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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2008 / Unintentionally Funny

Unintentionally Funny

by John Cole|  August 14, 20084:53 pm| 78 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008

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Given John McCain’s well known inadequacies regarding computers, the internet, and technology, to include admitting to never sending email and having his wife and staff handle email for him, this WSJ headline about McCain’s position on technology regulation was unintentionally funny:

McCain Tech Plan to Continue Hands-Off Approach to Regulation

Heh.

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Reader Interactions

78Comments

  1. 1.

    myiq2xu

    August 14, 2008 at 4:55 pm

    I thought he used Wikipedia?

  2. 2.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 14, 2008 at 4:57 pm

    myiq2xu Says:

    I thought he used Wikipedia?

    Given that his staff is limiting his use of his own Cell-phone I doubt he was personally using anything.

  3. 3.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 14, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    Oh and given that T-Mobile has that new way to give/take minutes as a way to punish kids it’s fair to say John McCain’s campaign has “T-Mobiled” him.

  4. 4.

    myiq2xu

    August 14, 2008 at 5:05 pm

    He has a cell phone?

    Next thing you’ll tell us he can use an ATM all by himself!

  5. 5.

    Dennis - SGMM

    August 14, 2008 at 5:07 pm

    McCain’s computer.

  6. 6.

    Teak111

    August 14, 2008 at 5:08 pm

    Is it me or has the site been down all day? I’m jonesing man.

    OT, John you ought write something about how the GOP is gaming the NYT bestseller list through bulk orders. Obamanation is number one, but with a dagger, meaning a lot of bulk orders and that doesn’t mean people buying the book are phat.

    Probably a warehouse somewhere in Riverside with 200,000 copies and a piping hot incinerator.

  7. 7.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 14, 2008 at 5:10 pm

    Teak111 Says:

    Is it me or has the site been down all day? I’m jonesing man.

    it’s been down most of the day. Serious jonesing here as well.

  8. 8.

    maxbaer (not the original)

    August 14, 2008 at 5:13 pm

    McCain Tech Plan to Continue Hands-Off Approach to Regulation

    Would this policy extend to the predilictions of the Foleys, Vitters and Craigs of the party as well?

  9. 9.

    myiq2xu

    August 14, 2008 at 5:14 pm

    it’s been down most of the day.

    Is McCain in charge of tech support?

  10. 10.

    Incertus

    August 14, 2008 at 5:16 pm

    OT, John you ought write something about how the GOP is gaming the NYT bestseller list through bulk orders. Obamanation is number one, but with a dagger, meaning a lot of bulk orders and that doesn’t mean people buying the book are phat.

    I doubt it’s the GOP, as they don’t have the cash to spare. It’s the other side of the conservative welfare system–the same people who buy Hannity’s books and Coulter’s books and the rest, and then give them away for joining their conservative book club.

  11. 11.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 14, 2008 at 5:16 pm

    myiq2xu Says:

    it’s been down most of the day.

    Is McCain in charge of tech support?

    well it is word press which is not far removed from printing press which is about the only tech McCain is familiar with…

  12. 12.

    Adolphus

    August 14, 2008 at 5:17 pm

    Teak111 Says:

    Is it me or has the site been down all day? I’m jonesing man.

    I have seen it asked here before but never answered.

    Why is Balloon Juice so unreliable?

  13. 13.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 14, 2008 at 5:19 pm

    Incertus Says:

    I doubt it’s the GOP, as they don’t have the cash to spare. It’s the other side of the conservative welfare system—the same people who buy Hannity’s books and Coulter’s books and the rest, and then give them away for joining their conservative book club.

    It’s also the CostCo’s and Wal-Marts who buy bulk so they can sell the shit for less than you’d pay at Barnes and Noble. However I fully expect to see this book on the clearance shelves within a couple weeks. One Kossack had a great idea with regard to re-arranging the books on the shelves, sticking Suskind and McClellans books in front of the Corshit.

  14. 14.

