Obama: Disabled Vet CAN'T Use Email (rimshot!), Supporters Defend Ad

You've surely heard of how Barack Obama "took the gloves off" yesterday, sadistically mocking the physical trauma John McCain suffered --- and continues to suffer --- as a prisoner of war in Vietnam:

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.

If you haven't seen this cold-blooded ad, here you go:

I'm new to posting my own YouTubes, but I quickly learned you get to choose from a variety of video stills to use as your "placeholder." Obama willfully chose the still that says "Can't send an email." Can't.

Co-chairman of the Obama campaign Rahm Emanuel defends the ad:

"I think he [McCain] said it because he knows, in fact, he's removed from the day-to-day challenges people have faced in their lives," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D--Illinois, co-chairman of Obama's national campaign in a conference call this morning. "And you see it manifest itself in the personal things -- when he says, you know, I don't use a computer. I don't use e-mail. There's a whole economic revolution going on that has fundamentally changed the economy and fundamentally changed people's lives, and he is removed from it."

Yes. John McCain was removed from the daily challenges luxuries and convenient technologies of American life ... for five and half years. Hell, he was removed from the common luxuries of Vietnamese prison life (medical care, sunlight) for two of those years ... in solitary goddamned confinement.

How toxic is Obama's callous attack? His supporters are scrambling to Obama's defense.

Some are pathetically weak: The Viet Cong did not torture McCain, you idjit wingers.

And some are so astoundingly effective that they cluelessly destroy the entire Luddite premise that Obama was shooting for in the first place. Oops.

Speaking of shooting, Goldberg brings up a valid counterpoint:

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?

(h/t: Ace)

UPDATE: Instalanche! Thanks, Glenn. Once hailed as the best politician since Bill Clinton, Obama is letting his campaign fly off the rails. Let's chalk it up to inexperience (video).

UPDATE: Treacherlanche! Thanks, Jim. And STACLU-lanche!

UPDATE (9-14-08): Reluctantly confirmed by McCain:

Assuredly McCain isn't comfortable talking about this -- and the McCain campaign discouraged me from writing about this -- but the reason the aged Arizonan doesn't use a computer or send email is because of his war wounds.

I realize some of the nastier liberals in the blogosphere will see this as McCain once again "playing the POW card," but it's simply a fact: typing on a regular keyboard for any sustained period of time bothers McCain physically.

Comments

[Tantor]

So McCain doesn’t know how to use a computer. Does Obama know how to fly a jet fighter?

Who exactly is more technically skilled here? Is playing Solitaire on your PC equivalent to managing electromagnetic countermeasures against North Vietnamese surface-to-air missiles while you’re flying a pop-up attack at 400 knots? Is Obama flying his Excel program off a carrier deck? How many people have died when they made a minor mistake when working in Word?

It is intuitively obvious to every Joe Bagadonuts walking down the street that flying a fighter jet is more technically demanding than flying PowerPoint. Obama the bumbler is telegraphing his own technical illiteracy by making this absurd attack ad and also demonstrates his incompetence in the contest of ideas. If this is how a perfectly alert Obama manages his campaign at 3 PM, I'd hate to see Obama as president when a crisis calls at 3 AM.

[Wildmonk]

You know, I was pissed at McCain's ad regarding Obama's Sex Ed vote because I thought it was deceptive. Kind of took the wind out of my sails.

After seeing this, I forgive him: Obama's just as bad in the deceit department and raises him $50 in the ignorance department.

[The Bovina Bloviator]

A comment from an Obama supporter on Yes, McCain Can Use Electronics: "Razr? He even uses a lame cellphone."

That speaks volumes, I think.

[jones]

where in that obsidian wings link does he talk about the Viet Cong? Unless he switched the post on you, it's about something else entirely.

[Jim Treacher]

UPDATE: Wait a minute: the Viet Cong? Does Jonah Goldberg think that John McCain was imprisoned by the Viet Cong?

Italics Obsidian's. Good point: Jonah's argument is invalid because he misattributed the 5 years of savage torture that made it tougher for McCain to update his Friendster page.

[Cuffy Meigs]

jones, as Jim points out: read the whole Obsidian Wings post. hilzoy NAILS Jonah to the freaking wall with that VC upbraiding. Ouch, very ouch.

[nlcatter]

Mccain can type, his shoulder injuries limit arm movement

but his hands are not crippled

you fucking LIARS

[Jim Treacher]

Eye on the prize, nlcatter. Eye on the prize.

[nlcatter]

My eye is on confronting racists, liars, and morons,

which is usually found combined .

[Cuffy Meigs]

You're absolutely right, nlclatter --- McCain had it easy. Sounds just like the first semester of law school.

[swift boater]

hey Cuffy,

you're an ignorant stooge. Big Mac's fingers were busted up so bad he has problems holding a pencil. Tough to see the Messiah as the punk that he really is.

[Jim Treacher]

Impeccably stated, nlcatter.

