…or at least cluelessness, the Obama campaign released (on TV) today an ad that, among other things, mocks McCain for not using e-mail or knowing how to use a computer, presumably because he’s so old (another theme of the ad). Here’s the ad itself (if it’s still up on YouTube):

Personally, I think it’s a dumb ad, since there are plenty of older Americans (who vote!) who are less than comfortable using a computer. But that’s not the real cluelessness.

It turns out that John McCain has never been able to use a keyboard — he can’t even tie his own shoes — because of the crippling beatings he suffered as a POW in North Vietnam:

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. (Boston Globe, March 4, 2000; emphasis mine)

Oopsie, as my kids used to say.  Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit.

And here’s an update (via Jonah Goldberg via Ace of Spades) — the Obama ad is even more profoundly wrong:

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. (Forbes, May 29, 2000)

So McCain is internet- and computer-savvy, was using e-mail 8 years ago, but he has his wife type because it’s too painful for him.

Stay classy, Dems.  ..bruce w..