McCain Jokes Using Google to Vet VP Candidates
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James Joyner | Tuesday, June 10, 2008 |
John McCain joked at a fundraiser yesterday that he’s Googling potential running mates.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain joked on Monday that Google, the popular Internet search engine, had made investigating his list of potential candidates a little bit easier. “You know, basically it’s a Google,” he said to laughter at a fund-raising luncheon when asked how the selection process was going. “What you can find out now on the Internet — it’s remarkable.”
While one presumes a more sophisticated process is in place, one would hope that searches of Google, LexisNexis, and similar databases would be part of it. If the Feiler Faster Thesis is right, people are keeping up with important information as it comes in. Mostly, though, we forget and move on. If people like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin are really being given serious consideration, it’s all the more important that Team McCain see what was written on campaign sites, blogs, local papers, and so forth to see what’s out there that flew totally under the national radar screen.
Photo: Getty Daylife
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Out of curiosity, do people actually say "it's a Google"?
I work in IT and I've never heard it phrased that way. It seems that "google" is most often a verb when not referring to the company itself; as a noun, I've always heard people call it a "google search".
Not that this is particularly important. It wouldn't surprise me, or even bother me much, to discover that McCain is not fluent in high tech lingo.
That having been said, it does bother me that our current President speaks of "rumors on the internets", while the guy he defeated in 2000 was instrumental in funding said internet(s), yet was pounded mercilessly by the right-wing noise machine for a silly gaffe on the subject. (Which I have to admit that I fell for at the time.)
I will confess to hoping that McCain's staff locates, and heeds, my link- and photo-stuffed post from Sunday on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Palin does look impressive. As someone who will most likely vote for Obama over McCain, but who could conceive of voting for Palin as President some day, I don't know to cheer her or fear her.
Nice to see that McCain is mastering use of the internets...
Bottom line from a quote online:
"If John McCain doesn't choose Sarah Palin, he might have to plead temporary insanity."
