Adviser says McCain helped create the BlackBerry

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:17pm

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g1MSY3Bgt7YC5XHmxAdt9VkOlvhwD937S7SG1

MIAMI (AP) — 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.

Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said McCain's service on and leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee put him at the intersection of a number of economic interests, including the telecommunications industry.

The Arizona senator's handling of regulation and deregulation of that industry in particular left him with the skills to help revive the economy amid a mortgage crisis, an energy crisis and a Wall Street meltdown, the adviser said.

"He can and has the judgment to put people in place with technical expertise, with the history of experience in the areas necessary, that we're going to get reforms," Holtz-Eakin said.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:30pm

McCain can't even understand E-Mail..shouldn't they have said he invented something he actually could use- like The Clapper?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:31pm

[StockardFan]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:35pm

Joe, I am laughing so hard I am crying right now.....

I just love this site.....

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:37pm

"McCain can't even understand E-Mail"

It's not that he can't understand email, it's that he can't use it due to his war injuries.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:38pm

Um...that was a joke, right Goth?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:54pm

Goth doesn't Joke. Karl Rove said that McCain's "war injuries" have left him too disabled to use a computer.

Makes me feel bad about that "Clapper" joke actually. as penance, I'll do some community service time. Here's some "Disability education." I'll post three pictures, you pick the one that shows someone too disabled to use a computer.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:54pm

A)

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:55pm

B)

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:56pm

C)

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 1:06pm

I imagine it went down over lunch something like this:

Techinal Expert: "Senator McCain, we could really use your support. We have invented a new handheld device that can support email. It is nothing short of miraculous. Jesus would be green with envy."

McCain: "What is it called?"

Technical Expert: "We haven't named it yet."

(dessert is served)

McCain: "MMMM...I love blackberries."

Voila.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 1:25pm

The war-injuries explanation was simply made up after the fact to cover what came to seem a political liability.

From a NY Times interview; note no mention of physical inability:

Q: But do you go on line for yourself?

Mr. McCain: They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. . . . I don’t e-mail, I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 1:28pm

So he is physically able to fly a fighter jet after he was released, but not use a keyboard?

Riiiiiggghhhht.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 1:31pm

From a 1999 article, after his medical records were released (again, no mention of an injury that would prevent his using a keyboard and/or mouse):

"Severe wounds suffered as a prisoner of war in Vietnam have left Mr. McCain, a Republican presidential candidate, with degenerative arthritis in his shoulders and right knee that might someday require joint replacement. Otherwise, 'I found you to be in excellent health,' wrote his personal physician, John Eckstein, who has conducted annual exams for Mr. McCain since 1992."

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 1:38pm

If my 89-year-old Aunt Edie can use email, so can John McCain.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 1:56pm

Joe, you're slaying me here...........

[lildogs]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 1:57pm

I think he meant John McCain DISCOVERED blackberries.

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 2:12pm

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 5:01pm

Does anyone want to wager a bet that Douglas Holtz-Eakin is mysteriously "reassigned"...and soon?

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 9:42pm

If he is, he won't be alone. They'll be putting Carly Fiorina adrift at sea any minute now. The last thing they need is a constant reminder of a CEO's 'golden parachute' after mismanaging a firm. In addition, she keeps putting her foot in her mouth. Today, after responding to a question that Palin wasn't qualified to run a major corporation like HP, she backed it up by saying that none of the candidates were qualified to run a company.

Edit: back to the Blackberry - it NEEDS TO BE POINTED OUT that the Blackberry was developed by Research in Motion, a CANADIAN company.

Updated On: 9/16/08 at 09:42 PM

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 10:06pm

So, madbrian, are you saying that John McCain has never been to Canada? Is that what you're implying?