TruthNews Commentary, September 12, 2008

Just when it seems the Democrats can't sink any lower, they manage to surprise you. After a week in which Barack Obama defended himself from charges that he referred to Sarah Palin as a pig in lipstick, the Obama campaign has now unveiled an ad that mocks John McCain for his war injuries.

The ad says about McCain, "He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail, still doesn't understand the economy, and favors two hundred billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class."

Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer says, "Our economy wouldn't survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats. It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail."

Well, you might think that the Obama ad is just implying that McCain is old. It's not politically correct to attack McCain for being old -- that might cost Obama the votes of the over-72 crowd. Besides, it might invite comparisons to Ronald Reagan, who was 77 when he left office. So instead, Obama attacks McCain for being unable to use a computer, a key requirement for being the commander-in-chief. In fact, every president from George Washington to George W. Bush has possessed this key executive skill.¹

What the Obama ad fails to mention is that the reason McCain can't use a computer is because his arms were broken when he was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967. His injuries were exacerbated when the communists refused him medical care and then tortured him repeatedly during the five and a half years McCain spent as POW in Hanoi. According to an article in the Boston Globe in the year 2000,

McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: 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.

What next -- will Joe Biden attack Sarah Palin for having a kid with Down's Syndrome? No, wait, he already did that. Will the Washington Post run a front-page article detailing Cindy McCain's addiction to prescription pain medication 14 years ago while ignoring Obama's use of cocaine? No, wait, they already did that. Will Andrew Sullivan write an article falsely accusing Sarah Palin of covering up her daughter's pregnancy by pretending that her grandson was her son? No, wait, Andrew Sullivan already did that.

To be fair, Obama didn't actually call Sarah Palin a pig in lipstick. He said, "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig." Like a lot of what Obama says ("We are the ones we've been waiting for") it's not clear what he was actually talking about with the lipstick-on-a-pig comment. Palin commented at the Republican convention,"You know what they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is? Lipstick." Obama was definitely trying to attack the McCain-Palin ticket. Was he referring back to Palin's earlier comment? Or did he mean that McCain was the pig and Palin the lipstick? Who knows?

The Obama campaign will no doubt withdraw the ad mocking McCain for being unable to use a computer. They'll issue an apology saying they didn't know McCain had war injuries. After all, only a complete bonehead would put out an ad attacking someone for a handicap.

You have to wonder, though, why the Obama campaign didn't do the very basic research to find out why McCain can't use a computer.

Obama says that his experience in running his campaign proves he's ready to be president. After presiding over a boneheaded stunt like this latest ad, it makes you wonder if Obama's the guy you want negotiating with Iran over nukes.

By the way, the argument of Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer is facetious. He says that, "Our economy wouldn't survive without the Internet," which is patently absurd -- the internet is important (you couldn't be reading TruthNews without it) but it's not the key to economic survival. Equally absurd is Pfeiffer's conclusion that, "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail." Air travel is critical to our economy. McCain was a naval aviator, and two of our last three presidents were military pilots.² Does that mean that Obama shouldn't be president because he doesn't know how to fly?

¹ Note to the humor impaired: No, George Washington did not use a computer. Neither did Abraham Lincoln. The statement is intended as humor to illustrate the absurdity of Dan Pfeiffer's contention that the ability to use e-mail is a necessary executive skill to serve as president. Al Gore didn't invent the internet until 1993, so no president before Bill Clinton would have used e-mail.³

² George Bush flew for the Navy in WWII and George W. Bush flew for the Air National Guard during the Vietnam war. Bill Clinton, the lone non-pilot of the last three presidents, was a draft dodger.

³ Footnoting a footnote may be unusual, but I need to point out here that I was using e-mail in 1990. Maybe Al Gore lied about inventing the internet.