Google just released a little Google Labs app called ‘In Quotes’, it allows you to catalog quotes by people and face them off through keyword filters. They already posted one with quotes from both Barack Obama and John McCain. Check it out here: Google’s In Quotes
And read more about it here: TechCrunch:”Watch The Political Spin Machine With Google “In Quotes” “

This little app sparks a few thoughts. The first is that it reminded me a lot of my favorite videos from The Daily Show where they dig into the archives to find politicians saying complete contrary things. This clip doesn’t even represent the best of it.

Politicians have gotten away with being inconsistent with their words because it takes the research and time of a journalist to call them out. And when a journalist does ask the ‘tough questions’ to a political figure their answers are filtered by our own opinion of the bias of the reporter. By Google becoming a force in cataloging all these quotes the individual can do even more investigation for themselves, taking the journalist out as the middle man.

Now imagine Google adding YouTube videos to this quote machine application. With that you could conceivable curate your own ‘Daily Show Style Videos’, a feat that even a week ago seemed like a job that would take tedious hours scanning through speeches and archives.

I am no political scientist, but it seems that above policy and ideology it is important for politicians to be consistent. People want someone who remains true to their word and doesn’t stray what they believe in so at least you can predict what that person will do. John Kerry lost the election because he was viewed a flip-flopper, Rudy Guiliani and Mit Romney probably didn’t make it through the Republican primary’s because their stance was so radical from their pasts.

If this quote thing really caught on as a popular place for news and information for politics (which it definitely won’t), then being raised in a culture where it is so easy to show and display people’s inconsistencies that it would demand up and coming politicians from day one to be weary of what they say over time. Imagine if as a country we could make that a priority - ensure that politicians, no matter what their beliefs, actually do what they say. Don’t we need people who will honor their word? Without that then their beliefs and promises really don’t mean anything.

If only Google knew how to dress up their technology and market it to people perhaps some of these social powers would be unlocked. Its a shame there isn’t better user friendly and engaging design on the web — but that’s a post for another day.