Al Gore may have invented the internet but George W. Bush Takes Credit for the iPod
We all remember the flap by which Al Gore exagerated his role in the development of the internet and the media's exageration of that exageration.
Now we have a new rediculous tecnical claim. This time from George W. Bush via engadget:
During a speech at Tuskegee University, President (and iPod user) George W. Bush told his audience, "the government funded research in microdrive storage, electrochemistry and signal compression. They did so for one reason: It turned out that those were the key ingredients for the development of the iPod." While we have to gratefully acknowledge the efforts of government agencies such as DARPA in some of the fields mentioned by the President, we also feel obligated to point out the accomplishments of private companies in the US and abroad, including IBM, Hitachi and Toshiba -- not to mention the Fraunhofer Institute, which developed the original MP3 codec, and codeveloped (with Sony, AT&T and others) the AAC format used by Apple in the iPod.So, uh, not quite sure what to say. Did I ever mention that I invented the PC when I was a toddler. It's been tough feeling that level of accomplishment since, especially as I developed fuller verbal faculties.
posted by ZT @ 4/20/2006
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Al Gore didn't exaggerate anything! As Al Franken tells it in Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (page 40):
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Gore told Wolf Blitzer in a 1999 interview, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."
What do you suppose he meant? That, late at night in his office in the Russell Building, after the other senators had gone home, he had written the PASCAL code that allowed packet switching? Probably not. No. What he seemed to be doing is what members of Congress do: He was taking credit for a program he championed and funded. In this case one that revolutionized the information infrastructure of the entire world.
What an asshole.
The phrase "invented the Internet" first appeared in a Republican party press release and would be repeated by the "liberal" press thousands of times during the campaign. What should have been an enormous credit to the man's vision became a symbol of his insidious, compulsive dishonesty. Ironically, Gore was sometimes criticized via the Internet itself!
At least someone in the government is doing something useful...
I took the initiative in creating the Internet.
the above would imply that the internet was created by some law, legislative reprecussion, or something in some way connected to decesions gore made or impacted. thought he never say he "invented the internet" gore did say he had a role in creating it. ARPANET had been up for roughly seven years by the time gore got to the house. at best he helped pass legislation which led to the popularization of the previously "created" internet. what he said not only exagerated his role but also ,ade a mistatement about the status of the project when he became involved. The republicans did a lot of exagerating themselves and made Gore look like a bafoon, but it seems, at least in this case, he made misleading statements first.
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