John McCain helped invent the BlackBerry? Who knew?

John McCain's technological acumen is back in the news -- courtesy of one of his top aides.

Barack Obama's campaign sought to spotlight the subject late last week with a controversial ad that scoffed at the Republican's computer skills.

At a gathering in Washington today, McCain domestic policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin was asked about his candidate's grasp of high-tech matters. Holtz-Eakin held up his BlackBerry and, in a nod toward McCain's onetime tenure as head of the Senate Commerce Committee, said, "He did this."

(An earlier version of this post misspelled Douglas Holtz-Eakin's last name as Holz-Eakin.)

He elaborated: "Telecommunications in the United States, the premiere innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce Committee. So you're looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create. And that's what he did."

Throughout the world of politics, one sentence instantly leaped to mind: "Al Gore invented the Internet."

That's what occurred to our colleague Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune, and he has more on what has become the great Blackberry debate at the Swamp blog.

[UPDATE: Note that Silva's posting includes the demurral from McCain's camp about Holtz-Eakin's comment]

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[anita]

Please note, McCain did not make the statement.

Tabloid headline: Gets readers eyes,

brain stops at that.

[Blake]

How terribly interesting. Here I am, proud as a Canadian that one of our homegrown companies had produced such a wonderful technological achievement, only to find out that some American had claimed to have developed it. I wonder if this is some kind of weird, temporal hiccup because I distinctly remember a similar situation from my history classes, about some Canadian guy who invented the telephone. Guess some people don't know read their history much, eh?

[Johnathan]

I didnt realize that the United States congress affects products made in other countries. Maybe someone should tell him that RIM is based in Ontario.

[screw cell companies]

At a time when many people agree that the US is lagging behind other countries technology infrastructure deployments, I'm not sure that claiming responsibility for it would be a good thing.

[blip]

Barbara.... everyone knows that the McCain-Palin ticket is a joke. But I think it would be biased if journalists put that in their headlines.

Let people draw their own conclusions.

(But I agree with you... what a joke!)

[Alexander]

Wow, Im Selling My BlackBerry...Just Kidding. but seriously thats so out of line, he did no such thing. OK so he passed some commerce bill that allowed for cells to use new technologies and all that, but trust me McCain couldnt even begin to use a BlackBerry, hes too old, to technologically challenged, and overall just not a very smart man.

[lordmorgul]

Garbage journalism at its finest... this is clearly just a poorly worded comment spun out of proportion and taken out of context completely to mean something it was never supposed to mean. It is nowhere close to the outrageous and blatant lie from Al Gore's own mouth regarding the internet's origin. Nice try L.A. Times, but you look the fool for stooping to this.

[M. Bieb]

That guy McCain is a genius. I can't believe he invented the Blackberry. He continues to amaze me.

[Bill P.]

Well, then, Carly Fiorina got it totally wrong!! John McCain, techno- genius, could run HP! (Better HP than USA - at least we could short-sell their stock!)

[Dustin Ward]

Wow! That is quite the accomplishment on McCain's part... considering that the Blackberry was a CANADIAN invention!

[J. Sharp]

First of all, it was an aide that made the comment that is being misrepresented here.

Second, the aide didn't say McKain *invented* the blackberry, he held up a *phone* and said, "He did this." Then he explained that "this" refers to McKains position on the Senate Commerce Committee and the committee's role in telecomunications. "This" did not refer to the blackberry phone.

Frederick, the author of this article, has an agenda. And all of you who are jumping on the bandwagon are being led by the nose.

Any of you who think that, based on this article, McKain really thinks he invented the Blackberry, I have some ocean front property in Arizona I am looking to sell. I’ll even cut you a deal!

[Jeff]

Hey I live and breathe!
So I must be responsible for the existence of life due to my contribution to the atmosphere.

[Tom M]

This would be a great story, if McCain had said he invented the Blackberry, instead of his aide saying that McCain helped create the regulatory infrastructure that makes it possible. Boy, am I glad Obama is creating a new kind of politics here. What a breath of fresh air this is.

[mike from canada]

uhhh, the blackberry was invented by RIM from CANADA, you know, that big cold country to the north?

[smc]

After reading many of the posts, it's become clear to me that most of you are just looking for reasons to rant about things with no real interest in the context or importance of the issues. Nobody said McCain invented the BlackBerry. The fact that you let yourselves be lead around by the nose with a mere headline vs. a leash is more than a little concerning.

Anyone with a reasonable amount of common sense and knowledge of their history would know that Sen. McCain was a key player in promoting the infrastructure that allows tools such as BlackBerry to function as well as they do.

