The American President The American People Were Waiting For in 1996

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Ladies and gentlement the candidate of so much experience he has no experience with the modern world:

“They go on for me,” he said. “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.”

Asked which blogs he read, he said: “Brooke and Mark show me Drudge, obviously. Everybody watches, for better or for worse, Drudge. Sometimes I look at Politico. Sometimes RealPolitics.”

At that point, Mrs. McCain, who had been intensely engaged with her BlackBerry, looked up and chastised her husband. “Meghan’s blog!” she said, reminding him of their daughter’s blog on his campaign Web site. “Meghan’s blog,” he said sheepishly.


Not to get too pedantic here, but neither Drudge nor Politico are blogs and "RealPolitics" doesn't even exist. The thing I assume he's talking about isn't a blog either. Not that I necessarily expect a presidential candidate to spend a ton of time reading blogs, but maybe he should know what one is and if he doesn't read any and is asked about it could say that. Then on religion:

Asked if he considered himself an evangelical Christian, Mr. McCain responded, “I consider myself a Christian.”

“I attend church,” he said. “My faith has sustained me in very difficult times.” Asked how often he attended, he responded: “Not as often as I should.” He has recently been photographed going to church as his campaign has begun to make public the times he attends services.


Does he attend church when he's not campaigning for president? It sort of doesn't sound like it. Did you know McCain hasn't been baptized into the church he nominally belongs to? Again, I'm obviously not opposed to the idea of a non-observant president anymore than I'm opposed to a president who doesn't read blogs, but surely the straight-talk brand should require some honest answers to these questions.

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Matthew Yglesias is a former writer and editor at The Atlantic.

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