    Dennis - SGMM

    August 14, 2008 at 5:19 pm

    Would this policy extend to the predilictions of the Foleys, Vitters and Craigs of the party as well?

    That would amount to a hands-off policy with regard to ejaculation. If the Republicans, and most of their base, had to keep their hands off of themselves they’d be even more angry and frustrated than they are now.

  15. 15.

    Adolphus

    August 14, 2008 at 5:19 pm

    And by “unreliable” I mean physically loading to my browser.

    The content is very reliable.

    Just thought I needed to clarify.

  16. 16.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 14, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    Adolphus Says:

    I have seen it asked here before but never answered.

    Why is Balloon Juice so unreliable?

    My guess is the use of wordpress and it’s use of MySql which can’t really handle a heavy server load. It’s great if your site is small with little traffic but John draws the attention of the GOS himself (among others) and much linking and reading ensues.

  17. 17.

    Warren Terra

    August 14, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    I’m not sure John gets to tweak McCain on technology until his own website gets a more stable back end.

    I note that John promised us a complete overhaul in July … but I can’t remember whether he said which July.

    Why, if I paid a dime for the entertainment I get at Balloon Juice I might demand a refund!

  18. 18.

    Incertus

    August 14, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    Anyone else see this unofficial Obama attack ad? It’s fierce.

  19. 19.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 14, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    Dennis – SGMM Says:

    That would amount to a hands-off policy with regard to ejaculation. If the Republicans, and most of their base, had to keep their hands off of themselves they’d be even more angry and frustrated than they are now.

    That’s it, we start a new campaign, “Every sperm is sacred” and that male masturbation is nothing but abortion as it wastes sperm which must be used in procreation.

    That would surely fuck with the wingnuts and definitely get the right wing blogosphere up in arms since masturbation is all they have.

  20. 20.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 14, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    Incertus Says:

    Anyone else see this unofficial Obama attack ad? It’s fierce.

    Is that the one done by the guy over at dKos? I can’t see it from work.

  21. 21.

    Pb

    August 14, 2008 at 5:31 pm

    My guess is the use of wordpress and it’s use of MySql which can’t really handle a heavy server load. It’s great if your site is small with little traffic but John draws the attention of the GOS himself (among others) and much linking and reading ensues.

    GOS uses MySQL; FYI.

  22. 22.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    August 14, 2008 at 5:31 pm

    Ditto with the availability issues, I have not been able to access the site all day, do you realize what that meant? I actually had to “do some work” I mean good god, the humanity, I was forced to actually, in a literal sense, do something that my employer pays me to do. I have been traumatized beyond reason. This has got to stop. (PS, just a bit of back story, my boss is an attorney in the process of retiring, my job at the moment consists of opening up the doors in the morning, answering the phones, counting the ceiling tiles, paperclips, etc., paying the bills once a month, occasionally going to court, it’s hard trying to fill an 8 hour day with that, I liken it to being in solitary with access to the internet).

  23. 23.

    Incertus

    August 14, 2008 at 5:33 pm

    Is that the one done by the guy over at dKos? I can’t see it from work.

    I found it from Ta-Nehesi Coates. Might be–lots of graphs in it.

  24. 24.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 14, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    Teak111 Says:

    OT, John you ought write something about how the GOP is gaming the NYT bestseller list through bulk orders. Obamanation is number one, but with a dagger, meaning a lot of bulk orders and that doesn’t mean people buying the book are phat.

    Obama is already firing back

  25. 25.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 14, 2008 at 5:39 pm

    Pb Says:

    GOS uses MySQL; FYI.

    GOS also has a server farm with backups and redundancy built in.

  26. 26.

    Dennis - SGMM

    August 14, 2008 at 5:49 pm

    Poster “Anne,” over at The Carpetbagger Report made a great catch:

    Singer/Songwriter Jackson Browne Files Suit Against Republican Presidential Candidate Senator John McCain and the Republican Party for Copyright Infringement and False Endorsement

  27. 27.

    Adolphus

    August 14, 2008 at 5:56 pm

    Would people think I was a Luddite of McCainsian proportions if I asked what “GOS” meant?

