Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is a hero in the Middle East, Sen. McCain says

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Mark Zuckerberg may have made a few enemies on his way to making more than 600 million friends on Facebook. ‘The Social Network’ may not have been as popular at the Oscars as ‘The King’s Speech.’

But Zuckerberg might want to update his status on Facebook: Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) is a big fan of the social networking phenom Zuckerberg created.

‘This social networking cannot be underestimated in how all of these events, really the driving force in how all of this transformed and took place,’ he said during a discussion at the Brookings Institution. (Noted Twitter revolution doubter Malcolm Gladwell was not there to pour cold water on McCain’s comments.) ‘The No. 1 hero in Tunisia is a guy named Mark Zuckerberg,” McCain said.

McCain and Independent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman recently returned from a trip to the Middle East and shared their thoughts on the stunning developments in the region.

McCain spoke of a young man he met in Egypt who held up his BlackBerry and proclaimed, ‘I can get 200,000 people in the square in two hours.’

This former presidential hopeful knows something of the technology he preaches.

After all, he has a popular Facebook page and 1.7 million followers on Twitter, and he -- or someone on his staff -- tweeted this photo of the Brookings event. And, lest we forget, he tied with Barack Obama in Michael Arrington’s tech president primary in June 2008.

Now that’s winning, Charlie.

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-- Jessica Guynn

Photo (top): Sen. John McCain Credit: Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press

Photo (bottom): Sen. John McCain participates in a panel discussion at the Brookings Institution