The McCain campaign is definitely concerned about the effect the gaffe. McCain appeared on six shows this morning to defend his remarks and explain that he meant the "American workers" when he referred to the strong fundamentals of the economy.
Moving on to the Blackberry gafffe, I don't particularly care about an aide claiming that McCain helped invent the Blackberry. But if the McCain campaign is going to tout McCain's impressive record of accomplishment as the chair of the Commerce committee, let's set the record straight.
...ThinkProgress also spoke with Blair Levin, who is currently Managing Director at Stifel Nicolaus and served as Hundt’s chief of staff at the FCC. Levin pointed out that McCain actually voted against the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA ‘93) that “authorized the spectrum auctions that created the competitive wireless market that gave rise to companies like Research in Motion [the creator of Blackberry].”
This is not the first time that McCain has tried to take credit for a technological innovation he actively opposed. In a 2000 GOP presidential debate, he took credit for E-Rate, a program designed to wire schools:
We took a major step forward when we decided to wire every school and library in America to the Internet. That’s a good program.
McCain, however, opposed E-Rate in the late ’90s, concerned about the impact it might have on the telecom industry. Groups such as the American Library Association were so outraged that they encouraged their members to contact obstinate senators, including McCain. More here on McCain’s paltry record as Senate Commerce Committee chairman.
Source: Think Progress
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