Republicans pounce on Gore's claim that he created the Internet

Associated Press 4.23 p.m. ET (2124 GMT) March 11, 1999 By Michelle Mittelstadt,

WASHINGTON (AP)  Vice President Al Gore's claim that he is the father of the Internet drew amused protests Thursday from congressional Republicans.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said that even under the time-honored tradition of politicians taking credit for everything, Gore's statement is an "outrageous claim.''

Gore, who is widely credited for coining the term "information superhighway,'' raised eyebrows with a pronouncement he made Tuesday during a CNN interview.

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet,'' he said when asked to cite accomplishments that separate him from another Democratic presidential hopeful, former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey.

Apprised Thursday of the statement, Armey said: "I just have to tell you that I cracked up this morning over his contention.''

"If the vice president created the Internet, then I created the interstate highway system,'' he added.

Also tweaking Gore, the administration's point man on high-tech issues, was House Science Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who issued a statement headlined, "I had no idea!''

"Vice President Gore taking credit for creating the Internet certainly gives new meaning to the term 'March madness,''' Sensenbrenner said in a jab at his one-time Science Committee colleague.

The Internet, originally called ARPANET, dates to 1969, when the Defense Department began funding the project. Gore, then 21, was still eight years away from joining Congress.

The vice president's spokesman, Chris Lehane, defended his boss's claim, saying Gore "was the leader in Congress on the connections between data transmission and computing power, what we today call information technology. And those efforts helped to create the Internet that we know today.''

Lehane was gleeful over Armey's reference to the interstate highway system, noting that Al Gore Sr.  during both his House and Senate tenures  shepherded passage of legislation creating a national highway network.

"In fact, his father's leadership on the interstate highway system served as the model for the vice president's vision for a network of data highways,'' Lehane said. "As for Congressman Armey, in his time in Congress, what he has created is division, divisiveness and partisan rancor but seemingly little else.''

I had no idea... Thank you Al Gore... I'll vote for you next time....

NOOOOTTTT....

-- Saint Francis (STFrancis@heaven.com), March 11, 1999

Answers

Gore's claim that he is the father of the internet reminds me of Stalin's claims that Russia invented the telephone, airplane, and baseball.

I will accept his claim of parentage of the internet if he will also admit that he has done nothing to fix Y2K.

-- Gil Jackson (gil@aol.com), March 11, 1999.

Well, the Veep just said something which is infinitely more foolish than any spelling error that Dan Quayle ever made. Wonder what Vin Cerf, those wunnerful folks who were with the late, lamented Bellcore, and the more shadowy types at DARPA have to say about Mr. Gore's absurd statement...

Think we'll have any newspaper headlines or commentary about this? Thought not...

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), March 11, 1999.

Al Gore created the internet and his father created the interstate highway system? I always thought it was Eisenhower who created the interstate system. But I guess that I'm wrong and so is the sign along I-81 at the state line that talks about the "Eisenhower Interstate Highway system".

Maybe next week we'll hear how Gore's uncle and not Wehrner von Braun developed the Saturn V rockets for the Apollo missions. Maybe how Grampa Gore was the first to fly New York to Paris. Or of Great Grampa Gore exploring the first route across the Louisianna Purchase to the mouth of the Columbia River.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), March 11, 1999.

Didn't he also invent Gore-Tex?

-- lparks (lparks@eurekanet.com), March 11, 1999.

The two guys in Switzerland who invented teh packet technology that is the true basis for the ARPA and DARPA nets might have something to say.....

cr

-- Chuck, a night driver (reinzoo@en.com), March 11, 1999.

Just for everyone's information, the official name for the interstate highway system at the time of its creation in the 1950's was the "Defense and Interstate Highway System". Its primary purpose was to facilitate the movement of troops and materiel in the event of war, specifically an invasion or civil uprising.

Nah, it can't happen here...

-- sparks (wireless@home.com), March 11, 1999.

Let me see if I have this straight...

The Vice President of the United States says he created the internet.

I assume this would be the same internet where the highest page views are sex sites and special cyber-swat teams exist to battle against cyber terrorists and child molestors. The same internet full of "crazies" (present company accepted).

And Mr. Al Gore is virtually assured of his party's nomination for the office of President of the United States. If elected, he would have control of the the world's most powerful nuclear arsenal and conduct foreign policy matters (requiring the ability to think and speak, in that order).

We're doomed.

-- PNG (png@gol.com), March 12, 1999.

Declan has an article out now about Gore's claim...

http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18390.html

[snip]

No Credit Where It's Due

by Declan McCullagh

3:00 a.m. 11.Mar.99.PST

WASHINGTON -- It's a time-honored tradition for presidential hopefuls to claim credit for other people's successes.

But Al Gore as the father of the Internet?

That's what the campaigner in chief told CNN's Wolf Blitzer during an interview Tuesday evening. Blitzer asked Gore how he was different than other presumptive Democratic challengers, such as Bill Bradley. "What do you have to bring to this that he doesn't necessarily bring to this process?"

Replied Gore: "I'll be offering my vision when my campaign begins, and it'll be comprehensive and sweeping, and I hope that it'll be compelling enough to draw people toward it.... I've traveled to every part of this country during the last six years."

Then came the kicker: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

Huh?

Preliminary discussions of how the ARPANET would be designed began in 1967, and a request for proposals went out the following year. In 1969, the Defense Department commissioned the ARPANET.

Gore was 21-years-old at the time. He wasn't even done with law school at Vanderbilt University. It would be eight more years before Gore would be elected to the US House of Representatives as a freshman Democrat with scant experience in passing legislation, let alone ambitious proposals.

[snip]

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), March 13, 1999.

If you need a laugh, read this :-)

-- (someone@somewhere.com), March 13, 1999.

Someone,

The clip is funny until you read the last line about. "...ideas that will take us back to the Dark Ages." sounds awfully ironic to me.

Gore's spokeperson returned that line over the Republican's jibes at Gore's Internet comments. But it sound like my view of Gore and Clinton's handling of Y2K. Sure hope it's just a case of my sensitivity being set too high this weekend.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), March 13, 1999.

Vice President Al Gore's claim that he is the father of the Internet

There's that IS word again. It's obvious to me that we all just don't understand the proper definitions. Think Newspeak.

--Greybear, who wanders where George Orwell is when you need him.

- Got Dictionaries?

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), March 14, 1999.