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

[suntzu]

McCain did in fact invent the Blackberry. He also invented the Cherry, the Blueberry, the Raspberry, and the Wallace Berry.

[loveu2]

thanks. You made me laugh

[Rutabaga]

And Boo Berry and Franken Berry too. I'm just not too sure about Count Chocula, though.

[MissCupcake]

At least he didn't invent the Marion Berry! That berry was produced by CRACK!

[soapington]

Oh come on, let's give McCain his due! Maybe he didn't invent the Blackberry, but he has invented a whole slew of other things in the course of this campaign.

[alzworld]

NICE!!

[rosal]

I think Holz meant Mc invented the wheel

[Passenger57]

McCain gathered the dried leaves to start Mankind's first Fire.

[soapington]

I've heard he also had a hand in steam-powered suppositories - well, a finger at least.

[badticket]

If, John McCain invented the BlackBerry then he must be a Canadian citizen. This would disqualify him from running for President or he believes in shipping our jobs outside of the U.S.A... Pick One... Go To John McCain's BlackBerry website... http://www.rim.com Click on Contact Us... His company is located in Canada. Or did he break his word and push legislation that would benefit BIG business OUTSIDE this country?!

[CatPower]

Maybe he didn't mean he helped invent 'Blackberries' but rather 'black people' -I find that much more plausible (McCain=God!)

[Jon Raymond - Huffpost Blogger]

When I first saw this article I though it said McCain invented bankruptcy.

[ProFromOre]

not the act, just the volume...

[faithfully]

lol

[DesertLight]

Why does everybody here take jokes for face value? I have joked about a lot of stuff only to find at the head of a post two days later, making it as though I was serious.

I would have taken what the staffer said as ca joke, based upon the fact that it had been played over and over again how he was not internet savvy.

[franklin opt]

Who can't take a joke now?

[soapington]

I think the problem is the same for you as for McCain and his foolish surrogates. If you make jokes that are boneheaded and unfunny, people tend to think you're being serious - foolish certainly, but serious.

[FatherWolf]

Over and over and over again, people say something stupid or vicious our just plain moronic. When people start complaining how stupid, vicious or just plain moronic it was, the original perp will then claim it was just a joke.

Happens all the time.

[Jacob77030]

He invented bran flakes.

[Mutineer]

and prunes.

[AnnArky]

"John McCain invented Depends!"

[peterg76]

So why isn't the headline "McCain staffer makes boneheaded joke" rather than a factually untrue statement?

[milo h minderbinder]

Was it intended as a boneheaded joke? Or is that just the McCain camp's attempt to backpedal?

[TroubleNYC]

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t64/justice4us2007/blackberry.jpg

[ProgressiveCowboy]

He claims he invented the Blackberry.

She says she can see Russia from her house

Why should we doubt their tax plan or statements about Obama's tax plan.

[badticket]

good point!

[bodo]

Everybody know the Blackberry is a Canadian invention and is still manufactured ONLY in Canada.
Americans who want one must import it from Canada.

These guys are obviously idiots.

[focher]

But you have to admit it lends credence to the underlying premise...McCain's economic policies have been instrumental in creating an environment that supports economic advancement and the creation of jobs ... in other countries.

[DoomtoNeoCons]

John Mc Cain is so old, he actually invented Adultery!

[EuroAllie]

McCain never said he invented the Blackberry either. Despite what you Huffi's insist.

[DoomtoNeoCons]

No d*uche, his spokesperson did. So, if Mc Cain pays this person to say these things, clearly JMac must think them.

[milo h minderbinder]

Nobody said that.

The exact quote from his representative, holding up a Blackberry (a device that McCain doesn't even know how to use, and that is made by a Canadian company): "You're looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create."

Don't blame the Huffis, the quote itself is risible without any embellishing necessary.

[grailknight]

You obviously didn't read the article.

[RobinSeattle]

Who cares if he said it or not? We're going to do to you what you did to Gore.

Enjoy!