Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain and Secretary of State John Kerry were once close allies in the Senate, but these days McCain has been a vocal critic of his old colleague,
Politico reported.
"In recent months [McCain] has branded Kerry a
'human wrecking ball,' urged him to 'recognize reality,' called him 'delusional' and said he has 'accomplished nothing except mileage as secretary of state,'" Politico said.
"Last month, for good measure, he suggested that he considers Iran's supreme leader a more believable source on the nuclear talks than Kerry."
And on MSNBC this week,
McCain suggested that Kerry was partly to blame for the decision of Saudi Arabia's king to skip President Barack Obama's Arab summit.
"I've noticed in his tenure here in the Senate, but also as secretary of state, that he sometimes interprets things as he wants them to be rather than what they really are," McCain said, according to Politico.
The comments have prompted the administration to push back.
"We expect there to be differences over policy," said National Security Council aide Ben Rhodes, according to Politico. "But this type of repeated questioning of the credibility of the secretary of state … is not in keeping with longstanding practice with respect to U.S. national security."
Obama himself weighed in after McCain compared Kerry's credibility to that of the Iranian leader, saying the comments were "an indication of the degree to which partisanship has crossed all boundaries."
Politico said that relations between the men had reached an "unhappy low point for a decades-long friendship between two Vietnam veterans and the only men in Washington with the dubious honor of having won their party's presidential nomination only to lose the general election."
The two men had supported one another for over three decades, reaching across party lines. McCain was a staunch supporter of Kerry's appointment to his current post.
Allies of both men say their friendship will withstand McCain's criticism and that Kerry dismisses the comments, but Politico said the bond between the two men has been compromised.
"This has always been a volcanic marriage of two strong willed, proud guys who deeply respect each other, but sometimes drive each other absolutely crazy. It's a real friendship, unlike so many of the clichéd Washington variety," a close Kerry associate told Politico.
"But this phase has been jarring. Kerry has been surprised by McCain's public tirades. It's crossed some lines that Kerry himself is always careful never to cross," the associate added.
For his part, McCain's team has downplayed suggestions that the criticism has ever been personal.
"It is nothing more than a passionate dispute about matters in the national interest, and not something they should take personally anymore than McCain takes personally attacks on him," said Mark Salter, McCain's former longtime chief of staff, according to Politico.
"He speaks his mind forcefully to friend and foe alike, and expects the same."
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