McCain Staffer Turns His Candidate Into A Joke The Whole Internet Can Enjoy

Okay. This is a little bit complicated to explain. Also: boring. So here's the short version. This week, there was this conference called the Personal Democracy Forum, or PDF, and at the PDF there was a panel discussion - on internet stuff! - like Twitter and, uhm...PDFs. And junk.

Anyway, at this panel, Mark Soohoo, who is ostensibly part of John McCain's "internet team" was explaining to the assembled that despite the outward appearance that McCain hasn't learned how to use Google - and is thus still unaware that his campaign's BFF Charlie Black has this annoying hobby of repping for bloodthirsty dictators - the candidate has plenty of what we used to call "computer literacy." But then: DAG! Here comes blogger (and former John Edwards internet director) Tracy Russo, gettin' all up in Soohoo's grill, funnin' on McCain! That led Soohoo to utter these immortal words, "John McCain is aware of the internet." As it turns out, that dovetailed a little too closely with "I am aware of all Internet traditions" - another joke that Wonkette had recently catapulted into the online political conversation. And now, a perfect storm of meme is born.

[WATCH.]

So there you have it. McCain's internet guy got PWNED at a conference, yes, but it would be unfair for this incident to come to be known as the moment where people realized that McCain didn't know how to use a computer. That moment came last week, when John McCain yelled at Barack Obama for having a powerful social network of campaign donors who used the internet to create a new and innovative method of public campaign finance, while John McCain is stuck trying to raise money with a bundle of pointed sticks and some cave paint.

RELATED: The Five Internet Jokes That Will Make Obama Win [Gawker]

Comments

[mlaiuppa]

02:44 PM on 06/27/2008

And now there's a t-Shirt. Available at CNN.

[walk0nwalls]

10:03 AM on 06/27/2008

John McCain: Aware of the Internet

It's got such a nice cadence to it

[Conejo]

11:57 PM on 06/25/2008

His buddy Bush doesn't know how to use a computer either. Hmm. They seem more alike all the time.

[kellygrrrl]

05:17 PM on 06/25/2008

Jason - I am so glad you are bringing Wonkette and Gawk links to Huffy

keep it up!!!

[kallopolis]

05:10 PM on 06/25/2008

McCain thinks it's "cute" that he doesn't know how to use a computer.
He's too old to realize that it's just idiotic for a political to be so disengaged­.

No wonder his economic policy sounds like it's from 1981.

[JLee]

04:00 PM on 06/25/2008

McCain should just stop sending people to these debates to get their posteriors kicked. It's so sad how he's devolved into a joke since 2000, when I actually had respect for him.

[helonias]

02:27 PM on 06/25/2008

And I have seen old men aware of the urine stain on the crotch of their pants.

Not a lot of difference­.

[nicoshalom]

02:07 PM on 06/25/2008

He's aware of the internet? Umm...I don't even know how to respond to that

[helonias]

01:10 PM on 06/25/2008

So grandpa, who doesn't know how to use a computer, will lead up into the technologi­cal future?

[gage]

01:30 PM on 06/25/2008

From McCain's remarks in rural Kentucky:

"I think we should establish a "People Connect Program" that rewards companies that offer high-speed Internet access services to underserve­d, low-income customers by allowing these companies to write off the cost of this service. The government should enlist the help of private/pu­blic partnershi­ps to devise creative and successful solutions to the lack of access to informatio­n technology­. In many places, cities and towns are working with businesses that have experience providing high-speed Internet services to share the cost of building and improving that service. Where companies are unwilling to build informatio­n infrastruc­ture, the federal government can support towns through government­-backed loans or by issuing bonds with a low interest rate.

An aggressive effort to knit together all of the United States with 21st century informatio­n networks will make location less of a factor in the potential for economic success. Instead, the prime determinan­t will be the skills, energy, imaginatio­n, and persistenc­e of Americans -- attributes that have traditiona­lly been in great supply in America, and certainly exist here, where people have always prided themselves on hard work and self-relia­nce."

[Insideout143]

01:55 PM on 06/25/2008

And who on McCain's staff wrote that for him?

[TRocks]

02:02 PM on 06/25/2008

Do you believe he actually wrote that himself?

[lvdragonlady]

01:03 PM on 06/25/2008

My dad is aware of the Internet too, so what is his point?

[helonias]

12:42 PM on 06/25/2008

The man who can't use a computer will successful­ly lead us into the futre.

Yeah right.

And a virgin religious man will tell me all about sex too.

[helonias]

12:40 PM on 06/25/2008

How abut the TV remote.

His awareness is astounding­.

[Krikkit]

12:37 PM on 06/25/2008

I LOVE this piece!!! Learn something new every day. Like today I learned how to insert a new meme into the interwebne­ts via "block quotes". Who'da'thu­nk'it?

[LutherBrixton]

12:28 PM on 06/25/2008

McCain's heard of horselesss carriages, too! He just doesn't trust 'em, dag nabit!

Same thing with those picture snatchin' daguerreot­ypes! McCain knows they exist, but they ain't a-gonna be stealin' his soul! No siree-bob!

[LawSource]

12:20 PM on 06/25/2008

LOL, LOL!!

JASON Where THE HELL YOU FIND THESE STUFF!!

I AM ON THE FLOOR LAUGHTING RIGHT NOW.......­. I CANT HELP IT, THIS IS TOO FUNNY!!