Worthless Poll Shows World Has More Confidence in Ahmadinejad Than Bush

Nice to see the folks at the University of Maryland wasting time and money on such a useless exercise. Of course, this merely sets them up for next year's poll that will show the world has 100% confidence in President Obama.

Seriously, I have to question the validity of any poll that shows people have more confidence in a certifiable maniac like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than the leader of the free world.

Granted, there's pretty much zero confidence in anyone listed on this poll, but the notion an Ahmadinejad or Vladimir Paranoid instill more confidence in people is ridiculous.

They apparently see no irony either than in the Middle East, where Bush suffers negatively the most, the Iranians themselves treat him better than others such as the Palestinians (the 95% negative rating given there might give us pause, no?).

The most negative ratings come from the Middle East region. Despite the Bush administration's renewed efforts to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nearly all Palestinians (95%) express low confidence, with 79 percent expressing "no confidence at all." Nearly as many express a lack of confidence in Egypt (92%, 68% no confidence), Jordan (88%, 84% no confidence) and Turkey (83%, 77% no confidence). Iran, interestingly, gives the mildest negative ratings in the region (80%, 72% no confidence). Nearby Azerbaijan, though, only leans negative (49% negative, 42% positive).

Newsweek, naturally, gushes over the results.

Why just report news when you can manufacture and massage it?