Earlier today I posted about an ad Barack Obama put out that jabbed John McCain for being too old and not knowing how to use a computer.  If you missed the ad, here it is again:

Now I thought the ad was pretty mean spirited because I don’t think that someone’s age necessarily disqualifies them from doing a job.  Including the Presidency.  But accusing McCain of not being able to use a computer is sort of mean for another reason.  You see, when McCain was a POW in Vietnam he was tortured unmercifully and some of the lingering injuries he suffers from include an inability to comfortably raise his arms very high (such as high enough to rest on a desk) and an inability to type due to the fact that both of his hands were broken.

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.”

So go ahead and laugh at stupid old disabled John McCain, liberals, but he’s earned his computer illiteracy fair and square.