Beyond the Dome

It really breaks your heart to see a beautiful friendship end so tragically.

John Kerry spoke at the convention tonight, which was sort of a poignant moment, given that he was the star of the show four years ago. But that wasn’t the most poignant part of the speech. It was the part where he ripped into his old friend and fellow Vietnam veteran, John McCain.

The two have been through a lot together. In the early 1990s, Kerry and McCain served together on the committee that determined there were no missing prisoners of war in Vietnam — a finding that didn’t sit well with some groups — and later helped convince President Bill Clinton to normalize relations with the country.

They’ve worked together on other issues, such as their 2002 proposal to increase fuel efficiency standards. And, of course, there was Kerry’s feeler to McCain in 2004 about becoming his running mate.

This year, though, Kerry has gone after McCain with great enthusiasm, attacking him on behalf of Barack Obama in numerous conference calls with reporters. Tonight, he took the attacks to new heights — explaining the break with his old friend by making a distinction between “Senator McCain” and “candidate McCain”:

“I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let’s compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.

“Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain’s own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote.”

Then, the kicker: “Talk about being for it before you’re against it.” (Who ever thought Kerry would have brought that up?)

But Kerry saved his strongest words for McCain’s turn to a more aggressive attack mode against Obama, the work of chief strategist Steve Schmidt and other recently installed campaign operatives:

“The candidate who once promised a ‘contest of ideas,’ now has nothing left but personal attacks. How insulting to suggest that those who question the mission, question the troops. How pathetic to suggest that those who question a failed policy doubt America itself. How desperate to tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over money and privilege that he doesn’t put America first.”

So much for senatorial courtesy. And so much for the friendship.