Apple CEO Steve Jobs: ‘I’m going to just stay away from all that political stuff’

“At the Wall Street Journal’s D conference, technology columnist Walt Mossberg took Apple CEO Steve Jobs through a comprehensive grilling session,” Always On reports. Mossberg questions Jobs about Mac OS X’s lack of viruses, the tech economy, politics, Apple’s corporate sales, Pixar and more.

Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs

An excerpt:

Mossberg: Correct me if I’ve described this wrong, but I think it was announced that you recently signed up as economic advisor to John Kerry? Is that the right way to say it? What’s that all about?

Jobs: I called him up and said that I’ve had a little bit of experience with advertising and I’d be glad to help him on advertising. Then a week later I read that I was an economic advisor.

Mossberg: So are you an advertising advisor? Are you an economic advisor, or are you involved in their campaign to some extent?

Jobs: I’ve offered to be. We’ll see what they take me up on.

Mossberg: Do you think he’s more tech friendly than President Bush, or is it broader issues in your mind that pull you that way?

Jobs: Some people have said that I shouldn’t get involved politically because probably half our customers are Republicans – maybe a little less, maybe more Dell than ours. But I do point out that there are more Democrats than Mac users so I’m going to just stay away from all that political stuff because that was just a personal thing.

Full article here.

258 Comments

  1. Auctoris,
    All I’m saying is that the war cost an amazing amount of cash. I’m not disputing the fact that Kerry voted for it. I love the fact that you Reps are supporting the war and want somebody else to pay for it! That’s amazing!

    David,
    Stop watching Fox”News”. You’ve obviously been brainwashed.

    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />

  2. Gren the delusional writes:

    Your taxes are too high because your president needs your cash for his war. What do you expect? Who do you think should be paying for it? The public school system?
    I’m baffled by your common sense in being a Mac user considering the reasons you will vote for Bush… Weird…

    ********************

    Gren, I hate to add to your bafflement, but taxes are LOWER under President Bush – NOT HIGHER. They became higher under (drum roll please)……Bill Clinton, and lower under George Bush.

    The notion that taxes were just fine, that the rates were right were they ought to be before Bush came into office, and now, suddenly, despite Bush having cut taxes ACROSS THE BOARD, they are too high – my goodness you liberals will tell yourselves just about anything in order to sleep well at night.

    Have a baffling day hotshot.

    Sincerely,

    Jack Ass

  3. Interesting how politics cause more discussion than anything. . But I bet everyone already knew that. I didn’t know you could be a smart mac user and a dumb democrat at the same time. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

  4. Auctoris- if 40% of your income is being taken by taxes you need a financial manager/tax advisor/accountant to help you out!
    Sheesh – invest, buy a house, get married, take your deductions. Read a book on saving on taxes and investing.

  5. We could use someone like Jobs to be an economic advisor to both parties.

    With the IRS reporting that personal income has actually declined for 2 years straight(the first time this has ever happened), we need someone who has proven he can turn things around.

  6. Auctoris,
    Good to hear you’re happy with that. I personaly would rather have the money spent in education. I guess education is not your forte.
    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />

  7. let’s be a little more clear here, because this forum does not allow for precision:

    1. who is “we” when you say your taxes are too high? and what is the percentage of your tax compared to your income. I.e. – does it make sense to cut taxes only for the rich? what about all those people, myself included, who got the tax rebate ONLY because I made MORE than the minimum, NOT less. is being rich and wanting to be richer a legitimate reason to vote for Bush, or does it make sense to you that general peace, prosperity, and respect from the world actually makes everyone richer – albeit not necessarily in tangible, monetary ways. Remember the Clinton days. Our taxes were high, but we ALL made more money. Sure, 9/11 did not happen, but prosperity can return – but not by concentrating the wealth ever more. Don’t we know that by now?

    2. unfortunately, the Bush Administration has not actually been a shining star in personal responsibility. He did not go to Vietnam, Cheney had 5 deferments, Ashcroft had 7, Bush was bailed out by his dad repeatedly. Publicly, he tries to project that image because of the party, of course, but you are still talking about a spoiled brat who has gotten away with everyone in his life. I don’t think the issue is whether or not you, fellow Mac users, believe in personal responsibility. Rather, it’s whether Bush is actually not the last person in the world to espouse that virtue. Who opposed the 9/11 hearings? Who actually called Dick Clarke’s apology a self-serving publicity stunt? Who said he made no mistakes ever? Doesn’t it bother you that we might have four more years of this? Really, why resist the 9/11 commission? Why not take responsibility LIKE REAGAN actually did? Kerry, on the other hand, stood up against a war that he ended up not believing in. If a soldier in Iraq right now denounced the war, or even the prisoner tortures, is he/she a flip-flopper, non-patriot, weak, etc.? Or did it take courage to break ranks and speak out? Terrorism cannot be fought by punishing whistleblowers.

