Never mind the PBS crew – at a recent debate starring John McCain, neither Jim Lehrer nor Gwen Ifill served as the moderator. Instead, Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, filled that role. And this seems fitting, considering that the event took place at the Googleplex, in front of a crowd of around 700 Googlers.
Schmidt was a gracious host, according to Scott Lindlaw of the Associated Press. Due to an earlier visit from Hillary Clinton, Google’s CEO has some experience with this sort of thing, and it looks like he’ll get still more practice in the future. “The company has extended invitations to all the major candidates and expects more campaign appearances in coming weeks,” wrote Lindlaw.
And no candidate should feel too out-of-place when visiting Mountain View; at this so-called “Google Interview,” Lindlaw reported that, while “[o]ne questioner expressed surprise that a Republican would venture into this liberal area,” another “said he had campaigned in 2000 for McCain.” Still, Democrats may be more at home, judging from Barry Witt’s description of the forum.
“An audience of far younger, far more technologically adept and far more liberal Google employees on Friday sparred politely with Republican presidential candidate John McCain,” he wrote. Witt works for the Mercury News, a San Jose newspaper, and so presumably found himself on familiar ground while covering this story. He did seem less surprised at Google’s apparent influence in the political sphere.
Still, it’s always interesting to see how different people view the same event, particularly when it comes to politics. If you’d like to see McCain’s Google Interview for yourself (and have 68 minutes of free time), a video of it is available on YouTube.
