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

[BethStuart]

McCain's intelligence and credibility are reflected in his choice of aides.

McCain also chose Phil Gramm as his chief financial advisor.

[nerakami]

Lies, lies, lies..... McSame campaign has told so many lies... they can't seem to stop nor distinguish truth anymore from their lies...

[Topfeeder]

Especially hilarious since he doesn't know how to use one.

[obamasOHangel]

He sure did. He planted the first seeds for the first Blackberry tree.

[NickSoCal]

lol

[littlepuffycloud]

lol

[Voltage]

A Canadian company invented the Blackberry:

www.rim.com

[Charmed]

ROFL

[KathyIndiana]

"helped invent the Blackberry" - while he was a POW, no doubt.

[Cherlesq]

and i can see russia from my house. STOP this. FOCUS on the American People and their needs NOTHING else matters.

[LeawoodKansas]

I thought McCain invented fire.

[ColoradoCarol]

That's a good one. Thanks for the laugh.

[GolfingDevil05]

"And the Lord said, 'Let there be light.' And John McCain switched on the sun."

[ggirl00]

OK OK ... I see what he's doing. This is genius. He's building his portfolio.

Canadian based technology = foreign policy experience
Fire = Energy experience

[gvc]

I wonder if McC realizes that the Blackberry and its associated communication network are 100% Canadian.

[boing007]

gvc

I wonder if McC realizes that the Blackberry and its associated communication network are 100% Canadian.

Yeah, just ask Gary Bettman.

[rollingdivision]

Dopey aides will say anything.

[Cherlesq]

and, dopey candidates will do the same.