What is most concerning is that Dems and Reps alike continue to allow partisan media to get away without using any journalistic integrity. And I'm talking about liberal and conservative media.

Don't you get it? We all lose when the media does this kinda stuff. They throw some chum into the ocean and watch the feeding frenzy. What's worse is that nobody seems to care either way.

PEACE.

[Paul]

The BlackBerry was invented by RIM, a Canadian company. Not by any American. Sorry McCain. Just another lie.

[Jeff]

This is a classic case of runing with a statement without looking at the facts that put it in context. (As far as the preious post about all the bankrupcies it must be noted that the previous administration (Mario Cuomo) changed the rules governing these corporations and that does not have an immediate impact- it shows up years later). Back to the McCain Blackberry issue. It was in 1984 that "Ma Bell" was split to open up competition and the 1996 telecom act that enabled the exposion in internet grown and telecom innovation. McCain was in the Senate (also Al Gore which is why his statment that "he {helped} invent the internet" has a basis in fact. If they hadn't changed the laws to allow this development to occur it wouldn't have. Jounalist that are rooting for their canditate of choice should admit such instead of passing themselves off as objective reporters and which party they generally vote for and whom they intend to vote for president. Most people are smarter than the press gives them credit for and this information would reduce the current of mistrust of the traditional news outlets and inferred ultirior motive.

[vadoo]

Check your facts - Al Gore never said he invented the Internet. A similar-sounding, and erroneous, statement was published in a magazine, and the right-wing attack machine later attributed it to Gore.

His problem was that he dismissed it as silliness. Little did he know that you can't let these things linger or they'll consume you. Al's problem, like most Democrats, is he didn't have the common sense to smell trouble or the marbles to fight back.

[TT]

Considering the blackberry is a Canadian innovation and invention, McCain taking credit for anything from inventing it to the telecommunications support that fostered it, is pretty pathetic.

Talk about something you know.

[Scott]

It is amazing how most of you do not even bother to READ beyond the headline of an article. When did the McCain aid state anything about creating the Blackberry in this interview? The gentleman HELD UP a Blackberry (if it wasn't some knockoff) and talked about telecommunications coming through a commitee.
Maybe if our country started teaching ignorant people to READ, then we could overcome some of our problems. One man, President or not, does not determine a country's direction, morality, values, or future. Help the flow, yes, Determine it, NO.
READ the entire story, then check the facts, then THINK for yourselves.

[cruizin]

Typical retarded Democrats.

McCain's adviser did not say he invented anything. He also wasn't referring to the BlackBerry per se. He was referring to the telecom infrastructure.

1) Learn to read.
2) Now go back to swaying in the wind of public opinion.

[Packey]

"Top 10 US bankruptcies:

1) Lehman 2008
2) Worlcom 2002
3) Enron 2001
4) Conseco 2002
5) Texaco 1989
6) Financial Corp of America 1988
7) Refco 2005
8) Global Crossing 2002
9) Pacific Gas & Elec 2001
10) UAL 2002

What's in common?

Republican Administration.

Wake Up America!"

Whatever, I wonder who controlled congress during those times?

Hey if you have earned enough money to take a vacation or buy a new BMW - GO FOR IT! Accept the "evil rich person" tag and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Besides the Government will make it all even and fair, right? Isn't that what Barack wants? Isn't that the Government's job? Not in the current constitution that I have read. You know, the document that explains the function of the government! If you want to change the constitution and grant everyone new "rights", at least follow the rules and amend the constitution.

[actual conservative]

Do any Republicans know Stephen Hawkings? He seems to know how to use a computer and his disability is significantly worse than Mr. McCain's. People with disabilities have been using computers for years. McCain's excuse is just that -- an excuse.

[bubba]

He coud have been a member of the board for this particular investment firm or corporation that owns the rights to the blackberry. he could very well have added input into the advancement of the cell phone industry. As far as the internet is concerned...it was for the education system: to link staff and certain networks together and poof someone made a tweak, and the internet was born. Al Gore could have been on a board committee that saw the internet through to its commercial use today. I am no Mcain Fan or obama fan. The universe is big. if you think about it our dying light is reaching another planet far away. we have already lived and died but yet still have not been born. we are cells... an energy harnessing successful virus due to our memory of what works and what doesn't. Politics are so small. We are so small. but it is because we are self aware that we must cure the chaos of our anxiety only adding further chaos to our society.

[Tom]

If John McCain finished 894th out of the 899 midshipmen in his graduating class at the Naval Academy, how well do you think he did during Naval flight training? Perhaps the reason John McCain was shot down in the first place and became a prisoner of war for five and half years is because he was a relative moron in comparison to other Navy and Air Force pilots.