>Here's the actual quote, with some context from his interview with
>Wolf Blitzer on March 9, 1999.
>
> I've traveled to every part of this country during the last six
> years. During my service in the United States Congress, I took the
> initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving
> forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be
> important to our country's economic growth and environmental
> protection, improvements in our educational system.
>
>To many people, it seems that Al Gore was taking credit for the
>Internet. It's certainly the way that I understood what he was
>saying when I saw the original interview.
I don't want to get drawn into politics, because both major parties
are flawed. However, I will comment on the creation of the Internet.
As much as Gore-bashers will hate it:
Congressman Al Gore was one of the leading proponents of the bill
that legalized public access to the Internet. Before this bill
passed, the Internet was limited to military and university access
under government programs. Gore specifically called this "the
Information Superhighway" to parallel a similar bill his father had
passed which created the Interstate Superhighway system. As much as
his father created the Interstate Highway system, Al Gore created the
public Internet system in America.
It was an obvious idea that would have happened no matter what, but
Al Gore did bring the Internet to the American public.
-- Harvey Newstrom <HarveyNewstrom.com>
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