  28. 28.

    Bill Arnold

    August 14, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    Would people think I was a Luddite of McCainsian proportions if I asked what “GOS” meant?
    Great Orange Satan

  29. 29.

    Incertus

    August 14, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    GOS is “Great Orange Satan,” aka Daily Kos.

  30. 30.

    myiq2xu

    August 14, 2008 at 6:02 pm

    Why is Balloon Juice so unreliable?

    John goes out and leaves Tunch in charge of feeding the hamsters

  31. 31.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 14, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    myiq2xu Says:

    Why is Balloon Juice so unreliable?

    John goes out and leaves Tunch in charge of feeding the hamsters

    Which obviously means feeding them…to himself.

  32. 32.

    Montysano

    August 14, 2008 at 6:14 pm

    I know it’s fashionable to hate on Joe Klein, but this is pretty good.

    As noted above, this ad, which is by a Gossack, is brilliant. Which makes me think: what is BO waiting for? Let’s smack Wrinkly White-Haired Guy around a bit.

    And yeah….. maybe I’m too much of a internet geek, but IMHO anyone, in today’s world, who is that computer clueless is de facto unqwalified to be president.

  33. 33.

    JL

    August 14, 2008 at 6:20 pm

    Sister BattleAxe of compassionate something says I hate word press but I also love Balloon Juice; so I’ll just put up with it. So folks are we going to bomb Russia to insure a McCain win?

  34. 34.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    August 14, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    McCain’s computer.

    He recently upgraded from this.

  35. 35.

    cyntax

    August 14, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    John goes out and leaves Tunch in charge of feeding the hamsters

    Long as it’s not a DDOS attack: I was worried the Russians we’re gonna be heading John’s way.

  36. 36.

    cleek

    August 14, 2008 at 6:37 pm

    well it is word press

    again…

    if you can see the WordPress error page telling you that it can’t establish a database connection (which i did, most of the day), the problem is not WordPress. WordPress is working at least well enough to tell us all that the database has shit the bed.

  37. 37.

    Delia

    August 14, 2008 at 6:37 pm

    Sister BattleAxe of compassionate something says I hate word press but I also love Balloon Juice; so I’ll just put up with it. So folks are we going to bomb Russia to insure a McCain win?

    See, I think this is a FAIL. Until last week the majority of Americans had never heard of Russian Georgia. After nearly six years of the Iraq disaster, I just can’t believe even a slim majority can be cowed into thinking it’s a hot idea to invade a place on the Russian border that they’ve never heard of no matter how much the chickenhawks Godwin it. And then there’s this: land wars in Russia did in Charles VII of Sweden in the 17th C., Napoleon, and Hitler; and the British did not do so well in the Crimea. “Never fight a land war in Russia” is a truism of history. a bombing campaign would only be a prelude to a land invasion because bombing alone would only trigger retaliation, and we don’t have our superduper Missile Defense Shield (which of course is only aimed at the Iranians) in place yet and which probably won’t work anyhow. The nasty contingencies down this particular path are just too numerous to calculate. Besides, Gates says we’re not, and he’s still sane.

  38. 38.

    D-Chance.

    August 14, 2008 at 6:41 pm

    Interesting.

    Ten times the number of deaths suffered in Iraq, and in just one year. You know what that means.

    BRING OUR DRIVERS AND PASSENGERS HOME!

    For the love of God and humanity, remove them from harm’s way in those dangerous streets of the USA.

    But, Chimpy Bushitler and the evil Automobile Cartel have conspired to gin up even more travel so that they HAVE to put our poor overtaxed drivers and passengers in danger via totally unnecessary travel. Our brave boys and girls are near the breaking point as it is. I’m sure the Jews are involved, too, although we’ll need a Wilfred post to explain it to us…

  39. 39.

    D-Chance.

    August 14, 2008 at 6:46 pm

    Warren Terra Says:

    I’m not sure John gets to tweak McCain on technology until his own website gets a more stable back end.

