Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, the husband and wife team of former U.S. officials (he was with the CIA and she was with the State Department) who’ve made a second career out of advocacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, have just published a book. Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms With the Islamic Republic of Iran has been roundly panned by critics, most perplexingly for the Leveretts, even by reviewers in places like the New York Times that used to welcome them with open arms.

Calling for a “grand bargain” with Iran, and visionary American leadership modeled after Nixon’s trip to China, the book touches on all the same themes that once excited the Times. In 2006 the paper of record published the Leveretts notorious “redacted” op-ed—“redacted,” as the couple explained, by the CIA under orders from the White House—helping to make them one of Washington’s premier speak-truth-to-power couples. But that was when taking on Bush was an all-entry pass to political, intellectual and cultural credibility, and the Leveretts, who claim to have a privileged insight into Iranian politics, are apparently unaware that the culture of American politics has shifted underneath their feet.