Imploding Obama Campaign
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| Sat, 09-13-2008 - 10:47am |
The arrogance is astounding! This will defintely backfire on him.
Friday, September 12, 2008

Wondering No More
Yep. The day after 9/11, as part of its "get tough" makeover, the Obama campaign is mocking John McCain for not using a computer, without caring why he doesn't use a computer. From the AP story about the computer illiterate ad:
"Our economy wouldn't survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats," Pfeiffer said. "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail."
Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by "extraordinary." The reason he doesn't send email is that he can't use a keyboard because of the relentless beatings he received from the Viet Cong in service to our country. From the Boston Globe (March 4, 2000):
McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain's encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He's an avid fan - Ted Williams is his hero - but he can't raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.
In a similar vein I guess it's an outrage that the blind governor of New York David Paterson doesn't know how to drive a car. After all, transportation issues are pretty important. How dare he serve as governor while being ignorant of what it's like to navigate New York's highways.
Update: Well, now the story is up on Drudge (You heard it here first!). Re: Mark's point about how the supposedly web-savvy Obama campaign can't handle Google, here's another story confirming he has difficulty using a keyboard. Ironically, it's from one of the most pro-Obama journalists out there, Jacob Weisberg, in an article in Slate in 2000:
"Six months ago, no one would have pegged McCain as the most cybersavvy of this year's crop of candidates. At 63, he is the oldest of the bunch and because of his war injuries, he is limited in his ability to wield a keyboard."
Now, in response to some angry criticism already coming in: Feh.
Some say, So what if he was handicapped? He could still learn how to send email.
Sure, but why would he? Bill Clinton sent two emails during his entire presidency and often admitted he didn't know squat about the internet.
One reader says "Steven Hawking knows how to use a computer!" Yes, because if he didn't he couldn't do his job or communicate. McCain, like Clinton, didn't have that problem. Here's a more sane version of t he same complaint:
You are ridiculous about this. While of course McCain probably can't type for long periods or in the manner in which many of us do, there are a tremendous amount of people that peck with just their index fingers. He also can surely use a mouse. How much typing do you really have to do to send emails and use the internet. Plus, when he was asked point blank about it he never said he couldn't type. I am sure he can't use a blackberry, but there are tons of people with far worse injuries than McCain that use a computer.
That's absolutely true, I'm sure. But they need to use computers to get through life. McCain doesn't. And the fact that he's not blaming his disability hardly sounds like a serious indictment. If he did blame his disability, many of the same folks yelling at me would be complaining that McCain's whining.
Now, I'd hardly be surprised if McCain could type for short stretches and all that. The point is, that it's perfectly understandable why he wouldn't get in the habit of it.
Oh one last point for now: Lord knows I think the chicken-hawk arguments are stupid. And I don't think the fact that Obama never served in the military should count against him in and of itself. But how stupid is it for the Obama campaign to claim that McCain is unqualified to be president because he can't grasp cyber-security issues based on the fact he has never sent an email when the McCain campaign can just as easily say Obama can't understand first order national security issues because he's never fired a rife, flown a plane, commanded men in battle, or faced an enemy? I mean which prepares someone to be commander in chief better, hitting "send" on AOL or fighting a war?
Update II: On the other hand: I don't know what to make of this interview with the New York Times. He sounds awfully web savvy in it, which makes the Obama ad sound unfair. And if you read it closely, it sounds like he knows how to surf with a mouse, but doesn't do much by way of typing.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTliMTNiZjg5ZDEwZWNiZDYwZWFjN2JlNjNjNjkxZmM=

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Edited 9/13/2008 4:10 pm ET by squeeks2001
Let me also point something else out, while I'm thinking of it. I say this not to toot my own horn, but because it seems to have become an article of faith with some here - read the examples right on this very board, currently - that I like to "obfuscate" or tell only a portion of the story, or what have you.
The original "sliming palin" story by factcheck.org contained a thorough debunking of many of the Internet rumors and smears which had indeed been promulgated and pushed by various anonymous folks in the blogosphere. By now, we all know what they are: that Palin had a list of books she wanted banned, that she cut funding for special needs kids, that she was a member of the AIP party, etc.
Have you noticed that I neither started, nor participated in, any threads which linked to, supported or argued for any of these things? Ever wonder why that is? Let me tell you: because I DO take the time to read more than just what some idiot posts on a blog somewhere. I check things out before I make decisions about their accuracy, honesty or overall basis in fact. It isn't just a coincidence that you can't find one single post from me arguing that Palin had a list of banned books, or that she cut funding for special needs kids, or that she was a member of AIP. It's because I figured out pretty quickly after I heard these things - and yes, I heard them before they were debunked here - that they were either false or wildly exaggerated. And most of them are pretty irrelevant attacks of the kind I wish there were fewer of in Presidential campaigns, since they distract from a substantive debate between us - and the candidates - upon the issues which truly concern America and Americans.
The one thing in that factcheck article which I dispute - again, based upon my own reading of the source material - is that Palin never was in favor of teaching creationism in Alaska public schools. She actually SAYS she's in favor of it. That she never DID it, as Governor, only means she hasn't done it...it doesn't mean she isn't in favor of it. I've read her after-the-fact "clarification," and I don't buy it. I realize people may differ on this point, but one thing which simply can't be said - by factcheck or anyone else - is that Sarah Palin has never said she favors teaching creationism in school.
But the rest of what factcheck debunks? No - I don't believe it, don't agree with it, and if you doubt me, feel free to search the archives for any post of mine in the last two weeks which has me promulgating or supporting any one of those things. Let me spare you the trouble, though: you won't find any. And if you've been keeping up with this board, more or less, over that time-span (and if you're honest with yourself), you already KNOW there are no such posts from me.
But there's a substantial difference - no, a GAPING chasm - between finding Palin's actual, verified, on-record words less than compelling and less than honest regarding her support for the Bridge To Nowhere, or her "anti-earmark crusader" reputation (given her record of soliciting earmarks), and being either gullible or sleazy enough to push nonsense like the stuff contained in the factcheck debunking, which they collected from anonymous folks on the Internet. I guess I find this particular factcheck piece a bit of a big "so what," in the sense of "wow! you discovered that there are loons who believe complete BS lurking in the Internet? Stop, I say, STOP those presses!!" If factcheck had managed to scoop major news organizations who had been printing falsehoods (intentionally or through poor reporting) as fact, that would indeed be a major story. But they didn't. They start out their "major debunking" by saying "We’ve been flooded for the past few days with queries about dubious Internet postings and mass e-mail messages making claims about McCain’s running mate, Gov. Palin." Well.....OK, I guess: it's good to not let rampant smears go unchecked. But uncovering falsehoods and smears on the Internet is about as groundbreaking as suggesting that water is wet.
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
So how many Naval Academy students have you known well enough to discuss the school with them?
And how many Berkeley students, likewise?
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
He didn't just graduate in the lowest 10%.
Are we SERIOUSLY talking about McCain's ability to send emails?
WOW!
I've know quite a few from the Navel Academy while in college. Marymount and the Navel Academy held functions (mixers) together while I was there. Many of my friends dated Academy guys. Also, my brother-in-laws brother is a graduate.
Don't know any Berkeley students.
Where again did you go to college?
Hee Hee Hee..take a wild guess!!
Oh, MAN, if THAT makes you laugh? You should only have been here when we had several hundred posts from fauxtraged wingnuts bloviating endlessly about the deep, serious significance of the fact that Barack Obama chooses not to wear a flag lapel-pin.
Now THAT was some high-a$$ comedy, my friends (to borrow McSame's favorite phrase).
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
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