[Bart]

"Mccain can type, his shoulder injuries limit arm movement but his hands are not crippled.'

So, you type with your elbows against your body? You fucking douchebag.

[Andy Freeman]

There's a forbes article from 2000 that discusses how McCain uses e-mail. He reads on his own and usually has someone else type replies.

The HuffPost rebuttal to "can't type" shows McCain thumbing a mobile device and discusses his e-mail, surfing and video watching habits.

There's an NYT article that mentions blogs that he reads.

What exactly is McCain supposed to do online that he doesn't do?

[Jim Treacher]

What exactly is McCain supposed to do online that he doesn't do?

Send an e-mail by himself. That's what the ad specifies. So either they didn't bother to Google that stuff before firing off this ad to launch their new "gloves off" approach, or they're calling him out for having been tortured. Which one is preferable, ya got me.

[JMS2008]

McCain can't brush his hair, either. Is it acceptable to elect a president with messy hair, or is it okay if someone else brushes it for him? This discussion is idiotic. Obama, can't find any other flaw in McCain. That's says a lot. It also says a lot that Obama's supporters and staffers are spending time defending this ridiculous ad. Is Obama running for senior class president of some high school, or are we talking about the president of the United States? Is the ability to type really a prerequisite? As a taxpayer, I don't mind paying for someone to type McCain's emails for him. In fact, I volunteer for the job when he becomes president.

[Cuffy Meigs]

hey Cuffy,

you're an ignorant stooge. Big Mac's fingers were busted up so bad he has problems holding a pencil. Tough to see the Messiah as the punk that he really is.

====
um, I believe you're responding to nlcatter, whose name/stamp appears directly above my comment (the one with the McCain link). The format here is comment above, commenter name/stamp below.

I'm the AUTHOR of this entire blog, target of nlcatter's scorn, and think Obama's a douche.

[Todd]

The HuffPo piece is hardly a defense of the ad, though. More like a refutation.

[chrisa798]

I love this -- the turf we are on is Obama people swearing at us for objecting to an ad making fun of McCain for a "deficiency" arising out of his war injuries. This is like shifting the fight vs Al-Q from NYC to Afghanistan to... oh yeah.

[nlcatter]

mccain also fishes

using a fishing rod?

with what his FUCKING DICK

or is that too worn our fucking Cindy when his wife was too crippled for him

[Cuffy Meigs]

Awesome comment, nlcatter. Are you part of the Obama campaign? Because you are one persuasive feller. Like that persuasive ad above.

[2Hotel9]

The point that is absofuckinglutely hilarious is that McC was pilloried by the press in 2000 because he was the first to aggressively use the internet in a political campaign. It was during that time that the lie about Algore creating the internet was first thrown out to the public.

[nlcatter]

im not here to persuade fucking morons,.

Im here to contest the lies form racists, morons, and GOPers, usually one and the same.

im here to attack the morals of a man who cheats on his wife!

Im here to attack the lies Mccain puts out about Bridges and other things

Im her to attack creationists and book burners

[Cuffy Meigs]

Really?

Banned.

[Linda]

If McCain is such a "maverick", then he knows how to develop a way to use a computer. I teach disabled children, and they all can use a computer. Obama's add does not attack any disability.The ad is meant to imply that McCain is behind the times.Old school.

Just a thought, if McCain cannot use his fingers, who will enter the code for nuclear response should it be needed.....

[Jim Treacher]

You teach children but you can't spell "ad"?

McCain isn't behind the times. He uses the Internet. His campaign even used the Internet in 2000. He just needs help doing things like typing, because he was tortured while serving his country. Thanks for the reminder, Obama.

[Jack Tanner]

My eye is on confronting racists, liars, and morons,

which is usually found combined .

Usually combined in your mirror.

[K]

2hotel9 and nlcatter, after reading your posts, I am even more sure that I am right to vote for McCain/Palin. Of all of the posts here on this topic, yours are the most foul and unintelligent remarks I have heard. If you are the type who are Obama groupies, I sure don't want to hang out with you. And I sure a heck don't want to vote for a candidate who is so ignorant and unprepared for something as simple as an election.

If he goes all to pieces dealing with a bit of competition from his opponent, I can only imagine what he will do if he has a real enemy confront him. He will probably wet his pants and curl up into a ball and whine that he doesn't know how to cope. After all he is one of those new age girlie men who is all in touch with his feelings, but wouldn't know how to protect his own wife and kids if he had to. Of course his wife is mean enough on her own to scare most people off.

My point is this, Obama is a loser, pure and simple who got where he is by intimidation and the backing of people just like him. McCain is a real man who proved he can stand up to anything and still come out a winner. He may have made mistakes in his life, but who hasn't?

According to the Obama groupies who drool and fawn over him, Obama has never made a mistake. He has never lived a real life either - he's been too busy climbing over people to get to his goal of being president. Not because he cares about America, but because it was on his to do list.

I am another woman for McCain/Palin.

[Baraka]

thank god that nancy boy nlclatter was banned