    I note that John promised us a complete overhaul in July … but I can’t remember whether he said which July.

    He also promised ‘non-political’ charity drives beginning in May, way back when the Act Blue graph was being posted every other day. That didn’t happen, either. Because a guy who’s already drowning in hundreds of millions of dollars in donations obviously needs the extra $5K or so more than some charity rabble.

  40. 40.

    myiq2xu

    August 14, 2008 at 6:46 pm

    “Never fight a land war in Russia” is a truism of history.

    Actually, the quote was “Never fight a land war in Asia” by General Omar Bradley.

    Never fight in Russia in winter is just common sense.

    BTW – Russian winters are 9 1/2 months long

  41. 41.

    Tiparillo

    August 14, 2008 at 7:00 pm

    Never fight a land war in Russia” is a truism of history.

    My favorite use of this truism is:

    You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!

  42. 42.

    Tiparillo

    August 14, 2008 at 7:01 pm

    Obviously I meant – Never fight a land war in Asia – above

  43. 43.

    myiq2xu

    August 14, 2008 at 7:04 pm

    never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!

    If death is on the line, hang up the damn phone!

  44. 44.

    cain

    August 14, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    Why is Balloon Juice so unreliable?

    I don’t know why, there are so many liberals here. You’d think they’d be able to keep this site alive.

    Where’s that new site you promised us, dawg?

    cain

  45. 45.

    bago

    August 14, 2008 at 7:18 pm

    MyIQ: They let him use an ATM once, but he kept trying to feed it a kitten.

  46. 46.

    jake

    August 14, 2008 at 7:18 pm

    Given John McCain’s well known inadequacies regarding ^EVERYFUCKINGTHING.

    Fixxled.

    Singer/Songwriter Jackson Browne Files Suit Against Republican Presidential Candidate Senator John McCain and the Republican Party for Copyright Infringement and False Endorsement

    Yes. Thank you. That made my week.

    John StraightTalk McMaverick already got a big FU from John Cougar Mellencamp when his campaign used Little Pink Houses without permission, simultaneously demonstrating McStraightTalk doesn’t understand copyright laws OR the lyrics of the damn song.

    Now. if only JB & JCM would make a McCane bashing ad together… Bwaha.

  47. 47.

    Dennis - SGMM

    August 14, 2008 at 7:20 pm

    Never fight in Russia in winter is just common sense.

    BTW – Russian winters are 9 1/2 months long

    Followed by 2 1/2 months of poor sledding.

  48. 48.

    Kevin

    August 14, 2008 at 7:21 pm

    You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!

    That movie is awesome.

  49. 49.

    Montysano

    August 14, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    Never fight a land war in Asia

    I was thinking (although I can’t find it) that there was something in Kipling about the wisdom of fighting the Afghan, as in “don’t even think about it”.

    BushCo….. all wrong, every fucking time.

  50. 50.

    myiq2xu

    August 14, 2008 at 7:28 pm

    Followed by 2 1/2 months of poor sledding.

    And big fucking mosquitos

  51. 51.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    August 14, 2008 at 7:34 pm

    John StraightTalk McMaverick already got a big FU from John Cougar Mellencamp when his campaign used Little Pink Houses without permission, simultaneously demonstrating McStraightTalk doesn’t understand copyright laws OR the lyrics of the damn song.

    McCain needs to stick with John Philip Sousa and Fanny J. Crosby.

  52. 52.

    cleek

    August 14, 2008 at 7:44 pm

    oh snap

    i can has 527s ?

  53. 53.

    PC

    August 14, 2008 at 7:46 pm

    GOS also has a server farm with backups and redundancy built in.

    GOS also uses snowflake babies in its stored procedures (new feature in MySQL 6). Suck on that libs.

  54. 54.

    maxbaer (not the original)

    August 14, 2008 at 8:22 pm

    Never fight in Russia in winter is just common sense.

    Yes, but the French and Germans didn’t have George Bush as their commander in chief.

  55. 55.

