Google Drops The Mask

Ever since the right side of the Blogosphere pointed out Google’s capitulation to Chinese censors, and their inability to celebrate traditional Western holidays such as Christmas and Easter on their splash page, they were due to fight back.

Once a search engine with a seemingly neutral appearance, Google drops the mask and demonstrates its bias, taking a potshot at Michelle Malkin.

The Anchoress has further thoughts:

And there is a vaguely insinuation that the blogosphere is hypocritical.

I wonder if Google is having any second thoughts over its purchase of Blogger back in 2003.

Meanwhile, Ed Morrissey reminds us that when it comes to kowtowing to China, Yahoo are no saints, either: “Freedom’s Just Another Word At Yahoo“.

Update: Much more from Business Week:

Google has a Washington problem. Since it started hiring for its public policy team last year, the Web giant hasn’t snagged a single high-profile Republican. Indeed, Washington’s GOP ruling elite isn’t giving Google the time of day.

The Republicans can’t seem to forgive what they see as Google’s leftward tilt. In the 2004 federal election cycle, 99% of Google (GOOG ) employees’ campaign contributions went to Democrats. For its first lobbyist, the company last May hired Alan Davidson, a Democrat and former privacy policy wonk at the Center for Democracy & Technology think tank.

And now Google has taken positions on two issues that rankle many on the Right: rebuffing U.S. government subpoenas to measure how many Google searches are related to pornography, while bowing to the censorship demands leveled by China’s communist government as the price of doing business in that country. “It sends a signal that the company doesn’t know who its friends are,” says a GOP lobbyist.

Or that it’s willing to make enemies of people who were once its staunchest supporters.

Update: Want a good reason to switch your blog from Google’s Blogger software to Movable Type or Typepad? Google is now placing “CONTENT WARNING” pages in front of blogs it doesn’t approve of. I’m not sure how wise a decision that is–I’ll leave that to the lawyers who blog–but as Gates of Vienna writes, “Somehow, I think that other webpage designers are going to find themselves with new customers”.