Bush gets stick because many of the problems around the world either result from or are exacerbated by his abrasive style of leadership. Both within the US and on the world stage he is more divisive than any senior statesman in my lifetime. He, or at any rate he and his administration, are entirely responsible for America being more widely loathed around the world than at any time in its history. Hard to credit that just three years ago the world was united in sympathy and support for the US.

If a particular case cannot answer a generalisation, Wolfgang, then it is plainly absurd to infer anything about "most Americans" from the particular circumstance that 17 people posted to a public forum in two days. We might just as usefully extrapolate from Big Tim's own belated contribution that most Irish people are also indifferent to the tragic fate of innocent Russians.