Suitably Flip

Obama's Most Exquisitely Ironic Gaffe-Attack Yet

Since the day McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, the Obama campaign has thrown its opponents into several briar patches - most notably, concerning inexperience and earmarks - inviting comparisons that Obama shouldn't want (and that the media has thus far been happy to ignore).

Today, Obama raised the art of unforced errors to new heights.  After declaring boldly for the severalth time that he's taking the gloves off and rolling up his sleeves and [insert third butch metaphor here], the campaign released a terribly clever ad informing America that John McCain is old.  The ad specifically scoffs that McCain "can't send an e-mail."  What a dusty old buffoon!

There's only one problem with this line of attack.  The fact that McCain (who does read political websites and blogs) can't send an e-mail has less to do with his lack of tech savvy than with his having endured years of beatings and torture.

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.

After Vietnam, McCain had Ann Lawrence, a physical therapist, help him regain flexibility in his leg, which had been frozen in an extended position by a shattered knee. It was the only way he could hope to resume his career as a Navy flier, but Lawrence said the treatment, taken twice a week for six months, was excruciatingly painful.

”He endured it, he wouldn’t settle for less,” said Lawrence, who rejoiced with McCain when he passed the Navy physical. ”I have never seen such toughness and resolve.”

By now, Obama must be getting used to his attacks backfiring.  But the unprecedented reading on the ironicometer for this botched attacked stems from the ease with which Obama's hip, wired staffers and/or ad team could've discovered this information using the "information superhighway" (specifically, by making use of "search engine" technology to cull relevant information from the "world wide web").

The quote above is from a Boston Globe story from March 2000.  If you run a simple Google News search for articles published before last year, using the terms "john mccain keyboard", this Forbes article from May 2000 shows up on the first page of results.

In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate's savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. "She's a whiz on the keyboard, and I'm so laborious," McCain admits.

What percentage of 64-year-olds do you suppose were daily e-mail users back in 2000?

This is a quadruple whammy for Obama.  The ad 1) is apparently wildly inaccurate, 2) makes Obama look like a jerk for needling McCain (if inadvertently) about his war injuries, 3) reminds people which of these two candidates is a hero, and 4) exposes the delicious tech-idiocy behind this initiative to demonstrate McCain's tech-idiocy.

(HT: Jonah Goldberg, via Ed Morrissey)

Update:  A fine idea from the comments:

Please, please run a response ad with Meg and Carli

Update:  Obama's tech geniuses update the campaign website with a call to help "the victems" of Hurricane Ike.  Spell check, champ.  It's even older than the interweb.

Comments

Obama's Most Exquisitely Ironic Gaffe-Attack Yet

Since the day McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, the Obama campaign has thrown its opponents into several briar patches - most notably, concerning inexperience and earmarks - inviting comparisons that Obama shouldn't want (and that the media has thus far been happy to ignore).

Today, Obama raised the art of unforced errors to new heights.  After declaring boldly for the severalth time that he's taking the gloves off and rolling up his sleeves and [insert third butch metaphor here], the campaign released a terribly clever ad informing America that John McCain is old.  The ad specifically scoffs that McCain "can't send an e-mail."  What a dusty old buffoon!

There's only one problem with this line of attack.  The fact that McCain (who does read political websites and blogs) can't send an e-mail has less to do with his lack of tech savvy than with his having endured years of beatings and torture.

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.

After Vietnam, McCain had Ann Lawrence, a physical therapist, help him regain flexibility in his leg, which had been frozen in an extended position by a shattered knee. It was the only way he could hope to resume his career as a Navy flier, but Lawrence said the treatment, taken twice a week for six months, was excruciatingly painful.

”He endured it, he wouldn’t settle for less,” said Lawrence, who rejoiced with McCain when he passed the Navy physical. ”I have never seen such toughness and resolve.”

By now, Obama must be getting used to his attacks backfiring.  But the unprecedented reading on the ironicometer for this botched attacked stems from the ease with which Obama's hip, wired staffers and/or ad team could've discovered this information using the "information superhighway" (specifically, by making use of "search engine" technology to cull relevant information from the "world wide web").

The quote above is from a Boston Globe story from March 2000.  If you run a simple Google News search for articles published before last year, using the terms "john mccain keyboard", this Forbes article from May 2000 shows up on the first page of results.

In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate's savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. "She's a whiz on the keyboard, and I'm so laborious," McCain admits.

What percentage of 64-year-olds do you suppose were daily e-mail users back in 2000?

This is a quadruple whammy for Obama.  The ad 1) is apparently wildly inaccurate, 2) makes Obama look like a jerk for needling McCain (if inadvertently) about his war injuries, 3) reminds people which of these two candidates is a hero, and 4) exposes the delicious tech-idiocy behind this initiative to demonstrate McCain's tech-idiocy.

(HT: Jonah Goldberg, via Ed Morrissey)

Update:  A fine idea from the comments:

Please, please run a response ad with Meg and Carli

Update:  Obama's tech geniuses update the campaign website with a call to help "the victems" of Hurricane Ike.  Spell check, champ.  It's even older than the interweb.