It's one thing when his quotes happen at some conference and only get picked up by the tech/search industry outlets. But it's something else when he goes on CNN and makes cracks about how people can move somewhere else if they don't like Street View, or when Colbert grills him about privacy, etc. What impact, if any, will all of this have on Google?

Added: For some background, Danny just posted on SEL a couple days ago -- Schmidt's "Just Move" Joke About Google Street View & How It Went Missing and Bas at State of Search posted Top 15 of Eric Schmidt's remarkable quotes. (Several more could be added to that list, too!) :-)

Matt, I think if things continue as they are and google continues down this path of "everything is about the money and screw the people" there will be a google backlash from hell.

If they do move forward with the SEO services they will destroy the validity of their own search engine.

The question people need to really ask is he just one whacky CEO who makes bad jokes and ill timed comments, or is he the tip of the iceberg of creepiness at google. How well do his quotes represent the culture of what google employees really feel about their place in the world and what they should or shouldn't be allowed to do

Yahoo has a Carol Bartz problem...the difference being that Google seems to be performing a lot better than Yahoo.

These quotes are puzzling since clearly, he could be coached in how to practice media relations better...surely, someone should give him a hint.

Somehow I have this 'creepy' feeling that all the quotes are well thought over. And that he has a reason for it. As if they are moving the attention towards the odd quotes to avoid attention on something else... Can't get a grip on it yet, and have zero proof for that, but I just cannot believe a CEO of Google could be that stupid to make at least one stupid remark in every interview.

Might be interesting to see whether there is a pattern and if he has always done this or whether this is something from the past year (all the quotes I gathered which Matt is talking about were from the last 8/9 months orso) or that he already made these remarks five or six years ago.

When you hear/view the quotes in context they're usually not that creepy as he's just joking around. The press just likes to do their usual take stuff out of context and make mountains out of molehills.

The Colbert thing is a perfect example. When you watch it, it's so totally a joke. I mean, he was on a comedy/satire show...

That maybe so Jill, but I do think a CEO of a company that big and who has so much to do with marketing should know that and act on it. He KNOWS that if he makes a quote like that the press will take it and run with it. Either he needs media training or he does this on purpose...

Jokes are googley.

So far, it's gotten him a LOT of extra press, that's for sure.  Those of us who wear tin foil hats take his diatribe snippets and use it for fuel in our never-ending quest to burn down the evil Google empire.  At least that's how I've used it occassionally.

Michael brings up the more important question though.  Is it a sign of a deeper-seeded corporate mentality that's now baked into their business model?  From all the actions Google's been taking in recent months, including Google Places and the Local Search change yesterday, I'd say it is.

And OMG don't send up the balloons or anything, but this is my first entry in a Sphinn DOTW.  :-)

I think when you're sitting in the position that Schmidt is, at a company in the position that Google is, hubris ensues. Schmidt's many and varied comments - not just the "did he just say that, really?" ones - smack of an "it's our world and you just live in it" attitude, tossed with patronization and baked in a sauce of "don't worry your little heads about it - we're in control and we know what's best for you."  What happened to you Google? You used to be cool.