John McCain Rep Says McCain Invented Blackberry

Not since Al Gore invented the World Wide Web has such an outlandish claim been made, but the McCain camp said exactly that. According to Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a policy adviser for the Republican presidential nominee, McCain helped in the creation of one of the worlds most popular smartphones. "You’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create," said Eakin, referring to the RIM Blackberry.

While the statement was later dismissed by McCain aide Matt McDonald as "a boneheaded joke by a staffer," the "joke’s" implication remains. According to Eakin, McCain position on the Senate Commerce Committee "...put him at the intersection of a number of economic interests, including the telecommunications industry." Also, "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." Regardless, to say that McCain had any real hand the development of any piece of technology is a stretch, especially when the Senator has admitted that he does not know how to operate a computer, nor can he manage the basic task of sending an email.

When asked for comment, the Barack Obama camp was quick to respond. "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," said Obama’s campaign spokesman Bill Burton.