If McCain skips debate, there's always Google In Quotes

John McCain just called for postponement of Friday's debate until the financial crisis is solved, as the Boston Globe reports. If that happens, there's always Google In Quotes, a Labs project offering up news quotes from the candidates, not only for the U.S. presidential race but also for contests in Canada, Britain and India.

It's pretty fun -- for a minute or two. It's hardly elucidating. It other doesn't seem to be able to distinguish a quote that the candidate said from a quote about a candidate. Case in point: "lipstick."

McCain: "I think they put some lipstick on a pig," he said, "but it's still a pig.A common expression, right? McCain surely wasn't calling Clinton a pig. After all, McCain's former press secretary, Torie Clarke, wrote a book called lipstick on a Pig:... The quotation is from McCain but the excerpt is some journalist's opinion piece.

And it's just bizarre that "alternative energy" brought up a quote for McCain (""New drilling has to be part of our energy solution. It will not solve this problem alone. alternative energy will not solve this problem alone.") but not Obama.

A search for Cuba brings up Obama quotes for both McCain and Obama.

In Quotes does better on the search terms Google recommends, like "health care":

McCain, in the Times: As Senator McCain has said: "I believe the key to real reform is to restore control over our health care system to the patients themselves."

Obama, reported on Fox: "John McCain says he's about change, too, and so I guess his whole angle is, Watch out George Bush.' Except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics : That's not change....

Oh, and the U.S. version has other fun guys and gals to get quote from, like Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and Dana Parino. Here's Palin v. Biden on "Constitution":

Palin, via AP: Miller "doesn't understand rural Alaska, doesn't comprehend wildlife management in the North, and doesn't appreciate the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution that gives states the right to manage their own affairs," Palin said in a press...

Biden, critiqued in WSJ: But during a recent campaign rally Mr. Biden gave a wrong-headed, if well-intentioned, answer when asked whether he would "pursue the violations that have been made against our Constitution by the present administration?"