09/16/08 04:19 pm ET
The story line on John McCain and his admission that he is not so tech savvy continues. (To check out the string of posts on Tech Insider, click here and here.)
In a brief titled "Tech Daddy," which appeared in today's CongressDaily 11:30 Extra (subscription required), one of McCain's policy advisers, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, bragged about the Republican nominee's role in creating the BlackBerry. According to the brief:
Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain acknowledges he doesn't know how to use a computer and is in the dark about sending e-mails, but that isn't stopping one of his top policy advisers from claiming that the Arizona senator helped create the BlackBerry. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, waving his electronic tether, told reporters this morning, "You're looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create." The former CBO director went on to say that his leadership roles on the Senate Commerce Committee put him in a position to regulate -- and sometimes deregulate -- the telecommunications industry. Those changes, he added, brought us the BlackBerry and other personal digital assistants. Some days, when the thing never stops buzzing, we're not so sure that's a good thing to take credit for. Besides, voters and the Supreme Court turned their backs on inventor-of-the-Internet Al Gore eight years ago, so merely being a creator of one device might not be a big selling point.
COMMENTS
McCain never said he invented the Blackberry. One of his staff was making a joke because Al Gore claimed that HE invented the internet. It wasn't a very good joke... but it wasn't serious and MCCAIN never said it. But I think it's hilarious that all these moronic Democrats are taking about it which just brings more attention to McCain and the media keeps feeding their ignorance. Keep it up!!!!
Sam 09/18/08 09:12 am ET
McCain's adviser needs a raise.
This guy single handedly pulled off a sarcastic joke on the media. He made a front page story (or even 2nd page story) out of a simple joke.
The media bit, hook-line-and-sinker. All this extra press coverage over a JOKE. A funny joke at that too.
EVERYONE who knows 1 cent about John McCain should have known that Senator McCain prefers to not use hi-tech gadgets.
Nice one, that guy should get a raise for telling the joke and getting the media to run with it.
Dreifort 09/17/08 10:32 am ET
Lol, I heard about just now on theyoungturks website. I had to search it and yup its true! Vote for Obama, down with mccain!
PolkLule 09/16/08 07:35 pm ET
Wow, the Blackberry was invented in Canada, it is a Canadian product. Apparently, John has benefited the Canadian economy more than the US. Perhaps he should be running for Prime Minister of Canada and not the USA.
Phillip 09/16/08 06:20 pm ET
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.
Obama Your Mama 09/16/08 06:08 pm ET