Intellectual Property Law

Holding an early generation mobile cell phone, Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks about the rapid progress of American technology as he outlines his energy policy and warns of U.S. reliance on foreign oil in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, Monday, April 23, 2007.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Al Gore may have invented the internet, but it's Republican presidential candidate John McCain we have to thank for the "miracle" of the BlackBerry, his top economic adviser said Tuesday.

Asked by campaign trail reporters what McCain's experience as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee does to help him to understand the economy and lead the country through its current turmoil, Douglas Holtz-Eakin waved his BlackBerry in the air, according to The Politico.

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

The BlackBerry was developed by Research In Motion, a Canadian company.

The comment met with immediate derision across the internet.

"McCain economic adviser claims McCain invented the Blackberry. I'd vote for him if it was the iPhone," joked "mnoreen," on Twitter.

And someone else has started a running joke with the word "#invent" on the micro-blogging service. Hundreds of sarcastic comments are pouring through the service. 

Another senior aide, Matt McDonald, said that the senator "laughed" when he heard the comment, reports the AP, which quotes McDonald calling the comment a "boneheaded joke."

In the 2000 presidential race, Democrat Al Gore drew derision when he claimed, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

Research in Motion declined to comment.

  See Also:

• Obama Campaign Mocks McCain's Computer Illiteracy
• McCain Says He's Learning How To Use the Internet
• Poll: Should McCain Learn to Use a Computer?
• McCain Fluent in Science and Technology Issues -- Updated
• McCain at Stanford