There’s a larger issue here. Cohen is conflating two different issues: The Iranian people on the one hand, and the Iranian government on the other.

Cohen says that the Iranian people are sophisticated and civil. But we already knew that! Nobody has been arguing that the Iranian people are the bad guys here! Find me one person--on the left or the right--who’s making that argument! It’s a total straw man that Cohen is constructing when he claims that the civility and goodness of the Iranian citizenry refutes the arguments of Iran’s critics.

What Iran’s critics are arguing is that the unrepresentative, authoritarian government of Iran is run by bad guys who are jockeying for more power in the Middle East, and are using anti-American sentiment, the nuclear issue, and the Palestinian tragedy as cynical tools in gaining that greater influence. Cohen’s visit to the Iranian people has absolutely nothing to do with any of it.

I’d love to see Cohen address this rather dishonest gambit of his. Ron, maybe you can hold his feet to the fire for the rest of us! What do you say?