[cronix]

> The popular, misguided jokes about Gore "inventing the Internet" come from the work he did in Congress in the 70s and 80s

I think most people got it from this interview he did with Wolf Blitzer on CNN. At least that's how I remember it. The jokes started flowing the next day. The number of people who knew of his work on internet related legislation pales in comparison to those who heard him say this on a major TV network.

"I took the initiative in creating the internet"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnFJ8cHAlco

[dredmorbius]

Declan McCullagh, a now largely-forgotten libertarian opinion writer, seems generally responsible for the perception that Gore's claim was hyperbolic rather than the factual statement it actually is.

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0603/Political-m...

[throwawaylinux]

Yeah the joke/meme is clearly mocking that weird comment.

The narrative that OP has fallen for is so pervasive that I think it's probably misinformation created for damage control.

It's not that it's even a particularly bad lie as far as politicians go, but it is easy to prove it wrong and easy to makes jokes about it. So I think it could easily be considered damaging enough to warrant a specific PR effort.