Arianna skewers McCain: "He doesn't need Viagra--he's got Iraq."

Bush and McCain's Displaced Ardor for War

When it comes to the war in Iraq, the president and the leading GOP contender to replace him seem to be stuck in a time warp -- tossing out applause lines from years gone by and using rhetoric drawn from the Dark Ages of the Iraq debate.

Then there was the president's reelection chart topper, "Al Qaida is on the run in Iraq" -- a moldy oldie that nonetheless had the crowd roaring its approval and holding up metaphorical disposable lighters. Indeed, the line led to one of the most telling moments of the night, with Hillary Clinton springing to her feet in applause while Barack Obama chose to stay seated. Perhaps she was having an '04 flashback.

Then there is John McCain, the resurgent GOP front-runner, who has spent the last few days attacking Mitt Romney using the same shopworn cudgels that Republicans have often wielded to cow Democratic opposition to the war. McCain accused Romney of once saying (in 2007) that he "wanted to set a date for withdrawal similar to what the Democrats are seeking." Heaven forbid. McCain acted like Chris Hansen, popping out to nab yet another pedophile. "I was there," said McCain at a town hall meeting held in a Florida retirement community, "he said he wanted a timetable for withdrawal." Heat up the tar! Pluck the feathers!!

A Romney spokesperson called McCain "unhinged" -- a claim McCain helped bolster with a bizarre campaign rant this weekend in which he promised a crowd of supporters, "There's going to be other wars... We will never surrender but there will be other wars."

And, shockingly, the idea did not seem to fill him with unbearable sadness. In fact, he seemed like a grizzled football coach at the tail end of long career, finally about to get a shot at coaching in the Super Bowl.

McCain's people try to sell him as the GOP field's reigning grown up. And when it comes to issues like pork barrel spending, immigration, and stem cell research, he is. But on the most important matter a president can face -- questions of war and peace -- he carries himself like a cocksure teenage bully, itching for the next fight.

After insisting that future wars are just around the corner, McCain launched into a creepy riff in which the suffering of our soldiers seemed to leave him almost breathless with anticipation: "We're going to have a lot of PTSD to treat, my friends. We're gonna have a lot of combat wounds that have to do with these terrible explosive IEDs that inflict such severe wounds. And, my friends, it's gonna be tough, we're gonna have a lot to do."

It's a speech that could easily have been delivered by Gen. Buck Turgidson, George C. Scott's war-loving character in Dr. Strangelove. "I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed, but I do say no more than 10 to 20 million killed - tops!"

McCain, like Turgidson, has a disturbing displaced ardor for war. Although he'd be the oldest person ever elected president, he doesn't need Viagra -- he's got Iraq. Call your doctor if your erection lasts longer than four hours -- or your war lasts longer than 100 years.

Bush and McCain's tried-and-failed approach to matters of war and peace offers an important reminder that whatever difference the Democrats may have -- and how still more heated and divisive their race may become -- when it comes to Iraq, the two parties are heading in wildly different directions. Clinton, Obama, and the Democrats are all looking to the future while Bush, McCain and the GOP remain mired in a Neanderthal past.

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