It seems to me that the lunar ranging people at McDonald Observatory
might have the measurements on Earthly tidal bulges. There are lots
of hits on Alta Vista. It also appears (from titles in the literature
of geophysics) that the tidal bulges are also measured with laser
ranging of Earth-orbiting satellites. It appears that geophysicists,
at least, believe in tidal bulges and crustal tides because they can
measure them. See http://cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov/slr_brochure/tides.html
for example.