    Punchy

    August 14, 2008 at 8:23 pm

    What’s this “Balloon-Juice” crap?

    WHERE THE FUCK DID MY FAVORITE BLOG, “WORDPRESS ERROR”, GO?

  56. 56.

    PC

    August 14, 2008 at 8:37 pm

    WHERE THE FUCK DID MY FAVORITE BLOG, “WORDPRESS ERROR”, GO?

    win

  57. 57.

    JL

    August 14, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    Punchy Says:

    What’s this “Balloon-Juice” crap?

    WHERE THE FUCK DID MY FAVORITE BLOG, “WORDPRESS ERROR”, GO?

    lol

  58. 58.

    w vincentz

    August 14, 2008 at 8:47 pm

    Nice to know that “WordPress” really doesn’t hate me.
    Shit, certain addictions are difficult to break.
    I’d type more but, umm, I forgot…what was the topic?
    Pass it Henry!

    ooooh, (cough), what was I saying? You forgot too?
    HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

  59. 59.

    cain

    August 14, 2008 at 9:02 pm

    I got the firefox plugin ‘speed dial’ which gives you a list of website by screenshot and balloon-juice has the wordpress error as the screenshot. :-)

    cain

  60. 60.

    sarsipius

    August 14, 2008 at 9:22 pm

    My guess is the use of wordpress and it’s use of MySql which can’t really handle a heavy server load.

    Teh google also uses MySQL. So does slashdot, which originally coined the slashdot effect later adopted to other popular sites (digg effect etc). In other words, it can definitely handle a heavy server load.

    That being said, this site was linked from Sully’s site today, so it’s likely the increased traffic from there and other popular sites (like the GOS) are behind it being unavailable from time to time.

  61. 61.

    myiq2xu

    August 14, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that John Cole would ignore an important story like this one.

    Might as well advertise this place as “fair and balanced”

  62. 62.

    jake

    August 14, 2008 at 10:03 pm

    WHERE THE FUCK DID MY FAVORITE BLOG, “WORDPRESS ERROR”, GO?

    Laughed so hard the cats look worried.

  63. 63.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    August 14, 2008 at 10:05 pm

    Might as well advertise this place as “fair and balanced”

    Maybe you should do a name change for the good of the blog.

  64. 64.

    myiq2xu

    August 14, 2008 at 10:34 pm

    Maybe you should do a name change for the good of the blog.

    J-Cole’s House of Crazy?

    TunchTalk?

  65. 65.

    J. Michael Neal

    August 14, 2008 at 10:34 pm

    (PS, just a bit of back story, my boss is an attorney in the process of retiring, my job at the moment consists of opening up the doors in the morning, answering the phones, counting the ceiling tiles, paperclips, etc., paying the bills once a month, occasionally going to court, it’s hard trying to fill an 8 hour day with that, I liken it to being in solitary with access to the internet).

    It sounds a lot like being unemployed, except you’re getting paid. Want to trade?

  66. 66.

    Martin

    August 14, 2008 at 10:47 pm

    That’s it, we start a new campaign, “Every sperm is sacred” and that male masturbation is nothing but abortion as it wastes sperm which must be used in procreation.

    The campaign already exists. It’s called Catholicism.

    Probably a warehouse somewhere in Riverside with 200,000 copies and a piping hot incinerator.

    Nah. McCain is just buying enough copies to put one in each of his 200,000 houses.

    WHERE THE FUCK DID MY FAVORITE BLOG, “WORDPRESS ERROR”, GO?

    Win.

    My theory is that every time somebody fails to properly embed a link, John kills the server for an hour as punishment to us.

  67. 67.

    Delia

    August 14, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    Well to veer off on a slightly different McMavericky angle, when Joe Klein finally gets pissed off at Mr.Straight Talk, he really stays pissed.

  68. 68.

    Anne Laurie

    August 15, 2008 at 12:24 am

    I was thinking (although I can’t find it) that there was something in Kipling about the wisdom of fighting the Afghan, as in “don’t even think about it”.

