that just made me spit my coffee - Erin @queenofspain

I'm not a McCain supporter (by a long shot), but... I don't need to play the violin or cello to understand music. - Kirk Kittell

That is probably one of the lamest answers of all time - I am aware of Congress and the Presdential Election coming up - doesn't mean I know it or am compotent to run for office... - Tony from twhirl

he's only aware of it? - Jennifer Van Grove from twhirl

@Jennifer: He overheard former Senator Gore mumble about his "invention" in the Congress hallways, surely - Kirk Kittell

he has said he does not use a compute - Erin @queenofspain

is he "aware" that there was a twitter presenditial debate with someone else representing him??? - Jennifer Van Grove from twhirl

you know who doesn't know how to use a computer? My grandma. And I don't want her running the country either. - jason burton

Jimmy Carter could operate a nuclear submarine, but that didn't help us when Iran took the hostages. - Ontario Emperor

Presidents need to understand the Internet the way they understand our highway system, freedoms of speech and assembly, what NASA does, why the CDC needs a bigger budget, and how much of his campaign site operations is offshored to Mumbai... - Phil Wolff from Alert Thingy

I think just the fact someone has to SAY 'John McCain is aware of the Internet' is frankly the problem here - Erin @queenofspain

John McCain is probably the last candidate of his generation to run for President. - Dave Winer

you know, I'm "aware" of foreign policy and budgeting. doesn't mean i know how to run the damn country - Jeremy Toeman

who said it? - Bill Seitz

I'm "aware" of open heart surgery. Do you want me operating on you? - Mike Doeff

I guess that means that he knows there's something called the "Internet". That's almost as good as the head of german ministry of justice answering "Browser? What was a browser just now?" who still prepares laws pertaining to users of said Internet. - Andre Heinrichs

The problem with McCain's statement is that it reveals a lack of intellectual curiosity about strategic developments in the world that are affecting us all. He seems to be out of touch with what is going on in the real world, and becoming more out of touch with each passing day. This situation is not going to improve -- he is in a state of mental decline. Without puppeteers at his elbow, like Joseph Lieberman, he would be completely adrift. - Sean McBride

Is the Obama Girl speaking at this conference? I'd like her to do a video with John McCain like the one she did with HRC. http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Dave Winer

Turn it around: Is _the Internet_ aware of John McCain? Just so happens I interviewed _the Internet_ the other day and when asked the pointed question: "Many claim you _are aware_ of John McCain, but don't think he's relevant?", it mustered its best Cheney impression and said, "So?" - Micah Wittman

Perhaps Mr. Bush could show him the Google? - Philipp Lenssen

George W. was also just "aware" of newspapers, and you see where that got us. As for the Internet, remember his famous quote about the "Internets" : "Information is moving -- you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 2, 2007 - Stephan Osmont

I think bush is more aware of the internet then McCain. Afterall he knew you shouldn't keep incriminating emails laying around. - Nelson de Witt from twhirl

John McCain. Because who do you want answering the telegraph at 3 A.M.? - Karim

It's very clear that this election is about the 20th century (McCain) versus the 21st century. The US may just not be ready for the future. Which will be really sad. - Internet's Tad from fftogo

Karim, LOL! Is McCain also aware of the semantic web? - Bill Sodeman from twhirl

This makes sense considering his comments on net-neutrality. Troubling though across the board, given that there are so many issues still very much on the table. - jcunwired

The key issue IMO is that the Internet is one of the key drivers that is transforming the economy. And if you don't "get" that, then you won't understand how we need to change how the gov't interacts with the economy. New leadership should "get" alternative energy, the Internet, biotech and other key transformational technologies. That way, we can spearhead efforts (funding, education, etc) to lead in those areas. It's not enough to simply be aware they exist. - Barry Graubart from twhirl

lol. The definition of non-sequitir is to couple the word 'awareness' and McCain. - S Adler

It was Mark Soohoo, who works on John McCain's campaign. - Robert Scoble

That must explain why he doesn't know what a blogger is - OH WAIT he has been holding regular conference calls with bloggers for over a year now. to @jasonburton's point - last time I checked the president does not run the internet so what exactly about that example makes sense? Should we now make computer literacy a prerequisite for serving as an elected official? Trust me - I wish he wouldn't have said it but until someone can prove to me that not being tech savvy is a prerequisite for leadership... - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

@Kirk Kittell - That's the wrong comparison. What you said (playing violin necessary to understand music) would mean that he's asked to be a programmer to understand technology. No, it's enough to use it - much like I demand somebody to like to listen the music they say they understand. So as long as he's not actually used the internet, a word processor and simple stuff like that, I think it's a save assumption that he doesn't understand anything. Well, he doesn't understand economy too, by his own account. - sebmos

American's generates more Internet related innovation particularly in content generation, and social media but there are many other countries leading in eGov services. Looks like McCain won't be helping you guys out with the digitisation of your Gov services anytime soon. - Roger Kondrat

Marco - would tech savvy requirement in this day and age be such a bad thing? - jason burton

@jason absolutely not (although "requirement" may be a bit extreme) - just trying to point out that alot of the comments are illogical and unnecessarily extreme. I would love it if McCain was a mobile computing, FriendFeeding maniac but someone can be a good President without having to be tech savvy. (I say that knowing full well that McCain's lack of tech capabilities is far from the only problem most people on this thread have with McCain.) - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

@sebmos - Yeah, I might be off a bit (though in your example, I'd compare the programmer to the music composer, but I get you). The point I'm really getting as is that I don't hold this against him at all. He doesn't need to understand the technology or use a computer to be President -- as long as he is the best guy to lead the nation and is open to appointing the right people to positions that need those skills. I might have voted for him in 2000, but not this year; he's not a Luddite, perhaps, but close. - Kirk Kittell

McCain isn't the President for me. I'm looking for a president that understands how to get in touch with my generation, and the internet is my primary source of information. If McCain doesn't use a computer and can't tap into that stream of info, he's going to have a hard time understanding what I want and how to give it to me. I'm not faulting him for his computer illiteracy, I just know that unless you use the same general set of tools that I use, we're going to be out of sync. - Nick Malaguti

Presidents need a deep understanding of Government, International relations and defense strategy. They need to have experience working with other government members. They need to have a lot of skills.... whether or not they know how to follow me on a Twitter account is so far down the list it is microscopic. - Soulhuntre

The next president will have to deal with an issue more important than net neutrality - oil. Does McCain know how to change the oil in his car? Does Obama? Barr? McKinney? Nader? (Oh, Nader probably rides a bicycle.) - Ontario Emperor from fftogo

The fact that McCain graduated near the bottom of his class at Annapolis, is nearly as inarticulate and incoherent as George W. Bush, and is under the thumb of the same neoconservatives who engineered the worst foreign policy disaster in American history (the Iraq War), is probably more significant than the fact that McCain hasn't demonstrated the slightest intellectual interest in a technology which is revolutionizing human civilization and which is substantantially driving the American economy -- but not much more significant. History passed by John McCain quite some time ago. - Sean McBride

Wow, I can't believe that a candidate would lack computer skills some 20 years after they've been in use. I suppose he's had secretaries, law clerks and aids his entire professional life so he didn't *need* to use a computer per se. This is astounding to me and clearly seems untenable for a Presidential candidate today. - Susan Beebe