“Blogs have been buzzing recently over McCain’s admission that when it comes to the Internet, ‘I’m an illiterate who has to rely on his wife for any assistance he can get.’ And the 71-year-old presumptive Republican presidential nominee, asked about his Web use last week by the New York Times, said that aides ‘go on for me. I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself,'” The Associated Press reports.
AP asks. “How unusual is it for a 71-year-old American to be unplugged?”
“That depends on how you look at the statistics. Only 35 percent of Americans over age 65 are online, according to data from April and May compiled by the Pew Internet Project at the Pew Research Center,” AP reports. “But when you account for factors like race, wealth and education, the picture changes dramatically. ‘About three-quarters of white, college-educated men age over 65 use the Internet,’ says Susannah Fox, director of the project.”
AP reports, “McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan presented a somewhat updated picture when contacted by The Associated Press on Friday: ‘He’s fully capable of browsing the Internet and checking Web sites,’ Buchanan said. “‘He has a Mac and uses it several times a week. He’s working on becoming more familiar with the Internet.'”
“As for McCain’s Democratic rival, Barack Obama is 46, and thus in an age group where fully 85 percent of Americans are plugged in,” AP reports. “A CNN clip available on YouTube shows him so engrossed with his Blackberry while crossing a street that he bumps into the curb.”
AP reports, “One blogger opined last week that all the fuss is silly. McCain, wrote Newsweek’s Andrew Romano, hasn’t become computer literate because he hasn’t needed to. ‘When aides are responding to your messages and briefing you on every imaginable subject, the incentive to get online sort of disappears,’ he wrote.”
More in the full article here.
[UPDATE: 2:59pm EDT: According to a Newsweek article published in February, Obama also uses a Mac: “Michelle [Obama] recently bought two MacBook laptops, one for Barack and one for the kids, so they could have video chats over the Internet.” Full article here.]
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “WalterKovacs” for the heads up.]
Work on that Internet thing, John; at least you have a Mac. And get an iPhone, Barak; you’ll instantly wonder why you ever thought you “loved” your BlackBerry.
Add McCain and Obama to the list of confirmed Mac users that includes President George Bush, Rush Limbaugh, Al Gore, Karl Rove, John Kerry, Moby, and tens of millions more…
Five pages easy.
Obama is on blackberry…patience my young padawan, soon on iPhone he’ll be, as the next US President.
McCain is yet another Republican candidate who can’t do it for himself and has no clue what it’s like to live in the 21st century.
I’ll bet he has aides to put his pants on in the morning:
‘When aides are responding… the incentive to puts your pants on yourself sort of disappears.”
“. . . go on for me. I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself . . . “
There’s a sentence that Bush would have mangled.
Unfortunately, it also would have been pretty filthy.
maybe six pages.
Sounds about right…
There is 71 plus 46 jokes in that story but, it’s best to just walk away.
The White House IT department doesn’t support the iPhone yet!
Is Obama a PC user?
Actually, MDN, Obama has an iPhone (altho he is seen most often using a Blackberry) and he uses a MacBook to have iChat/AV conversations with his daughters when he is on the road. You might want to check into this.
Hum… I think most americans are pretty racists… it would be a wonder if they once get a black president.
Well, yet… some hope is allowed…
MDN: O’Bama is featured in a vid snipped using his iPhone – Google Obama using iPhone and you’ll see in the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs a link to this
If I had both an iPhone and a Blackberry, and actually had used the iPhone, I certainly wouldn’t carry and use the blackberry. I’ve had three or four different blackberries over about 4 years (for work) and I think they’re all crap. I wonder if someone got him the iPhone to be cool and if he’s ever used it.
Ok, I used “the Google” (as our esteemed Prez might say) to further pin-down the computer preferences of Obama. This from Mac.Blorge:
Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Jay-Z, Ludacris are just a sample of some the artists that make an appearance on his iPod… Recently, his wife bought two MacBook laptops one for the kids and one for Barack so they could have video chats over the internet. Obama’s campaign also uses Sproutit Mailroom (a Mac application) to manage Obama’s presidential campaign.
All this politician Mac/PC/ platform use is really dumb.
That’s it… I’m voting for McCain…. JK
@almux,
Some of us Americans are ugly racists, also.
Oh the Humanity!!! How dare those Conservatives infiltrate a Liberal product!!! AAAAAAAA!!!!!!
How dare the savior Barack Obama use something so inferior that only Republicans should use. Aren’t liberals smarter than that!! Steve, please, for the love of all things humanly sane, please, can you do anything to stop this atrocity!!
There’s nothing wrong with the Blackberry…
MDN, don’t be so damn stupid.
This is the type of story/take that makes you/us all look like idiots.
STOP.
Get a clue.
Relax.
haha. Should this come as any surprise to anyone? Us Republican’s use Macs because we’re smarter than you dumb ass DemocRats. heehee. And of course Osama uses a BLACKberry.
There is a fellow that comes around here with a shirt that reads “The darker the BERRY, the sweeter the juice”.
Blackberry-Barak-Black-Muslim-Democrat—they all fit together so smuggly.
Obama loves BlackBerry because he’s half black, too.
No vote. No way. No how.
If I knew then what I know now, I would’ve picked my own cotton.
I’m actually pretty proud of most of the commenters so far. Appreciate all your civility.
That’s it. If McCain uses a Mac, I’m switching to… um… uh… a Timex-Sinclair 1000.
Actually, maybe I’ll just go evangelize Obama. That would be easier. Get him on an iPhone, and he’ll be on a Mac in no time.
“Hum… I think most americans are pretty racists… it would be a wonder if they once get a black president.
Well, yet… some hope is allowed…”
Hmmmm, you sound pretty prejudice yourself.
I am not voting against Obama because of his skin color. I am voting against him for being a liberal, a big spender, a supporter oh high gas prices, his idiotic stance regarding national security, his lack of experience, his relationships with dodgy people, his high spending tendencies, and his fondness for earmarks.
Well, I’m not impressed with McCain, but this doesn’t surprise me at all about Obama. The guy is obviously clueless when it comes to most everything. He’s definitely all talk and no substance.