John McCain’s economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin had an Al-Gore/Internet moment when, holding up a BlackBerry, he claimed McCain had a role in its development simply because he was on the Senate Commerce Commmittee. “Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce Committee,” he said, “So you’re looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that’s what he did.”

Pretty good work for a guy who famously admits he’s a computer “illiterate,” not to mention a man who conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg says likely “can’t type or use something like a blackberry” because of wartime injuries that prevent him from lifting “his arms much higher than his chest.” Of course, as many a blogger has pointed out, McCain can use a BlackBerry just fine.

Update: AmericaBlog reports that the BlackBerry was developed by a Canadian company.