    Well, there was quite a bit of that in most of the early poetry, plus large chunks of KIM. But I suspect you’re thinking of Kipling’s anti-Russian poem, the one with the refrain:

    “… Make ye no truce with Adam-Zad, the Bear That Walks Like A Man!”

  69. 69.

    jbarntt

    August 15, 2008 at 12:49 am

    Given John McCain’s well known inadequacies regarding computers, the internet, and technology, to include admitting to never sending email and having his wife and staff handle email for him, this WSJ headline about McCain’s position on technology regulation was unintentionally funny:

    It might have passed over John Cole’s head that McCain favors net neutrality, a far more important issue than his technical skills re: email.

    McCain has been criticized for not using Google for research, (by Morford of some SF rag, if I recollect), as though such ability indicates technical knowledge. It is also funny that the ability to send an email is considered a great technical achievement by McCain’s critics: What a laugh.

    That stuff is easy these days, nothing to it as your ISP gives you a CD, and you click a few icons and say “OK” when prompted. Who cares ?

    This is just pointy clicky stuff, any idiot can do it. Anyway, why is email and Google searching of any importance to a president ?

    My guess is that McCain could learn this stuff in an hour, if he wanted. When was the last time Obama landed an airplane onto the deck of an aircraft carrier ? Could he learn that in a short period of time ?

    Obama may be good at sending email, my friends, but McCain has proved his worth to his country by putting his life on the line for her. Obama, the community organizer v. McCain the Navy aviator in war. I’ll take a man who put his life on the line for his country over a do nothing “community organizer”, far left state senator, and a U.S. senator with no accomplishments to his name.

    Paris Hilton and Obama are a good match, tho’ I hope Obama won’t go all Edwards on Michelle.

  70. 70.

    JackieBinAZ

    August 15, 2008 at 3:07 am

    My guess is that McCain could learn this stuff in an hour, if he wanted. When was the last time Obama landed an airplane onto the deck of an aircraft carrier ? Could he learn that in a short period of time ?

    How many decades has it been since McCain actually pulled off this feat and what does it have to do with the qualifications needed to be president? After all, George Codpiece Mission Accomplished Bush managed it without actually having the mad skillz.

    On the other hand, if McCain could take an hour to become a participant in the way that information travels in the century in which he wants to be president, why doesn’t he just do it instead of touting his ignorance of it as a point of PRIDE?

    Oh, and don’t forget to collect your McCain points.

  71. 71.

    Martin

    August 15, 2008 at 4:12 am

    It might have passed over John Cole’s head that McCain favors net neutrality, a far more important issue than his technical skills re: email.

    Wait, this kind of support

    “When you control the pipe you should be able to get profit from your investment,” he said

    or this kind of support?

    Mike Arrington: Let’s talk about net neutrality. It’s probably the most important issue in Silicon Valley, and yet it rarely makes its way to Washington-level consciousness. Barack Obama recently came out saying that he would promise to make it a priority if he became president. What is your position on the net neutrality issue?

    Sen. McCain: In general, I think we need to move to a different model for thinking about the FCC. I think it should focus on policing clearly anti-competitive behavior and consumer predators. But, frankly, until some foul has been committed, I don’t think it should be interfering in the market, and probably shouldn’t be trying to micromanage American business and innovation.

    Hmm. Actually, do you have any fucking idea what net neutrality is? Because I don’t think you do.

    McCain has been criticized for not using Google for research, (by Morford of some SF rag, if I recollect), as though such ability indicates technical knowledge

    No, he’s criticized for not using Google as though such ability indicates an ability to learn new things, which it does. How the fuck can someone walk into a job such as this without any indication that he has a desire, let alone an ability to learn new things.

    My guess is that McCain could learn this stuff in an hour, if he wanted

    If it only takes an hour to join, well, the entire rest of modern civilization then he’s an even lazier old bastard than I though he was. Honestly, isn’t he even curious about the internet? He’s a senator. He votes on and speaks about issues that are directly related to the internet and is running to be our executive, and he can’t even take an hour to see what it’s about? Isn’t that a little bit like a CEO that doesn’t understand what much of his company even does and doesn’t even want to understand?

