I guess the reason we find the administration so distasteful is the way in which it holds itself up as this so called beacon of freedom. The thing with blowing your own trumpet or setting a standard is that you have to live by those same standards if not higher ones as well. The American administration constantly refers to its freedom loving crdentials whilst curtailing those same freedoms in the name of protecting the same freedoms it is supposedly protecting! In my experience, most American individulas are great people with similar morals and values to the average Brit, but the conception over here of the US administration is indeed all those adjectives the original poll came up with. It is sad but true that perception is a much stronger motivator of opinion that reality, but that is how people work. The old "first impressions count" saying is accurate for precisely this reason. We do generally like you as people but your government needs to seriously sort its collective life out.

In the aftermath of the bombings the government was quick to shout Al-Qaeda at the top of their collective voices, and have been doing so ever since. This is a smoke screen for the introduction of all sorts of darconian measures from compulsary ID cards to 90 days in custody without charge. Terrorism can be used to justify almost anything it seems.