McCain Is Computer Illiterate Ad Blows Up In Obama's Face

The young snarkies running Sen. Barack Obama's campaign couldn't resist the opportunity to make fun of the fact that Sen. John McCain has admitted he doesn't use a computer and send e-mails. The AP explains the new Obama attack ad against McCain:

John McCain is mocked as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate in a television commercial out Friday from Barack Obama as the Democrat begins his sharpest barrage yet on McCain's long Washington career.

The new fighting spirit comes as McCain has been gaining in the polls and some Democrats have been expressing concern the Obama campaign has not been aggressive enough. Obama's campaign says the escalation will involve advertising and pushes made by the candidate, running mate Joe Biden and other surrogates across the country.

"Today is the first day of the rest of the campaign," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe says in a campaign strategy memo. "We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain's attacks and we will take the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues that matter to the American people."

After reading this 2000 story from the Boston Globe about the limitations McCain has because of the injuries he sustained during his more than five years of captivity in a North Vietnamese prison camp, the Obama campaign might not want to be quite so flippant about this:

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.

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.''

That's right. John McCain can't sit down and type at a computer because of his war injury, or comb his own hair or tie his own shoes. Democrats are very sympathetic towards people living with disabilities unless they're running against them. The Obama staffer whose bright idea it was to attack McCain for being computer illiterate should be given the boot he or she deserves.