In an interview on the Today programme this morning, one Myron Ebell gave a performance of such breathtaking arrogance that at first I thought he was some comedian brought in for some light relief. Unfortunately, I was wrong.
Some examples:
* Climate change is a myth put about by Europe to damage US business
* There are no independent scientists outside the USA
* The Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK government cannot express views on climate change because he is not a climatologist. (Mr Ebell appears to be an economist but clearly doesn't think that is a disqualification in his case)
On this showing, we can clearly not expect any change of attitude from the Bush government anytime soon. If his attitude is typical, the chances of any softening of attitude by the US in terms of listening to anyone else on anything seems remote.
You can listen to the interview here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today3_climate_20041104.ram
(The relevant part starts at about 3 mins 45)
A truly appalling and shocking demonstration of US chauvinism. Next time anyone asks why the US is so unpopular in the world - point them to this performance.