McCain Admits to not knowing how to use a computer

It doesn't mean so much to me that he doesn't know how to use a computer. He'll have a staff to do everything. But my mother in law is 76 and she's a whiz on a computer! LOL

What does bother me about McCain is that he's freaking old, not just in age, but in his mind. He forgets things, he gets confused easily, he mixes things up and he's VERY old-fashioned. Basically I do not trust this nice "Ancient American" to be the President of the US. It's too big a job for him. And not having a clue about a computer or a movie in this century are just indications.

reply to post by Hal9000
It is a non-issue. Obviously we can all use computers, but how many of us can reformat our own hard drive, install an operating system, add memory, or replace malfunctioning components?

I can do these things, but I've seen great keyboardist and researchers that can barely turn on their PC without assistance..

By the way, I like you Avatar Mr. Cybernaut!

[Edit for my crappy keyboarding skills]

[edit on 6/12/08 by LLoyd45]

Originally posted by LLoyd45
By the way, I like you Avatar Mr. Cybernaut!

Thanks. Now if only I can get paid...

reply to post by Hal9000
If it pays well, let me know. I'll sign up too! I think we do have a few legitimate cybernauts on ATS already, but that's cool with me.

[edit on 6/12/08 by LLoyd45]

Originally posted by argentus
I have no problem with Senator McCain not knowing how to use a computer. I myself, have no idea how to use a politician.

My vote for the best line in this whole discussion so far.


Nuff for now, off to mow the tumbleweeds....

Well if McCain gets elected at least we know our Internet is safe.

This fact might weaken his chance with the younger voters. The seniors may find this refreshing because they have no clue either. Well most of our senior citizens at least.

Sorry to disagree with some of you fine folk, but in the XXI'st century not knowing how to use a computer means you're an information cripple. I consider it a critical skill. Knowing how to use a computer means a basic knowledge of the WYSIWYG interface, file extensions, email and office and ofc the internet as well as some knowledge of file extensions. Not knowing how to reformat a drive or edit the registry is excusable. But at the very least you should be able to use the control panel. I mean, this stuff takes less than a month to learn even for someone who is only intelectually average.

So why couldn't McCain take a couple of months and learn this stuff?

If books are still available - and I think they will be - in the future that means a computer will not be necessary and a person lacking one won't be an information cripple.

Computers are nice for the average person, but not the end-all and be-all.

I keep quite a few tech manuals and the like on hand and it's not difficult to research things from them.

As a small fwiw, I learned machine work - I have a small home machine shop - from books as well as learned how to sail and navigate from books.

Originally posted by UnforgiveableSin
Well if McCain gets elected at least we know our Internet is safe.

I would think that might make it easier to convince him with misconceptions and get him to believe that limits and monitoring are good.

reply to post by jhill76


I am on the fence about this. I am not a McCain fan at all. But two thoughts cross my mind:

is there anything that he would use a computer for that he doesn't have on staff to handle? I mean, is he really going to be creating his own webpage or correspndence?

On the flip side, there is a lot of legistilation coming down the pike concerning the WWW. How is somoene unfamiliar with it going to understand the legislation?

reply to post by nixie_nox



Like they do anything else.

Presidents aren't expert on everything and that's why they have staff to condense the information to a reasonable level as well as talk to people expert in the particular thing they are discussing.

Just had a thought. What about e-mail? Surely, he uses a computer for that? If not, while everyone else does, wouldn't that leave him out of a large part of any discussion?

To me it is the significance behind WHY he never learned to use a computer. This shows a man with no desire to ask questions or learn anything new. It signifies inflexibility, and the inability to adapt to change. Perhaps a rejection of progress? How many times per DAY do I wonder about something and look it up? The amount of information he is missing out on must be staggering! Honestly, after all the hype about computers, you'd have to be brain-dead not to want to check it out and see what all the fuss is about.

My decision to get a computer started years ago when I asked my friend why she liked her computer so much. She said she could look up whatever she thought about and the information was there. I said there are a few pages to read about things? She said, there might be a million references to what she looked up. I asked her, seriously, a million? She assured me it was true.

Just now, I picked something relatively obscure, banana spider, and came up with 540,000 results.

What am I getting that McCain is missing out on? Up to the minute news stories from around the world, the ability to cross reference information, email, near instant answers to whatever comes to my mind, easily documented and saved conversations between myself and others.

I suggest that he learn how to use a computer, then get busy brushing up on that very important area he admitted to being deficient in: THE ECONOMY.

This has been in my mind for some time now. How on earth did McCain get some of his work done? I mean I know computers only took the major part of work time in the senate during the 90s but how did McCain get through all this time without using a computer??