In Politics, a year can appear as a lifetime, so a decade or two seems an eternity.

Just such an eternity ago, John Kerry and John McCain had formed an alliance and friendship by working together on resolving the question of American soldiers missing in action in Vietnam, which led to normalized relations between the countries.

Fast forward to the 2004 presidential race, where this unique friendship fell victim to the ugly politics of personal destruction. While at first mildly defending democratic presidential candidate and friend Kerry against vicious lies by the Swift Boat Liars, McCain quickly abandoned honesty and decency for political advantage. Only a year later, he accepted a $4200 campaign donation from Swift Boat funder (to the tune of 4.5 million) Bob Perry.

Today, the only thing these two men have in common is their job description.

John McCain is running for president, and is emulating the current man in office by adopting 90% of his agenda - including wholehearted support of the handling of the Iraq war. He supports the surge and believes that the Petraeus report will back him up in that belief. He opposes a deadline to withdraw the troops, stating that we must allow the war to be ended with our troops' honor intact.

Senator Kerry, having foregone a second try at the presidency in favor of what really matters- ending the war- has been working tirelessly towards this goal, making quite a bit of headway in the Senate and in the court of public opinion.
He argues for a political solution in the Iraq conflict, stating that a military solution is not possible at this point, and that a deadline for withdrawal is imperative. Without deadlines, Kerry points out, the Iraqi government has done very little to advance towards a resolution and self-sufficiency.

George Stephanopolous interviewed both on This Week today. The contrast between Kerry and McCain could not be any more pronounced. McCain continued the drumbeat for war, while Senator Kerry again promoted a real political solution. Watch the Kerry portion of the interview below. We decided to spare you McCain's same old song and dance. For those with masochistic inclinations: his drivel can be found at abc.com in a little while.