Not surprisingly, Gore's statement has prompted howls of outrage on various internet discussion groups, and a host of bemused political rivals have borrowed the same logic to accept credit for having invented practically everything else. Lamar Alexander claims to have invented plaid, and Dan Quayle, tongue hopefully in cheek, claims to have invented the spell checker. If you've ever worked with more than one computer, you know how frustrating it can be to get information between them if they are not connected. Since the early sixties, when Mr. Gore was still in high school, that simple fact has driven the development of networking technology. It is true that the Internet has grown and flourished tremendously during Gore's tenure, but that hardly means he caused it to happen.
Politicians do seem to have a problem relating to technology.
I remember being amused when George Bush, on a campaign stop at a California grocery store, was thoroughly distracted and amazed by the laser scanner that rang up his purchase. Of course, those of us who buy our own groceries had become familiar with those years earlier. At least Bush had the grace not to accept credit for inventing the laser scanner, even though it came into prominence during his tenure. The Internet changes everything it touches, and politics is no exception. Today, we can scrutinize what our elected officials are doing on our behalf to an unprecedented degree.