Well if he’s physically unable to type or use a mouse, he won’t be able to read a newspaper either…he’ll just stare at the front page
I’m too tired to look the cites up again, but in another thread I linked to several cites from 2000 which said that he has difficulty with a keyboard - a long time ago, when no one was making it an issue against him. If he had difficulty in 2000, I imagine he has more difficulty now.
And even if McCain could fly a plane when he was 30, those kinds of injuries can really play havoc on you when you age. I’m only 45, and injuries I sustained 20 years ago are now being felt, and they didn’t bug me at all 10 years ago.
I’m sure he had experts doing most of the work, but the Slate link from 2000 said that the strategy was at least partially McCain’s, and that he learned quite a lot about the web on the Commerce Committee. McCain has even said that he was a fan of Jeff Bezos and a couple other internet entrepreneurs. Remember, the Commerce Committee dealt with web issues a lot during the height of the dot-com boom.
I never said computer literacy and plain literacy were the same did I? I am countering the argument that you need to be able to read and write to be president. I say a blind person who could not read nor write could be president and have things read to him and dictate. Yes or no? Yes or no? But, really, some people might prefer their president to not be blind and be able to read and write, regardless of how honorable the cause of the blindness was.
Some people would also prefer their president be computer literate and that is what the ad was about, and everybody knows it but McCain is always pulling a Ratso and saying he’s being attacked because he’s a poor cripple and that is a lie. The reasons for his shortcomings may be honorable or not but it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s an old geezer who is out of touch with the modern world.
Well, thisis from a NY Times interview:
He says he doesn’t email with the BlackBerry, so he’s probably not typing a whole lot, but he can obviously type enough to access, say, his contacts. What’s more, the keys on a BlackBerry are much smaller than those on a keyboard. Also, one generally holds a BlackBerry at about mid-chest (perhaps higher, if one’s vision is poor), whereas a keyboard is generally about lap-level.
So, suffice it to say, it does not seem that his disability limits his abilities to use a keyboard – even a smaller one that you have to hold up. If anyone can think of a reason why typing on a full keyboard would be beyond him, even though he can use a Blackberry, I’d love to see those calisthenics.
If he had no access to a pen, how did he sign his confession?
It is questionable, at least to me, whether you would consider any reason given to be “solid”. One could argue, after all, that a president doesn’t need to know what bread costs, or how to calculate sales tax, or for that matter the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite. There will always be someone close by to whisper into his ear the things he needs to say and do.
I think that what is bothersome to some people, though it may not be to you, is that the someones who do all the intel — who tell the president what everything means and what to say about it — haven’t been vetted for election. They weren’t, in fact, elected at all. If a president cannot verify whether they’re wrong or lying, then he cannot lead. He can only follow the direction of people nobody elected or else exercise arbitrary judgment based on nothing.
Leslie Nielsen for president!
I intend to vote for Obama,but I do not think his remark about McCain not being able or not desiring to use a computer was a very wise remark. My husband has a near genuis IQ and he doesn’t want to use a computer. and I know several of my friends husbands who do not use them either.
Monavis
I read somewhere that McCain said he is afraid of the little man that lives inside every computer. I can’t be bothered to find a cite, but I am sure it is true.
The title of the thread is “Obama ridicules McCain’s disability” and that is a lie.
Whether the POTUS needs to be able to use a computer himself or to even read a printed page is a whole 'nother subject which some people are introducing to deflect the point which was proven to be a lie.
Can a blind person be a good president? No doubt about that. I do not think anybody would deny that. Would most people vote for a blind candidate? I very much doubt it. But, as I say, that is a totally different topic. This thread is not about that.
I don’t think it has to do with smarts (though I don’t think McCain is particularly bright). I think it has to do with being in touch. There is no reason for your husband to know how to use a computer unless he intends to make decisions for people who use computers for everything from storing recipes to communicating with one another.
