John McCain Can’t Read This Column – Lance Ulanoff, PC Magazine — Who reading the blog can disagree with this? But has anyone noticed that this is par for the course for Congress. They once banned laptops, now want to ban Twitter. Does anyone think Obama actually uses Twitter as indicated on the Twitter feeds? This is not just about McCain. I’d like to see a tech poll of Congress.
At the other end of the spectrum are people who’ve spent their entire lives ignoring or sidestepping technology. They’ve comfortably reached their late 50s, 60s, 70s and even 80s without ever once touching a keyboard, using a cell phone, or snapping a photo with a digital camera. Technology is as alien to them as rock ‘n’ roll was to parents in the late 50s and early 60s.
Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain falls into this last category.
McCain recently admitted to The New York Times that he currently has other people go online to get him the information he needs, adding that he’s working on mastering the technology. According to the Times, McCain uses “his wife, and aides like Mark Salter, a senior adviser, and Brooke Buchanan, his press secretary, to get him online.” McCain actually said that these people “go on for me.”
Then the clincher from McCain: “I don’t e-mail. I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail.”
I guess this means he doesn’t even read his own campaign’s e-mail newsletter. At the very least, he doesn’t write any of it on a computer.
What a bunch of hogwash. The man’s been in Congress for well over 25 years, and Internet policy has been on the agenda for at least a decade. During that time, he’s voted on over a dozen different pieces of technology legislation. What the hell was he waiting for?
Hey, Bush can’t either !!! The reading level is well above “The Pet Goat” !!! But seriously, this just means McBush, oh, I mean McCain is SO OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY, HE IS ***NOT QUALIFIED*** TO BE THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF INFORMATION !!!
This shouldn’t be a surprise. Very few of our elite governing bodies know, understand, or are able to empathize with those of us serfs. They go by a different set of rules – “do as I say, not as I do” Their primary mission in life: to remain in power and to get re-elected.
I have to say that I really hate McCain. I think he would be terribly destructive as POTUS. However, this issue just might be the least important one I’ve seen about him.
Let’s out McBush on the things that really matter.
1) His plan to address climate change has no basis in science and would allow way too high a limit for CO2
2) He would keep us at war in Iraq for 100 years.
3) He would repeal Roe v. Wade.
4) He would do nothing to get health coverage for the 47 million people who do not have it now.
5) He has chosen as his chief economic adviser one of the key people responsible for our current financial crisis, Foreclosure Phill Gramm.
Anyone want to add to the list of real issues for which we should not vote for McBush?
Why would anyone vote for this tired old man?
To say that being Tech aware is unimportant 10 years after I went online is crazy.If you don’t want to step up and deal with the world …fine,just don’t run for President.
That is a great photo.
Since when does a senator have to understand something they pass laws on?
Heck, since when do they even read the legislation they pass?
I hate to promote Ron Paul but he makes a good point about how these politician have no idea what they are passing:
http://tinyurl.com/596l36
And, yet, the Republicans will beat you over the head for being un-patriotic if you have doubts about things like the Patriot Act. But they haven’t even taken the effort to read it.
#3 — Since you are a Phil Gramm hater make note that he was behind the Enron loophole too. McCain needs to dump this guy.
I think it was Nader who pledged to donate $10,000 to any charity a congressman named who would simply read the patriot act and answer a few simple questions on it. The ONE person who took him up on it changed there vote to a no.
But to the main point… McCain’s generation, by and large, isn’t going to become technology literate. Change doesn’t come from people changing, it comes from the older generation dying off.
I have to agree with Scott. While it is somewhat pathetic that McCain is technologically inept, it is the least of the problems with him as a candidate.
I’d wager that most of the Senate is technologically illiterate, as are many private industry executives over about age 60. And guess what? It doesn’t really matter much, since they have the means to pay people to interface with technology for them. They will eventually die off and be replaced. All in good time, my pretties, all in good time.
At least McCain appears acceptably literate, which is better than the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
But of course Obama is on another level all together, appearing literate, elegant, cool headed, bright, charming, direct, etc. Oh, and did I mention a shoe in for the presidency. I just hope he turns out half as good as the preview.
“The man’s been in Congress for well over 25 years, and Internet policy has been on the agenda for at least a decade. During that time, he’s voted on over a dozen different pieces of technology legislation. What the hell was he waiting for?”
