As a Canadian mobile industry blog, we tend to shy away from discussing American politics on the site (that’s what conventions are for). However, we feel that for many members of the BlackBerry Nation, what we are about to tell you could be the deciding factor in whom you vote for this November. Essentially, a McCain staffer has claimed that the Republican nominee helped create the BlackBerry. We’re going to let CNN do the heavy lifting on this story while we pull ourselves up from the floor:
He added, though, that McCain — who has struggled to stress his economic credentials this cycle — did have experience dealing with the economy, pointing to his time on the Senate Commerce Committee. Pressed to provide an example of what McCain had accomplished on that committee, Holtz-Eakin said the senator did not have jurisdiction over financial markets — 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.”
It’s funny, I didn’t realize that the United States Commerce Committee had jurisdiction over Canadian companies and their products.
The Obama campaign has already weighed in, with spokesman Bill Burton stating, “If John McCain hadn’t said that ‘the fundamentals of our economy are strong’ on the day of one of our nation’s worst financial crises, the claim that he invented the BlackBerry would have been the most preposterous thing said all week.”
Please feel free to post a comment. Seriously, go nuts. The BlackBerry Cool staff really wants to hear your thoughts on this one.
(via CNN)
The comedy is on such a large scale that it would be better than ‘Superbad’ except for the cold hard reality of McCain’s presence in this political cycle.
Hopefully, U.S. citizens will vote for the candidate who promises to (and I believe, who can truly lead us to) make changes in our economy, global policy and trust in our fellow citizens. U.S. politics is cyclical, thank goodness, and it is now Barack Obama’s time.
Went Harvard-sistible,
Became a lawyer-sistible,
Barack Obama, is how you say his name,
Bringing America his message of change,
He used to look good to me,
but now I find him…
Barack Obama-sistible!
Yeah…Didn’t McCain, not too long ago, claim that he didn’t even know how to use email? This really doesn’t make sense to me. Dang it! I wish people would think before they spoke!
Yeah, you guys should stay away from politics because you don’t get it and instead just spout out liberal talking points. He clearly didn’t say he created the blackberry, his spokesman used that as a prop to signify telecommunications and that’s what he said. Did you read the quote? Regulation/de-regulation of the industry…
But don’t take my word for it, what do I know? Here’s what Forbes magazine said, “McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate’s savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email.”
This holds 2nd to Al Gore inventing the internet. Got to love the fact that we are talking about the real issues in America.
“He did this” – sure sounds like he’s saying McCain invented the Blackberry.
Obviously, it wasn’t his intention. But just because McCain was on a committee in congress doesn’t mean he’s responsible for every revolution in the telecommunications industry.
In the Techcrunch interview Arrington asked McCain (and all the candidates) Mac or PC? McCain answered, neither I am illiterate.
Being Canadian, I have all but a feigning interest in US Politics outside of the fact that most IT policies in Canada tend to be derivatives of US policy and special interests (Bill C-61 anyone?) – but electing someone to lead the US who doesn’t explicitly understand the internet and its implications on commerce and communications would be a showstopper for me.
You can always hire someone that ‘gets it’ to run your technology portfolio, but the legacy of supporting big business that the Republican party subscribes to – would lend one to believe that issues like pro net-neutrality, that are completely obvious to most everyone, can be manipulated by special interests/telco’s to create a stifling environment for US technology companies and the innovation they are famous for.
Obama proudly totes his Blackberry and obviously has a deep understanding of the importance of social networking and motivating/crowd sourcing support (heck I almost donated to his campaign). That would be the guy I would want to run the new “Cluetrain Manifesto” based economy.
“series of tubes” scares me; probably more than “drill baby drill”
Well, he is at least “aware” of the internet. I’ll give him that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYs8X0DZNI4
I know what he meant. He meant that without the oversight and approval of McCain’s committee, BlackBerry devices (and other telecommunications devices) would never have been as successful as they are today. The “miracle” is not the device itself but the increasing popularity of mobile devices, something which McCain’s committee helped bring about. But, your original perception of the comment is precisely why a candidate’s surrogates need to be much more careful. This will be spun as McCain’s equivalent to Al Gore’s “I invented the internet” comment.
LOL.
i mean, isn’t that like gore saying he invented the internet?
yeah, i know greg just said that shit right above me, but really though. mccain is too OG (for the older people: OG = original gangster / old guy) to be able to contribute any worthwhile suggestions to enhance a phone that his short, stubby arms can’t even fiddle with. i don’t buy it. obama’s people don’t either. good grief. they even called it “preposterous” and you only really bring that word out when shit hits the fan.
so yeah, i don’t buy it.
http://DCtoBC.com
and yo, throw me a bold when it drops, please. thanks.
So, there you have it:
1. Telecom is the premiere innovation of the past 15 years (I thought it was microwave popcorn).
2. Telecom does not work outside the US
3. Blackberrys are in a class with the Resurrection.
And, of course, now he’s confessed to “flip-flop” by both regulating and de-regulating.
