, "Neither. I am [an] illiterate, that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance that I can get." Hyperbole being lost on today's electorate, I think it is fairly safe to say that McCain didn't mean to say he was actually illiterate (ie: unable to read and write), but didn't want to go into the actual reasons he relies on his wife. Further, consider this from the LA Times Op-Ed page: >>...the ad is dishonest. McCain has been one of the Senate's leading authorities on telecom and the Internet. In 2000, Forbes magazine called him the "Senate's savviest technologist." That same year, Slate's Jacob Weisberg gushed that McCain was the most "cybersavvy" of all the presidential candidates that year, a crop that included none other than Al Gore. Being chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Weisberg explained, "forced him to learn about the Internet early on, and young Web entrepreneurs such as Jerry Yang and Jeff Bezos fascinate him." Weisberg, an Obama booster, now disingenuously mocks McCain as "flummoxed by that newfangled doodad, the personal computer." One reason McCain is not versed in the mechanical details of sending e-mail and typing on a keyboard is that the North Vietnamese broke his fingers and shattered both of his arms. As Forbes, Slate and the Boston Globe reported in 2000, McCain's injuries make using a keyboard painfully laborious. He mostly relies on his wife and staff to show him e-mails and websites, though he says he's getting up to speed. "It's extraordinary," Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said, "that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail." For the record, President Clinton sent exactly two e-mails while in office, according to the archives in his presidential library.<< <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-oe-goldberg16-2008sep16,0,619873.column" target="_blank">http://www.latimes.com/news/co...3.column</a> But hey, dragging stuff out of context is coin of the realm in partisan politics. So McCain will, forever, be "computer illiterate," even though there's no truth to the assertion.
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Originally Posted By DlandDug >>Right, no truth at all except for McCain's statement that he is, in fact, computer illiterate.<< Again, that's not what he said. His use of hyperbole is pretty evident, unless one is predisposed to believe otherwise. >>You want to write a script into his statement, but the fact is he said exactly that.<< Look at the clip here: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/11/mccain-admits-he-doesnt-k_n_106478.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...478.html</a> Now, explain again "exactly" where he said he is computer illiterate. Without "writing a script" into his statement.
Originally Posted By Mr X He said illiterate when answering a question about PC's and Macs. Either that is meant to convey "computer illiteracy" (makes perfect sense), or else he really isn't able to read and write (makes no sense). All the debate games in the world won't change the statement, Dug.
