Former Vice President Al Gore created the Internet... you know, that thing Senator Ted Stevens explained as series of tubes... but it"s probably not one of the Internets used by President George W. Bush. Well, in a startling revelation it was discovered today that Senator John McCain, Republican nominee for President of the United States, helped created the miracle that is... the Blackberry.
Wait, what?
Politicians seem to have a habit of saying things about technology that gets them lampooned across the Internet for years, and today will probably be no exception. Although this one didn"t come out of the words of the candidate himself, but instead McCain"s senior domestic policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin, there is no doubt that the phrase "John McCain created the Blackberry" will soon enter the Internet lexicon.
To be fair, Holtz-Eakin was attempting to highlight McCain"s time on the Senate Commerce Committee. When asked to provide an example of something McCain had contributed to the growth of the economy during this time he then held up his Blackberry, telling reporters: "He did this."
"Telecommunications of 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," said Holtz-Eakin. "And that"s what he did. He both regulated and de-regulated the industry."
Later, when asked about the comment, McCain senior aide Matt McDonald said that when told about the situation the senator "laughed" and then explained "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.
On Internet though, like politics, things are commonly taken out of context. This will undoubtedly be one of those moments.