Tuesday, September 16, 2008

John McCain created the Blackberry

WE'VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com

My wife will attest that I'm addicted to my Blackberry (aka Crackberry). Now I can blame John McCain for its very existence.

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."

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. - AP


Somebody may want to tell Mr. McCain's adviser that the Blackberry was created in Canada.

And now a response from the Obama campaign
“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,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
Update: Obama's speech from Golden, Colorado is streaming live here.
You can read the full text of his speech here.