John McCain goes online

John McCain says in an interview published this weekend that he has begun learning the wonders of the World Wide Web, but does not yet e-mail or have a BlackBerry.



The revelation, while putting McCain far behind the majority of Americans in tech savvy, is a big change from his admission this winter that he was “illiterate” when it came to computers.



“I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself,” McCain told Adam Nagourney and Michael Cooper of The New York Times.



“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.”

McCain said websites his staff often shows him include The Drudge Report, Politico.com and Real Clear Politics.


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



Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) 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 heads into a general election showdown with the hip and youthful Obama, McCain now says he’s trying to learn:



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. 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.’