Politicians have always said some ridiculous things. Regardless of party or ideology, advancements in technology and the immediate availability of information mean more people can learn of the most recent gaffe more quickly. NewMediaPlus' Bill Pojunis wrote about “Utilizing All Social Media Assets in Media” and highlighted the primary for Nevada's Senate seat, including the mistakes made by Sue Lowden. More recently, FastCompany.com’s Austin Carr assembled a list of the top 10 blunders regarding politicians' use of all things digital.
Carr references a recent study by George Washington University and New York University that measured “digital IQ.” The ranking was arrived at by measuring the volume of posts and popularity of politicians’ social media accounts: YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Interestingly, septuagenarian Sen. John McCain was found to have the highest digital IQ. What?! Insert your own joke here. After all, we certainly have to laugh loudly at the rest of the Senate if McCain is the savviest when it comes to the most effective knowledge and use of social media.
Heck, I regularly laugh at the Senate just because.
The top 10 blunders as offered by FastCompany.com are:
9. France’s former president, Jacques Chirac, was attending the opening of the country’s new national library in 1997. Chirac referred to the Internet as “an Anglo-Saxon network” (which actually is a rejected name for the reality show, The Amazing Race) and was reported to “gaze at it (a computer mouse) in wonder.” Evidently, '97 was the first year that France’s president had ever seen a mouse. Le mouse must have been very impressive, n'est-ce pas?
8. Our own 41st president, George H.W. Bush, was campaigning in 1992 and stopped into a grocery store. Scanning a carton of milk into the register, Bush marveled at the barcode scanner. Passing the carton across the great divide, he asked, “You cross this, this open space?” Later the same day, Bush stated he was “amazed by some of the technology” he’d seen. I just hope he never gets in front of me at a Fresh & Easy.
7. Just this summer, former Alaskan governor and big-ticket nominee Sarah Palin created her own word. Tweeting, “Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate.” She liked the new word so much she used it again in a television interview. Palin compared herself to Shakespeare, tweeting, “Shakespeare liked to coin new words too.” The phrase "a heartbeat from the presidency" comes to mind.6. McCain’s campaign advisor didn’t make up a new word, but rather, created a new history for the popular Blackberry phone. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a McCain economic advisor, held up his Blackberry and said, “He (McCain) did this. ... Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years … so you’re looking at the miracle John McCain helped create, and that’s what he did.” Interestingly, RIM, makers of the Blackberry, is a Canadian company. At least Eakin didn't claim McCain invented the Internet.
5. Oops, spoke to soon. Speaking of grandiose and false claims, another POTUS hopeful, Al Gore, was being interviewed by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer when the claim was made that Gore “invented the Internet.” So that’s two big creations for Gore: the Internet and global warming, both of which are currently being refudiated by the GOP.
4 (tied). Answering a question about a possible military draft in 2004, George W. Bush answered, “I hear there’s rumors on the, uh, Internets.” Bush allegedly used the word a total of three times, last in 2007 when stating, “Information is moving—you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it’s also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets.” So, George, how many are there exactly?
4 (tied). Barack Obama, not to be outdone by his predecessor, added an “s” to a different tech phrase. Referring to a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Obama said, “And during his visit to Silicon Valley, this week, he visited the headquarter of Twitters, where he opened his own account.” What’s with POTUS’s adding “s’s” to everythings. It has gotten out of hand when there are now three “s’s” in "jobless."3. Perhaps Vice President Joe Biden was thinking of a house address when he asked an aide, “Do you know the website number?” During the CBS interview (the White House has since learned to not allow the VP to speak), Biden was touting the current administration’s pledge to transparency in all things but didn’t know the Web address. Palin refudiated the claims of transparency.
2. George W. Bush makes his second appearance on the list for his use of "the Google." In a CNBC interview, Bush responded to a question about his use of the search engine, Google. He replied, “Occasionally. One of the things I’ve used on the Google is to pull up maps. It’s very interesting to see—I’ve forgot the name of the program—but you get the satellite, and you can—like, I kinda like to look at the ranch. It reminds me of where I wanna be sometimes.” On a similar note, Palin uses the Google to see Russia when she is away from home.
1. John McCain not only has the highest digital IQ but also takes the No. 1 spot on the list. When asked if he prefers a Mac or a PC, McCain replied, “Neither. I am an illiterate that has to rely on my wife.” Thank goodness for staffers—so long as no one claims he invented the Blackberry again.
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