Senator John McCain, who has recently been restored to the ranks of viable contenders for the GOP nomination, has staked much of his campaign on cultivating an appearance of consistency with the so-called War on Terror. A hero from a previous interventionist war, he has risked much by refusing to waver in his support of the war in Iraq, even as the electorate has grown increasingly aware of how wasteful and pointless it is. As if this were not enough he has also pronounced a desire to expand the conflict into Iran (with apologies to the Beach Boys, click here).

John McCain might not be a truly moderate Republican, but Bush has made it easy for anyone to appear moderate these days. It is tempting to play the what if game and speculate about what might have happened if the Rove Slander Express had not driven McCain out of the 2000 election. 9/11 might have still happened, but what would the aftermath have been like? Would we have bungled the capture of Osama bin Laden? Would we have responded by invading a nation that had nothing to do with the attacks? Would we have allowed the Taliban to rebuild while our military resources are diverted to fight a pointless war elsewhere? What would things be like today if fewer South Carolinians were gullible enough to fall for rumors of McCain s black baby, or bigoted enough to be bothered by them?

As we approach the 20^th anniversary of the end of the Cold War it is uncanny how much we have begun to resurrect icons from the past, a past that the generation now reaching voting age is too young to have ever known. Last month Rambo returned to theaters after a two-decade hiatus. Perhaps it has taken all this time to forget why they stopped making Rambo sequels in the first place, but in 1982 First Blood was an important turning point in popular culture for how we perceived the Vietnam War and those who fought it. The first installment in the Rambo franchise (the sequels, like the Missing in Action series, were just revenge fantasies) allowed us to see the Vet as a tragic hero who was done wrong by the government, a theme that fit neatly with the times. In its own way it helped break the taboo on Vietnam and its aftermath.

In a slightly different theater the GOP is trying to revive the light and sound show that was the Reagan Revolution. Like Chuck Norris movies this show had a simple plot: a titanic struggle between good and evil with no nuance about who is who. But like most sequels of the 80s, Reagan III has not lived up to expectations. Bush is absurd in heroic roles (and here, and here), and unlike the original he cannot summon empathy with conviction. Some GOP producers auditioned another actor, one who does the folksy thing well but in a way that hints at wisdom rather than cluelessness. But as with Timothy Dalton s brief stint as James Bond another legacy that just turned 20 this new performance has fallen flat. This is not for a lack of stagecraft, but because the chemistry is simply not there.

The Smokey and the Bandit III rule of casting says that if you cannot find a good replacement for the role of good guy, expand the role of the bad guy. Thus Sheriff Buford T. Justice tried to carry a movie that even the star of Cannonball Run II wouldn t go near. And thus we also have Iran, a secondary character from the 80s being recast in a starring role as our new super-villain. Iran s humiliation of America during the hostage crisis helped discredit the Carter presidency thereby clearing the way for Reagan to come save the day. Maybe if we put that piece back in play we can recapture some of the magic.

In a desperate attempt to appear relevant on the world stage as his failed presidency winds down, George W. Bush continued to tout the imminent threat Iran poses despite authoritative evidence to the contrary during his recent tour of the Middle East in a way that bears a disturbing resemblance to the buildup to the invasion of Iraq nearly six years ago. And even though he has squandered every shred of his credibility in the international community, it is disturbing to think that for the next 11 months or so he will still have his finger on the button.

To be sure, Iran makes an easy target for paranoid militarism. President Ahmadinejad has a knack for the provocative, from his questioning of the Holocaust to placing American flags on the ground where they are trod upon at parades and entrances to public buildings. Ironically, by taking Ahmadinejad s bait, Bush, Cheney, and their cadre of neo-con chicken hawks is strengthening his regime by becoming their super-villain so that fear will distract Iranians from what their government is doing. Maybe we re not so different after all.

The threat real or perceived that Iran poses did not emerge out of any intrinsic hatred that that part of the world has for our way of life. Our unfortunate history in the region reaches back long before the hostage crisis of the late seventies. Bush s talk of bringing democracy to the region neglects the history of our involvement in toppling the democratically elected government of Mohammed Mosaddeq in 1953 after he nationalized British petroleum interests there. Mosaddeq was replaced with Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi who, while becoming increasingly despotic during his decades in power, was at least pro-Western. When the Shah was overthrown we supported Saddam Hussein with guns and money in a lengthy war that caused up to one million Iranian casualties and set the nation s infrastructure back for decades. As a matter of perspective these events are minor footnotes in American history that took place long ago and far away, yet these are the formative events of modern Iran. When we think of Iran we think of hostages and militant Islam. When Iran thinks of America it thinks of decades of harmful interference.

In the months following 9/11 Bush squandered an excellent opportunity for reconciliation. A fascinating Frontline report that aired late last year shows how the Iranian government gave valuable assistance with the invasion of Afghanistan and was in turn rewarded with a charter membership in the Axis of Evil (click here to view the episode online). Given the fate of their alleged partner in evil, Iraq, (an imaginary alliance which is ironic on many levels) one can understand if not approve of Iran s posturing on the international stage.

Of course, none of this means that we should overlook Iran s record on human rights. However in the causus belli that Bush & Co. are unconvincingly trying to build, human rights are a secondary concern at best. Besides, playing the human rights card would raise some uncomfortable questions about the record of our allies in the region (here and here). Unfortunately, in light of extraordinary renditions, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, water boarding, and Haditha, we ve lost much of our moral authority as a nation to speak on this. Our government can no longer hide its hypocrisy on this matter.

To be fair to Bush, most of our problems with Iran have their origins in a time when he was living the dissolute life of a son of wealth and privilege, a haze that he only emerged from (at least according to the official story) as the Reagan years were winding down. He was born again at a time when most of the young people he has sent to die or be maimed in Iraq were just being born. Bush might be seeing this story for the first time, but it s a tired script. If Rambo IV fails, the losses will be limited to a studio s bottom line and a wasted afternoon for American moviegoers. The cost of Bush s personal 80s revival will be much higher.