Wednesday, October 8, 2008
With all the spin doctors, pundits and negative ads out there, who can be sure what the candidates really said on any given stump? Enter Google in Quotes to set the record straight, sort of.
Say you want to know how John McCain really responded when asked how many houses he owns. Search by date, issue or source and you'll have your answer. Wrong answer: "Who knows? I've lost count." Right answer (according to the site): “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you. It’s condominiums where — I’ll have them get to you.” Still fuzzy but, at least, the quote is accurate.
Or is it? Google provides a doubt-inducing disclaimer which states "quotes and their speakers are determined automatically by a computer program and we don’t guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information you may see. The dates you see represent when the article in which the quote appears was added to Google News.”
Still, it's a fun to use tool and might separate the truth from the spin. Sort of.
http://labs.google.com/inquotes/
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