Of course the counter argument is, does a legislator have to have been a doctor before being able to vote on medical legislation?
#9–mojo==you wrote the best line I have read in a while: “Change doesn’t come from people changing, it comes from the older generation dying off.” ((Could that be what Obama means?==The Horror!!))
Good social insight. I hate to quibble to detract from its important truth. I know lots of people over 60 who have learned to email and such. Mostly so that they can exchange email with their grandkiddies, but everyone has their own motivations. Think I’ll go look up the percentages of those who vote for the various age groups–I assume the old oldsters don’t vote as much as the young oldsters?
One of the major problems with this country is that the people who run it are out of touch. And I don’t even mean e-mail. They are thinking 50 years ago. They think cowboys are cool, Vietnam is still the enemy ( apparently not if they are making cheap Tee shirts ) Thinking that that leaves us in the past
#8 – John C Dvorak,
I couldn’t agree with you more. Yes. The Enron bit is also mentioned in the MoJo article. McCain admits he doesn’t understand finance. That he chose Gramm as his financial adviser is proof positive that at least he wasn’t lying.
#10 – Dave W,
But of course Obama is on another level all together, appearing literate, elegant, cool headed, bright, charming, direct, etc.
You left out eloquent. I agree completely. I just hope Diebold lets us actually vote this time.
Phil also had a hand in the S&Ls
This blog article sounds like an endorsement for Obama.
Obama certainly has used the internet, send emails and so forth.
#17, not exactly; I think Dvorak is doing his best to goad the Liberals around here to stir up the discussion. One of them actually got sad and threatened to leave us though. 🙁
Good to see the Republicans did what the Democrats have done in the last 2 elections. Nominate a unelectable bone head to be President. Might as well swear Obama in now.
Well..I think it is time we go after Phil Gramm. I always thought he was a douche.
Change doesn’t come from people changing, it comes from the older generation dying off.
A variation on Clarke’s First Law:
When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
J/P=?
There’s a cliché that “Medicine moves forward with every death… of a doctor.”
Another saying is: “science advances one funeral at a time.”
#10 yea, right…and the movie always lives up to the preview
LuckyPierre has got it right. Our Senators, Congressmen, and Presidents live by a different standard. They don’t have to deal with most of the problems of modern day life, once they get a law degree. Someone else usually fixes whatever breaks, refuels their cars, books travel on corporate jets, etc. They’re never inconvenienced in the slightest way, that might alert them to how fouled up things are for the rest of us. So why should they ever fix any problems, that don’t personally effect themselves or their families? The corporate and government elite are the robber barons of the 21th century.
Change doesn’t come from people changing, it comes from the older generation dying off.
Another piece of bullshit, feel good fluff. Change comes because of need. Those most easy to adapt, usually the youngest, embrace chance quicker than those more familiar with the status quo. That does not imply that the status quo is adverse to change.
Geez, I have many relatives older than McBush that use the internet daily, for many things other than email.
I’m scared of both of them, mainly because of the company that they keep. It’s not just the prez, it’s the cabinet and their buds in Congress too.
Wow–seems like it’s suddenly become acceptable to mock a disabled veteran, and a war hero at that. The gentleman’s arms (both of them) were broken, and all ten fingers were broken severely by the North VietNamese in the POW camp. they were badly set and never healed well enough for him to raise his arms above his head without pain, or to ever regain the necessary dexterity to manipulate a keyboard. Nevertheless, his understanding of technology had been head and shoulders above many of the younger members of congress, and he does have the forward thinking necessary to lead the country in a technology-oriented society. Of course, you ahve to read more than the NYT headlines to find that; it’s something you only find from his legislative records.
To Misanthropic Scott–3) He would repeal Roe v. Wade.
I’m so sorry that they didn’t teach civics in your high school. the president doesn’t have the power to “repeal Roe v. Wade” and the repeal of Roe v. Wade would NOT criminalize abortion, it would merely return the authority to decide its legality to the states, rather than resting the authority with the Federal Government. Each state would then have the authority to decide to what extent if any abortion would be legal, based on that state’s residents’ concerns.
Not that I dislike Lance, but I don’t take what he says too seriously. He hasn’t done the best job with PCMag.