John McCain Asks Apple To Stop Nagging Him To Update Apps [Video]

What was John McCain’s last, most burning question to CEO Tim Cook in yesterday’s Senate panel investigation of Apple’s tax avoidance policies? Check out the video I’ve posted below to see for yourself.

Some people might feel that the 76-year-old chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations was experiencing a senior moment when he burst out with this important issue of the day:

“[W]hat I really wanted to ask was why the hell I have to keep updating apps on my iPhone all the time and why you don’t fix that,” McCain (R-AZ) spluttered.

True, McCain seemed to be laughing — and now we’re laughing too — but does it seem a little weird to anybody else that a meeting on accounting practices would end on a humor note?

But other senators on the panel also wanted Apple CEO Tim Cook to hear how they felt about his company’s products. Not everybody wants to be that old guy who fumbles a simple app upgrade.

Sen. Clair McCaskill (D-MO) reportedly gasped, “I love Apple! I love Apple!” Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) revealed that he had an iPad. So does Kelly Ayotte (R-NH). Good, I guess.

But Levin did take time from the Apple product love-in to point out that Apple was exploiting tax loopholes that cost the US treasury billions of dollars every year.

Apple CEO Cook responded by telling Levin that he too would like to see changes in the tax code.

To McCain he said that Apple keeps “improving our products all the time,” which I think we can take as “no” to McCain’s request to halt the upgrades.

Talking Points Memo TV posted the chuckle-worthy outburst:

Will you stand with good old boy McCain to get Apple to stop nagging us to update our apps?

Or will you join me in asking both Apple’s Tim Cook and Sen. John McCain to get off my lawn?

[John McCain photo by Dan Bennett via Wikimedia Commons]