Blackberry (4.00 / 2)

I decided to forego commenting on the irony of Paul Krugman now being a hero, as opposed to the good old primary days, when I used to love to quote him and other people supporting another candidate hated it, and to instead post this McCain staffer whopper instead, because we can all enjoy the irony of this comment:

(CNN) -- Sen. John McCain's senior domestic policy adviser said Tuesday that the BlackBerry mobile e-mail device was a "miracle that John McCain helped create."

The adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, discussing the nation's economic woes with reporters, said that McCain -- who has struggled to stress his economic credentials -- 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 he held up his Blackberry, telling reporters: "He did this."

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt   [I'm an advisor to the NHDP Coordinated Campaign]

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 15:18:23 PM CDT

But will this (0.00 / 0)

have the staying power of Gore and the internet?

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by: jbd @ Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 15:24:59 PM CDT

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Probably not! (0.00 / 0)

Or, as my mother used to say, "life isn't fair."

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt   [I'm an advisor to the NHDP Coordinated Campaign]

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 15:32:23 PM CDT

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Proof that Republicans are better at BS. (4.00 / 1)

Internet pioneers have said many times that Gore was the first politician who paid attention to information technology, and he knew more about the internet in the decades before it was used by the public than John McCain does now.

Gore never actually said "I invented the internet."  That sentence originated from a Republican who mocked Gore for pointing out, rightfully, that he was instrumental in crafting the legislation that led to critical software innovations responsible for the wide use of the internet.  But he gets mocked for something he never said.

And yet McCain will certainly get away with an adviser saying he was instrumental in creating a foreign-devloped highly complex device for the purpose of streamlining a process that the vast majority of Americans--but not John McCain--go through every day.

Gore's incredible decades-early foresight should be observed with awe, but he was ridiculed for saying something he never said about his real leadership on the issue.

John McCain is negligent in his inability to comprehend even the most basic elements, the ones familiar to a vast majority of Americans, of a technology--and an entirely new field of law--that is redefining our world, but he will certainly get away with an adviser claiming he's a leader on the issue.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 17:45:22 PM CDT

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John McCain (4.00 / 2)

is a Canadian?

BlackBerry is developed by Research In Motion (RIM), a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market.

...

Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario...

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by: Alex Gallichon @ Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 15:30:42 PM CDT

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It's deliberate (4.00 / 1)

They're trying to get a funny item about McCain in the news to make us forget what he said about the economy.

And by the way, I never minded when you brought up Krugman. I like being challenged on Blue Hampshire, and he -- and you -- were heroes even when I disagreed with you.

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by: JimC @ Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 15:52:23 PM CDT

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The McCain campaign is fundamentally sound n/t (4.00 / 2)

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by: elwood @ Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 18:04:22 PM CDT

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goes with Fiorina's accessment of Palin and McCain (0.00 / 0)

Hope all of us are know sitting there and getting our shovels and knee-high boots to do some barn house cleaning.

"I'm not smart enough to run the economy."

- John McCain (r) Arizona

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by: TJMCNH1 @ Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 20:13:39 PM CDT

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Hey Krugman (4.00 / 2)

Has always been a weakness of mine. I was surprised as you to see him vilified during the primary -- a guy that fought the good fight on the Iraq war and really wrote the book on what the economic end game has been here.

Not so much here, where a quote might be dismissed though -- more on the orange satan where all sorts of invective about everything from his commitment to his whiteness were thrown around.

But it's good people have let him back in. There were few things stupider than tossing a analyst of his caliber off the boat.

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by: Mike Caulfield @ Wed Sep 17, 2008 at 06:59:59 AM CDT

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