McCain Invented Blackberry? Adviser Says He Helped

MIAMI — Move over, Al Gore. You may lay claim to the Internet, but John McCain helped create the BlackBerry.

At least that's the contention of a top McCain policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Waving his BlackBerry personal digital assistant and citing McCain's work as a senator, he told reporters Tuesday, "You're looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create."

A McCain aide later dismissed the remark as "a boneheaded joke by a staffer."

McCain has acknowledged that he doesn't know how to use a computer and can't send e-mail, one of the BlackBerry's prime functions.

Holtz-Eakin's argument is similar to one advanced by Gore, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2000. Gore once boasted about "taking the initiative to create the Internet" through technological and educational policies. He later was mocked for claiming to have invented the Internet, although he never made such a claim.

Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said McCain's service on and leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee put him at the intersection of a number of economic interests, including the telecommunications industry.

The Arizona senator's handling of regulation and deregulation of that industry in particular left him with the skills to help revive the economy amid a mortgage crisis, an energy crisis and a Wall Street meltdown, the adviser said.

"He can and has the judgment to put people in place with technical expertise, with the history of experience in the areas necessary, that we're going to get reforms," Holtz-Eakin said.

Senior McCain aide Matt McDonald said that the senator "laughed" when he heard the comment about the BlackBerry.

"He would not claim to be the inventor of anything, much less the BlackBerry. This was obviously a boneheaded joke by a staffer," McDonald said.

In a statement, Democratic candidate Barack Obama's campaign spokesman Bill Burton said: "If John McCain hadn't said that 'the fundamentals of our economy are strong' on the day of one of our nation's worst financial crises, the claim that he invented the BlackBerry would have been the most preposterous thing said all week."

Comments

[ashabot]

That is sofa king hilarious. .

[JamesInDenver]

Do the lies Ever Stop??

[Ged2012]

This sure reveals how undisciplined the staff McCain surrounds himself with.

Obama's staff has always been laser-point disciplined. They don't panic when everyone else panics, just like the past week when the media was going gaga over Palin, nor do they tell ludicrous statements. Obama's team is so focused on their ground game; they are analytical; they are MATURE thinkers. That's how they beat Hillary Clinton--pure, unadulterated focus.

[pie8ter]

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hahahahhahha!!! LOL

[ashabot]

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hahahahhahha!!!

[GotRights]

Careful there! All those superfluous keystrokes might clog the tubes.

[pie8ter]

I have a plunger to unclog those series of internet tubes.

[Steamboater]

McCain hasn't the dexterity to use a push-button phone and he invented the Blackberry! LOL

[grata2ude]

To be fair, I think John was actually talking about the fruit. He's old enough to have done that. :D

[GotRights]

Indeed, horticulturists are still inventing new kinds of blackberries. Shame on duh librul media for twistin' his words!

[Canuck4Obama]

The words McCain and BlackBerry (made in Ontario, Canada) together in the same sentance ..ewwwwww!!! That's just WRONG on so many levels! LOL LOL

[LegalProf]

Finally the South Carolina push poll in 2000 makes sense as just a mix up between b and r sounds, and was not so awful after all. "Would you be less likely to vote for John McCain if you knew he fathered an illegitimate BlackBerry?"

[Ged2012]

If there's one invention McCain can lay claim to, it is a new political theory on crowd manipulation:

"Lie blatantly. Claim that lies are truth. Label the naked truth as elitist propaganda. Label lies as God-inspired messages."

[suki21693]

Ever heard of Joseph Goebbels?
Vladimir Lenin?
Karl Rove?

McCain's lies aren't innovative.

[Ged2012]

If there's one invention McCain can lay claim to, it is this new political theory:

"Lie blatantly. Stand up for lies as Truth. And every American shall fall in line."

[GotRights]

Actually, he'd be lying if he laid claim to that.

" “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

- Hermann Goebbels

[Ironfox]

Rove has had this quote, in large type in his bathroom just opposite the toilet for years. It's where he does his (best ? ) thinking.

[Moka11]

I heard he invented the "dingleberry", too! )

[armadillious2002]

Na - he picked one for his VP.

[Dunsmuir]

The Blackberry was invented in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and you have to import it from Canada. It is as Canadian as Canadian Bacon.

[PwnedByJesus]

This was clearly and attempt to convince voters that McCain might be a little more computer savvy than they might think. It was a weak attempt at humor, but there was an underlying intent on trying to give people pause.

[loveu2]

what would happen if McCain dropped out of the race? Not that he will, but I have trouble getting to sleep and it's fun to think about while I'm trying.

[YoMama]

The staffer was misquoted. He actually said that McCain was Gomer Pyle of Mayberry.

[TooGoodTooBeTrue]

See what Craig Newman has to say about McCain and what McCain invented.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-newmark/mccain-team-he-created-th_b_126909.html