Obama Campaign: Can't Google

Through either sheer stupidity or just gutter politics, the Obama campaign put out a new ad attacking Sen. John McCain for being "computer illiterate." The ad goes like this (Source: Los Angeles Times):

As part of its effort to show the 72-year-old Republican Sen. John McCain as old and out of touch, the Democratic Party's hip campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, which frequently says it honors the former POW's military service to his country, Friday released a new ad.

As noted Friday by our blogging colleagues over at the Technology blog here, the ad says, among other things: "1982, John McCain goes to Washington. Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn't.

"He admits he doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail."

Here's a passage from a lengthy Boston Globe profile on McCain that was published the last time he ran for president. It was headlined "McCain character loyal to a fault." It was written by Mary Leonard.

And it was printed more than eight years ago, on March 4, 2000.

It is available online, where Jonah Goldberg of The Corner blog at the National Review found it.

"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."

The trouble is, McCain is unable to use a keyboard, tie his shoes or comb his hair (he is unable to raise his arms above his shoulders) due to his tortured fingers by the hands of North Vietnamese torturers when McCain was a prisoner of war.

A simple Google search by the Obama campaign would have told them the reasons beforehand. Either they didn't bother to check up on this (Obama should have known since he's a member of the U.S. Senate along with McCain) or it was their desire to further wallow in the gutter. Lest I forget, Obama approved the message.

McCain maybe can't send an email, but Obama's campaign can't Google.