Picking on the handicapped
Bookworm on Sep 12 2008 at 4:05 pm | Filed under: Uncategorized
It’s always been considered impolite to pick on or humiliate those who are handicapped in some way. Of late, it’s also been a PC faux pas, extending far beyond mere manners. Yet in the last two days, the Democrats have done this twice. The first was just Biden being Biden (and I think he recovered with some grace and charm from his humiliating error), but the second is less excusable.
The Obama campaign decided to make McCain look really old by having an attack ad about the fact that he’s been in politics since 1982 (oooh, scary) and that he doesn’t use email. The 1982 attack sags a bit before the fact that Biden’s been in politics since 1973, but the ad really collapses over something the Obama campaign should have known: McCain doesn’t use a computer, not because he’s an aged idiot, but because he was so severely beaten and tortured by the Vietnamese that he can’t do many simple life skills, such as combing his hair and tying his shoes. Typing is also impossible.
As I said, this was not just some goofy mistake from a gaffe machine. This was a low blow, involving something a well-informed campaign would have understood and left alone.
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Ouch.
And here I thought he had only insulted those seniors who haven’t chosen to get computer literate…!
Remember what you wrote about, Book, before concerning the Left’s adoration of the underdog?
Well, this is why they only adore evil underdogs. Cause they want to crush every other innocent that lacks their power.
They are that cruel. They are that ruthless. They are something people need to defeat.
It is more than a little ironic here that the ∅bama campaign attacks McCain for not being computer savvy re e-mails etc. when the reason for his not using a keyboard had to do with POW injuries. The irony is that such information was readily available from an Internet search, which is not exactly evidence of the computer/Internet prowess of the ∅bama team.
Now ∅bama and his campaign come across as ignorant bullies, not exactly how they wanted to be portrayed.
∅bama has recently been saying that his running his Presidential campaign is evidence of his executive skills. This computer gaffe has put paid to that claim, as only a doofus would have run that ad knowing what had happened to McCain. Only a doofus would have run that ad without researching McCain thoroughly. Either way, doofus city for the ∅bama campaign and for ∅bama.
Not exactly someone you want taking that call at 3 a.m., unless you are talking about someone at a takeout pizza joint taking a phone order at 3 a.m. That, I am certain, is a phone call the Senator from Illinois could handle.
Biden being Biden:
Exactly. The only way the guy can avoid putting his foot in his mouth is to shut up. What was that he said about his running mate: clean and articulate?
I had a dream last night that there was an honest Mainstream Media reporter interviewing Obama this morning. Actually, I didn’t have a dream, but what if I had?
Honest Reporter (HR) : “Senator Obama, yesterday you put out this ad saying that Senator McCain did not know how to use a computer nor use email.”
Obambi, smugly, confidently: “Yes, we did. This shows that Senator McCain is, shall we say, a creature of the past, and he refuses to look at the world in modern ways.”
HR: “Are you aware that due to his damage from prolonged torture, Senator McCain would experience disabling pain if he spent extended time at a keyboard, typing?”
Obambi: “Oh, uh, well, I, uh, I mean that, I, uh, oh, well, I uh, I think that it is clear that, uh, I uh, oh, I mean to say that, it is true that Senator McCain has no appreciation for the power of modern technology.”
HR: “His aides all have Blackberries. He has Mark Salter send his Blackberry messages.”
Obambi: “Well, this may be true, but it doesn’t, uh, eh, I, uh, it doesn’t mitigate the, uh, eh, extenuating circumstances of what I eh, I stand by the ad.”
HR: “So Senator McCain should be criticized because he cannot type at his keyboard.”
Obambi: “No, no, no no. You’re not paying attention. We are criticizing McCain for being OLD. Old, old, old, old. Isn’t it clear? I definitely called him a Pig, and Palin the lipstick on that pig. He’s old. That’s why he’s out of touch.”
HR: “So, it’s not really that he doesn’t type on a keyboard, and it’s not that he doesn’t personally, therefore, write and send email. It’s simply that he’s old.”
And millions of senior citizens, sitting there staring at the TV screen, start to growl.
Then I woke up from my dream. I knew it was a dream, instantly, because of course, it concerned an honest mainstream media reporter.
People who have a worshipful attitude toward new technologies rarely use them effectively, and are rarely effective executives.
Roosevelt could easily have communicated via “e-mail” during the Depression and WWII, by simply sitting down at the White House teletype machine himself, rather than having this function performed by operators, and requiring his agency heads to do the same. Would this have made his administration any more effective?
The McCain campaign does indeed use technology effectively, i.e the instant UTube ads, quick, on point and cheap to produce.
As for McCain himself, the ad is absolutely an attack on his age. In my liberal place of employment, the negative you hear most often about McCain is “he’s too old.” And let’s face it, until very recently his campaign didn’t show much life. So, the stratgey for BHO was correct, they just chose the wrong illustration. The mistakes they are making are amateurish, foolish.
McCain needs to answer the “he’s too old” charge. So far he does it by example. In the 9/11 “debates” at Columbia, McCain was lively and animated. BHP was cool and detached. (Same mistake BHO made at Saddlebrook, one senses passion is beyond BHO’s range)
Even so, I would love to see a funny ad featuring the Old Bull and the Young Bull and a herd of eager cows.
“I would love to see a funny ad featuring the Old Bull and the Young Bull and a herd of eager cows.”
Whizbang likens it to a scene from Men in Black:
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2008/09/12/you-stay-classy-obama.php
I have heard it stated — over and over –that, given McCain’s age, there is a very high likelihood that he would die in office.
So, using dates provided by Wikipedia I looked at parental mortality for each:
– Obama: Mom died at age 52; dad at age 46. Avg age at death: 49
– McCain: Mom living at age 96; dad died at age 70. Avg age at death: 85+
Obama’s current age is 47 and McCain’s is 72.
Ellie2, that means the Dems are suggesting to us that we should run Palin vs Biden, for President.
A good idea, if only they didn’t think that this would leech the pressure off of Barry.
Y,
The justification for running Obama vs Palin is the argument that McCain is likely to die in office.
If that premise is false, then running against Palin is just dumb.
Anyone know if the Obama campaign has retracted the ad or apologized? Also, has the msm media covered this one?