Can I vote for the Israeli 7-day campaign system, please?
You are right, you should not talk about American politics.
Anyone who knows anything about Blackberry knows that it was Washington DC and the emergency services in the United States that put Blackberry on the map. Furthermore, anyone who knows anything about the telecommunication process in the United States also knows that all our telecommunication regulations go through Senatorial Committees. So, while McCain didn’t “invent” the blackberry, as your politically slanted post implies, his committee was no doubt very instrumental in opening up telecommunication standards in the United States so that RIM could use their phones here.
Without the United States, the Blackberry would not have survived the long run.
A pissed off American at a Canadian.
Umm…so where does it say he invented the Blackberry? The spokesman is saying he helped companies like RIM by furthering comms in America.
Quite amusing to consider that someone who until a few months ago couldn’t even turn on or use a computer was involved somehow with the creation of the Blackberry. I seriously doubt that McCain would have understood anything about it.
For those that remember the Ma Bell days, they would appreciate the role McCain served in deregulating the industry. I think you folks are looking it through BlackBerry-colored glasses… the staffer obviously was referring to what that phone represents (and explicitly stated that), not the phone itself. But the real meaning of statements is not important anymore in our 3-second soundbite-driven generation. Witness the $5M starting point for being “rich,” which McCain not only stated as a joke, but even immediately after he said it, he predicted (correctly) that the statement would be stripped of context on purpose and used against him.
@Melissa…
Must a congressman understand how to do heart surgery to pass medical malpractice reform?
Must a congressman understand how to turn on a computer to know that they are beneficial to people and regulations should support people using them.
Maybe you should turn on CSpan sometime and watch what they discuss in committees and you’ll soon find out that Mr. McCain probably knows more about your little blackberry than you do. Whether you can score 1,000,000 on Guitar Hero II does not distinguish you on if you understand the subject. It simply means you know how to play a game. Whether you understand the scope and usefulness of a device and how it impacts our commerce and trade agreements is what makes you qualified to sit in a Senatorial Committee.
Typical. Effing Democrats take a simple statement and stretch it the far end of rational thinking. Go pound sand to all of you pot stirrers. Take the statement for what it is intended as. Would this be such a big deal if the staffer had held up a Nokia or a Motorola device? No. But because he held up his Blackberry, you all are jumping on him like the Al Gore comment. Come see me after Obama raises your taxes oh dearly departing middle class. You think it is disappearing now? Just you wait until your “sistible” candidate with little qualification comes into office. What remains of the middle class will be gone in a relative instant. They will hence forth be known as the Animal Farm class!
You are correct. You should stay away from American Politics unless you report the whole story. CNN puts their very biased spin on politics. John McCain has never said he help invent the BlackBerry. McCains war injuries prevent him from typing emails. He supported the BlackBerry USE in government.
The only thing Canadians need to worry about is if Obama gets elected. We will all have reason to worry then.
Yeah, just skip over that RIM *stole* the software and located it outside the US, then _bribed_ a lot of US officials by giving them free devices.
I’m not a McCain supporter, but if you are so ignorant that a politician claiming that opening up a market to allow competition isn’t a valid point to brag about, then you should go back to school and try to learn about “macro” subjects. Or look up Cause and Effect. geeze.
This isn’t news in any way other than that BlackBerry Cool is apparently big into Obama… or big into making fun of US politics… or big into stretching nothing into a story because they don’t have anything better to write about.
If this is what we would come to expect for BlackBerry Cool’s quality of political coverage–yes, please stay out of it. It makes me lose more respect for your blog than it does for McCain’s aid.
What the fuck is wrong with you? I expect a bit more integrity from a tech site like this. If I want to read shit like this I’ll head on over to perezhilton.com or some other gossip site.
You should be ashamed that you fell right into shitty (read; run with it and do no fact checking) journalism.
You assholes deserve Rogers…ROFL
We need to get McCain and Gore together … THEY CAN BUILD CYBERDYNE!!
I agree with Jonathan above (except that I am not a pissed off American). Folks, look more closely at what McCain was stating instead of raking him (or any other politician under the microscope) across the coals for any inaccuracy or misinterpretation. His statement was not that he invented the Blackberyy. A Blackberry was held aloft as an example of the telecommunications evolution/revolution that has changed the way the world works, thinks, and communicates. He’s not claiming to have been an entrepreneur, but an enabler of the changes necessary to bring about great things.
DAB
stupid staffer…doesn’t anyone know how to employ the English language anymore to its fullest effect?…that said, it’s amazing how statements get misconstrued, intentionally, for partisan political purposes and people just gobble it up, aided by terrible journalism, because it coincides with their myopic world view…
re: “change”…it’s all about what kind of change…bribing people with their own money (or the money earned by those who create jobs) is the well-worn path of “Old Europe,” which ironically is actually trying to become more like the US in fiscal policy and competitiveness…change, indeed!
Obama is a communist. Theyre back.