John McCain Created the Blackberry?

Asked what work John McCain did as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate's top economic adviser wielded visual evidence: his BlackBerry.

"He did this," Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters this morning, holding up his BlackBerry.  

"Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce committee so you're looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that's what he did."

Al Gore, call your office.

Let's be clear.  Al Gore never said he invented the Internet; never said it.  But this begs the question, what precise legislation did John McCain proffer that led to the invention of the BlackBerry?  In fact, John McCain has been instrumental in blocking the development and implementation of communications technologies.

UPDATE BY ROB:  The inventor of the Blackberry is a Canadian company.  I guess McCain is taking credit for improving Canada's economy?

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Here's the real story about the smear that cost Al Gore the White House back in 2000 from James Boyce:

Multiple early web pioneers say that Gore was the first political leader to grasp and understand the Internet and its possibilities. They all say it was his vision and yes, initiative, that helped turn the Internet into what it is today.

Al Gore took an essentially internal government program and set it free to the marketplace.

Al Gore never said he invented the Internet, even though he did champion the legislation, research, and technological communities which made it a reality.  Meanwhile, John McCain's pro-lie, 'say anything' campaign now claims that John McCain invented the Blackberry.  Seriously?

According to Salon, nothing could be farther from the truth:

McCain has steadfastly resisted using the federal government's power to ensure America's technological advancement. But that approach will not work as other countries begin to outpace the United States.

When McCain took over his second tenure of the Senate Commerce Committee, the United States ranked fourth in broadband penetration, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. In 2007, two years after he had given up that position, the United States had dropped to 15th in the world. The rest of the developed world, which chose to be pro-competition, is now racing ahead of the United States.

Americans don't expect the next president to be Twitterer-in-chief, but he will need to lead an increasingly technologically savvy nation and ensure that the benefits of advanced telecommunications reach as many people as possible. "Government doesn't need to manage the technological developments," Hundt said at the June Federalist Society debate. "But it ought to establish a rule of law where entrepreneurs can raise money and enter these markets."

That's right, on McCain's watch, the US dropped from #2 to #15 in broadband penetration.   Heckuva job, liar.

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