  72. 72.

    cleek

    August 15, 2008 at 7:19 am

    He’s a senator. He votes on and speaks about issues that are directly related to the internet and is running to be our executive, and he can’t even take an hour to see what it’s about?

    he also admits not knowing anything about economics, but votes on those issues, too. he doesn’t seem to know anything about Social Security, either.

    he’s dumb as a Bush

  73. 73.

    Dennis - SGMM

    August 15, 2008 at 7:44 am

    This is just pointy clicky stuff, any idiot can do it.

    Apparently, John McCain is one idiot who can’t do it. Using a computer is a part of everyday life for many Americans. That McCain doesn’t use one, and doesn’t know how to use one, is just another point where he’s out of touch with the rest of us.

  74. 74.

    iluvsummr

    August 15, 2008 at 1:30 pm

    It might have passed over John Cole’s head that McCain favors net neutrality, a far more important issue than his technical skills re: email.

    No he doesn’t — McCain opposes regulations that would ensure net neutrality. This could be construed to mean that McCain is fine with monopolies: ISPs that provide broadband services being able to block subscribers to their service from accessing any content that the ISPs don’t want them to:

    The statement explained that McCain would keep the Internet and entrepreneurs free of unnecessary regulation, which indicates he is unlikely to support network neutrality laws. More here

  75. 75.

    jbarntt

    August 15, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    How many decades has it been since McCain actually pulled off this feat and what does it have to do with the qualifications needed to be president?

    3-4 I believe. How many years has it it been since Obama risked his life for his country ? Zero would be the correct answer.

    Oh, and what does email and Google searching really have to do with being president ? In any case the idea that such “expertise” is indeed that is idiotic.

    I work in the IT field and the notion that using email and Google represents any real knowledge is laughable. It’s just some user doing the pointy-clicky thing on something setup for them by a sys admin.

  76. 76.

    jbarntt

    August 15, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    If it only takes an hour to join, well, the entire rest of modern civilization then he’s an even lazier old bastard than I though he was. Honestly, isn’t he even curious about the internet? He’s a senator. He votes on and speaks about issues that are directly related to the internet and is running to be our executive, and he can’t even take an hour to see what it’s about? Isn’t that a little bit like a CEO that doesn’t understand what much of his company even does and doesn’t even want to understand?

    Your post is a bit incoherent, but I’m guessing that you’re suggesting that McCain should use the internet for reliable information, to form his policies.

    What would you recommend ? Balloon Juice ? Democratic Underground ? Freerepublic ? Wikipedia ? LOL

    If this is where you think a president should get his information, then vote for Obama.

  77. 77.

    jbarntt

    August 15, 2008 at 11:10 pm

    Apparently, John McCain is one idiot who can’t do it. Using a computer is a part of everyday life for many Americans. That McCain doesn’t use one, and doesn’t know how to use one, is just another point where he’s out of touch with the rest of us

    I don’t vote based on whether a candidate is in touch with me, I vote based what the candidate professes he will do.

    If you vote is based on some “He’s like me” thing, then I guess G. W. Bush must have been a big fave of yours.

    McCain is an idiot ? LOL You should be such an idiot: Navy Captain, congressman, U.S. Senator, nominee of his party for president, and polling data looking better than it should for him.

    On the idiocy scale, I’m afraid you out poll McCain by a wide margin. Just my humble opinion of course.

  78. 78.

    jbarntt

    August 15, 2008 at 11:20 pm

    he also admits not knowing anything about economics, but votes on those issues, too. he doesn’t seem to know anything about Social Security, either.

    He’s honest. Did Geo. Washington know anything about economics ? No he didn’t, that’s why he got Alexander Hamilton as his Sec. of the Treasury. Clinton got Robt. Rubin to his credit

    So are we to assume Obama knows something about economics ? Why ? His educational background is in the law, not economics or finance.

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