McCain defends his tech smarts in S.F.

[Ichingcarpenter]

McCain defends his tech smarts in S.F.




GOP presidential candidate John McCain, fundraising in the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the nation's technology capitals, acknowledged Monday that he isn't a "tech freak" or entirely comfortable with the Internet, BlackBerrys or e-mail. But he strongly disputed criticism that he is "out of the loop" as unfair


"Am I a tech freak? No," he said in an interview Monday with The Chronicle. "And I don't like to text message because I'd rather call somebody on the telephone.""I do understand the importance of the computer. I understand the importance of the blogs," he said.

McCain said he is well aware that technology "does drive the news. It is changing the shape of the news. ... It's changing the information age, and I've got to stay up with it."
He added, "But I am forcing myself ... let me put it this way, I am using the computer more and more every day."

Asked how he could be a 21st century president without such familiarity, McCain said he has been both engaged and familiar with technology issues as a leading legislator in the Senate.
"It doesn't mean that I have to e-mail people," he said. "Now, I read e-mails," he added, saying his staff is "constantly showing them to me as the news breaks during the day."
"I use a computer almost every day. I go on different web sites ... ours and the various media," he said.


"I was chairman of the Commerce Committee for several years," a position that involved "oversight of every aspect of the market's economy - airlines, railroads, NASA," McCain said.
And "we spent three quarters of our time on telecommunications issues, because that's what was driving the economy," he said.

"We passed the ban on Internet taxes, which was vital, I think, in the growth of the Internet. We had constant hearings ... about new technology that was being developed," including some of the more controversial aspects of "different and competing interests" in the field, such as broadband technology, said McCain.
"So to somehow allege that I'm not up to date on it isn't in keeping with my record as chairman," he said.
"It's not as if I'm out of the loop," he said. "I understand the criticism, but I don't think it's fair."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/29/MNQS120PDK.DTL

[nc4bo]

1. Haha, couldn't get through the post before I saw.......

the blue van.........John President McCain? :wtf: :rofl:

[NYCGirl]

2. Here's a filmclip of Obama and his iPhone.

http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2008/05/obama-flashes-his-iphone.html

McCain, on the other hand, was shown an iPhone. The jury's still out on whether he could recognize what it was.

[stellanoir]

3. "And. . .

I'm doing it through this really ingenious device. My friends. . .all you have to do is attach two tin cans together with a string. It's truly miraculous and thoroughly revolutionary. . ."

BTW & FYI. . .Friends don't let friends die or be woefully injured in unlawful military conflicts, callously denying them proper care or support, based solely on bad (aka bogus) intelligence (aka sheer avarice and stupidity).

Nor would they ever, ever, ever, sanction sadism (aka extraordinary rendition) of any other sentient beings.

Great on National Security . . . my ass.

[Alter Ego]

4. Seriously, Senator McCain?

"I understand the importance of the blogs."

"My staff shows me emails."