IHT Poll of Britons: Bush Sucks, "Special Relationship" Between U.S. and Briton Over

This poll by the International Herald Tribune should come as no surprise to members of the reality-based community. The Brits still generally like Americans, but they're not so keen on America anymore, and downright disgusted with Bush.

The administration and its cronies, however, continue to view this as a marketing problem:

"The Daily Telegraph quoted an embassy spokesman as saying that the United States had not successfully communicated America's "extraordinary dynamism," but also blaming the British news media for ignoring stories about the successes of American society and the U.S. economy."

Since this administration can't imagine that it might be wrong about anything, any disagreement can only be solved by working harder to sell its position to others. This may (or may not...who knows?) work in business, but it won't work when more serious matters are at stake.

The Brits are an important and reliable detector of American bullshit. They know us better than anyone else--with the possible exception of the Canadians--they like like us, and they share almost all of our basic world-view. They're smart and reasonable, and when they cry "bullshit" on us that's something we need to take very, very seriously.

The only group left in the whole world that fails to recognize that this administration is screwing up in a very profound way is conservative American Republicans. And when you find yourself in a small, highly partisan group, disagreeing about a highly politically-charged issue with, basically, the rest of the world...well, you might still be right, but it's time to reassess. The smart money is on the rest of the world.