  8. 3. Go after Terrorists! Great! Um, if anyone here actually read Dick Clark’s book, you will realize that the Bush admin. wasted months before going into Afghanistan, and most likely lost bin Laden in the process. Then, they started the war with Iraq. The question is STILL NOT whether Iraq had WMD per say. (We know they did BEFORE, back in 1993. Why punish him now? Bush Sr. already concluded, back then, that invading Iraq was ill-advised and ultimately counter-productive. And essentially a deal was made where Saddam could do whatever he wanted as long as he did not bother the US, halt oil, or made nukes. His own private kingdom.) It is rather whether fighting Iraq actually helped or hurt the war on Terror. We know that it has hurt – many times over. Terrorists have been recruiting ever more, they were stationed in Syria, Yemen, Iran, Pakistan, and still Afghanistan, and what do we have to show for Iraq? International enmity – AFTER 9/11, AFTER Iranian women held candlelit vigil, AFTER the whole world took our side.

  9. All I can say is: nothing wrong with being Republican, or standing up for those virtues you extolled. The question is, are you voting the party blindly, or do you see that Bush actually is the worst person to sustain all those things you believe in. Peace, security, prosperity, moral rectitude – tell the veneer from the real thing. Be smarter – like your Mac usage. Don’t buy into the Microsoft-like dissimulation and believe that Linux is 10x more costly thant Microsoft, or that viruses are a regular part of life.

    Ask for accountability.
    Ask why Iraq.
    Ask why Afghanistan so late, and now nothing.
    Ask why reduce troops in S. Korea which is what N. Korea has wanted for decades – but without getting concession from them.
    Ask why 1000 dead, 5000 disfigured US soldiers.
    Ask what bin Laden would have liked Bush to do, and compare.
    Ask why democracy in Iraq, but sultanate in Saudi Arabia.
    Ask why people are jailed for YEARS without lawyer, family, etc. just LOST. (future terrorists, anyone?)

    It’s not about the party this year. It’s about the future of the whole world.

    For me, it was enough that Kerry stood up and protested the war, admitted the good and the bad of war, despite all the possible repurcussions. All you veterans, just because others committed atrocities doesn’t mean you did. BUT, doesn’t mean we can hide it either. Don’t blame the messenger, blame the unnecessary war that forced the situation to happen. No one is blaming the whole US Army for the prisoner abuses, but shouldn’t those accountable be held responsible? Shouldn’t Rumsfeld be fired? War is always hell, but it’s not always necessary in the first place. In the case of 9/11, maybe not war, but smaller targeted operations were needed. Instead, we waged all out war, and still no bin Laden, but ever larger Al Queda.

  10. It’s amazing how you are liberal when you are under your parent’s care and while they are paying your bills.

    You are still liberal after you leave home but you have various government agencies helping pay your way with free tuition or some sort of social assistance.

    You are kind of ambivalent when you are starting to pay your own way but are living from paycheck to paycheck.

    But when you become relatively successful and start making some serious cash and watch while great chunks of that cash are taken in taxes and pissed away on some projects that you do not approve of you become conservative in one hell of a hurry.

  11. Interesting how Rush and many other Republicans keep referring to the torture at Abu Graib as being “Animal House” like or merely fraternity hazing. Hmmmmmmmmmm…I don’t remember the rape of 10 y/o boys being part of my initiation. I guess Republican Fraternities are just a little different. Maybe that�s what Bush meant by “Leave No Child’s Behind”…unmolested, unfucked, unpenetrated? You decide.

  12. whoa there Gren. Now you’re misrepresenting the facts.

    Kerry did not vote for the war.

    the vote was to give authority to the president to go to war.

    NOT THE SAME THING AT ALL!!!!!

    WHY?????? Because of the understanding that whoever is in the position, will use the authority wisely and justly. It’s an important thing to do as a nation because it allows for quick response. Take the decision out of hundreds congressional members and put it into one persons hands. Ineed, it is step towards having war on your hands, but it is not VOTING TO GO TO WAR.

    Remember, the UN got back into Iraq because of the threat of an invasion. That’s a good use of power and authority. Why even bother with inspections in the first place if they don’t find anything and we go to war regardless.

  13. gRen – Since I have three post graduate degrees, I would say education has been somewhat important to me. But in general I take a more Thomas Jefferson approach to the federal government–they are there primarily for a military purpose.

  14. Two things are sure to ruin a party:
    The talk of Politics or Religion
    If Jobs is smart enough to stay away from them we should be able also. BTW Gates is a republican.. Just kidding – I don’t know and don’t care.
    Back to technology

  15. Still no answer from Auctoris. You said you thought 90% of the reasons I gave to get rid of Bush were actually reasons to vote for him. Scared to try and actually state which of the list compromise this “90%” you spouted off about?????

    It always seems that most of the pro-Bush crowd can never come up with more than sound bites to support him. I guess that is because they are basing their decision on sound bites.

  16. Jack A –

    Of your list, there are only two that I would remotely say could be correct:

    Flip flopped on importance of catching Osama
    Smear Campaign tactics.

    And if they are correct, then looks like we won’t be voting for Kerry or any other politician either.

    Of the rest of your list, _if_ these are correct (and I know some of them are), I have no problem with any of them:

    Established a Preemptive Strikes are OK precedence
    His record on the Environment is horrible.
    Ignores the Geneva Conventions
    Continues to support the Patriot Act
    Guantanamo Bay
    Disempowered the UN
    Alienated world opinion against the US

    Your remaining list items are either opion, lack support , or completely incorrect.

    The End

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