A whole lot of American life revolves around computers now, and a president who can’t even use one will have to depend on others — who aren’t elected — to tell him what we’re doing with them. If you don’t think it matters whether McCain knows how the majority of us live our lives, that’s fine. But I would encourage you to familiarize yourself thoroughly with his advisors because they will be making decisions about you and us, and then telling him what he should do.
Good point. I guess I took the bait, there didn’t I?
We all did really. A more honest thread topic would have been whether it is relevant whether the president knows how to use computers or not but that was not the intention of this thread at all.
An SDMB thread has been hijacked! Alert the media!
Surfing for Vietnamese Torture Porn?
Jack Batty: Yeah. I’m fine with a chief exec. who can’t do something a middle schooler could do because you still haven’t told me why I shouldn’t. What is he going to need to “get done” on a pc that he cannot get done some other way?
Merijeek: With regards to intellectual curiosity, he has said that his family is teaching him how. Does that settle that or do I need to find a statement from him saying that he finished My Pet Goat?
sailor: I agree that reading and writing are important to being president. You have yet to prove that being able to use a computer is as important as reading and writing. Thus far nobody else has.
Rythmdvl:I’ll attempt to clarify. 1)McCain does have physical issues with using a computer. That much has been covered as has that having difficulty typing would not be a hindrance to using a computer. It is likely though that the physical difficulty has made him less inclined to learn how especially considering that using a computer/internet/e-mail is not important to his job.
That said, having a grasp of the issues regarding computers, the internet, and the technology involved would be important to him or any other president.
Monty: Clarify or don’t. Just stop going on about it.
Zoe: Again, he has said he’s learning how. The disability isn’t being used as an excuse to why he cannot use the internet, merely why he has not. And I fail to see why being unable to use the computer is a sign that he is less intelligent.
Liberal: Honest question. Have you seen a convincing argument in this thread as to why it is important for a president to be able to use a computer? Again, we’re not talking about political issues regarding technology. Simply being able to use a computer. I am being completely open and honest in this thread and should somebody actually manange to find a reason for any president to be able to use a computer, I’ll concede the point.
As for the vetting of the people whispering in his ear, that’s never happened with any president. It’s not as if John McCain will be unable to gather any information at all without a computer. To say so is ridiculous. He’ll still have the standard means available to any of the presidents that we have had prior to the internet age: television, newspapers, books, radio, etc.
As for this being a hijack, it’s not. The importance of computer literacy is central to the ad. Without it, attacking McCain for not being able to use a computer is as ridiculous as attacking Obama for his popularity. If it is worth attacking John McCain over his computer illiteracy, it’s worth pointing out why he needs to in the first place.
I’ve seen pictures of McCain sitting with his hands in his lap. Maybe he could try taking the keyboard off of his super-high desk (mine is on my desk now and my elbows are touching my ribs, but I am a pretty tall man) and put it in his lap.
For 5 years, McCain didn’t even have a desk. And, because of that, moving his keyboard is painful. Why do you hate America?
I believe that it is B.
One thing I find interesting in this thread is the complete lack of compassion on the Demo side. Let’s assume that using a computer is physically possible for John McCain but taxing, painful, difficult, or causes some other discomfort. The attitude here is “Fuck him, he should use a computer anyways.” when for years and years he’s managed to work around the disability. In other words, you believe that someone should access information in the way YOU prefer them to rather than a way that
- Works for them
- Is more comfortable for them
You said they were ridiculing his disability. McCain has never said he could not use a computer because of his disability. It’s been pointed out repeatedly that, even considering his disability, there are ways to use one with no discomfort. Your assertion that they are ridiculing his disability is dishonest to the extreme.
I’m sure that, if your assertion that lifting his hands to desktop level is painful is true, it was painful for him to lift his arms to flip switches in a jet, yet he persevered because he wanted to, yet you assert that it was either too painful or too much trouble for him to figure out a way to overcome his disability to use one of the most important tools of the 21st century.