John McCain goes online (What???)

Earlier stories here and here and his e-mail bill, plain unbelievable!

7-13-2008 Nationally:

John McCain, who admitted in January that he is a computer “illiterate,” now says he is “learning to get online myself.”

McCain revealed that his favorite websites include The Drudge Report, Politico.com and Real Clear Politics.

But he still doesn’t use e-mail.

President Bush was an avid e-mailer before he took office, but he stopped for privacy reasons.

McCain’s revelation that he is a computer newbie — and still struggles with the Web — puts him out of step with most Americans and contrasts dramatically with Barack Obama, who was photographed last week with BlackBerry in hand.

In an interview in January with Politico and Yahoo News, McCain punted on whether he prefers a Mac or a PC.

“Neither,” he replied. “I am an illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance that I can get.”

But as he tried to show he is “with it” heading into a general election showdown with the hip and youthful Obama, McCain now says he’s trying to learn.

In an interview with Adam Nagourney and Michael Cooper of The New York Times, McCain discussed his tech education:

Q: What websites if any do you look at regularly?

Mr. McCain: Brooke [Buchanan, his traveling press secretary] and Mark [Salter, his top adviser] show me Drudge, obviously; everybody watches, for better or for worse, Drudge. Sometimes I look at Politico. Sometimes RealPolitics, sometimes.

(Mrs. McCain and Buchanan both interject [regarding his daughter]: “Meghan’s blog!”)

Mr. McCain: Excuse me, Meghan’s blog (Daughter). And we also look at the blogs from Michael and from you that may not be in the newspaper, that are just part of your blog.

Q: But do you go on line for yourself?

Mr. McCain: They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need — including going to my daughter’s blog first, before anything else.

Q: Do you use a Blackberry or e-mail?

Mr. McCain: No.

Mark Salter: He uses a BlackBerry, just ours.

Mr. McCain: I use the Blackberry, but I don’t e-mail, I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail. I read e-mails all the time, but the communications that I have with my friends and staff are oral and done with my cell phone. I have the luxury of being in contact with them literally all the time. We now have a phone on the plane that is usable on the plane, so I just never really felt a need to do it. But I do — could I just say, really — I understand the impact of blogs on American politics today and political campaigns. I understand that. And I understand that something appears on one blog, can ricochet all around and get into the evening news, the front page of The New York Times. So, I do pay attention to the blogs. And I am not in any way unappreciative of the impact that they have on entire campaigns and world opinion.

Q: You read newspapers, then.

Mr. McCain: I read them most all every day.

Q: You and Obama are both newspaper and book readers. Do you read them in the old paper version or do you read them online?

Mr. McCain: I love to read them in the print form, and the reason why I do is because so much, the prominence of the story matters. If I read a story and say, Oh my God, did you see this? But it’s back on A26, it doesn’t have the impact of what are still — even though it’s declining — what are still, what are hundreds of millions of American picking up an looking at today. And that’s why I really think that reading it is, it helps me more than, now, because I don’t read all the newspapers — I don’t see, for example, the L.A. Times every day, or the San Francisco Chronicle, or the Arizona Republic when I’m away. So we go then, of course, online, and look at them.’
..News Source.. by MIKE ALLEN