John Kerry honors Sen. John McCain at annual Alfalfa Club dinner

PHOENIX — U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has stayed away from Washington, D.C. in recent months as he battles brain cancer in Arizona, but his influence is still felt by other lawmakers.

John Kerry, the former U.S. Secretary of State, sang the Arizona senator’s praises at the annual Alfalfa Club dinner — a social organization that is comprised of about 200 members — on Saturday.

“There’s a fellow Alfalfan, who couldn’t be with us tonight, who I met 32 years ago this month. We both loved the Navy. But we had opposite views about a war in which we’d both served,” Kerry said, per Politico’s Playbook.

Kerry continued, talking about his and McCain’s feud in the Senate — “we didn’t trust each other” — before they decided to “work hand in hand” to make peace and end the Vietnam War.

“We investigated the fate of Americans still missing from the war. We traveled together to Vietnam and together, we found common ground in the most improbable place,” he said.

“I will never forget standing with John McCain, the two of us alone, in the very cell in the Hanoi Hilton where years of his life were lived out in pain but always in honor. Our differences were transformed into years of common effort to finally end a war that divided too many people for too long.”

Kerry ended his remarks by praising the senator — and his persistence. “John always says ‘a fight not joined is a fight not enjoyed.’ He loves to debate, he loves to battle. But one thing the service and the Senate taught John and me — at some point, America’s got to come together.

“And I hope you’ll believe the two of us Alfalfans: if Washington, is a city where you can bridge the divide between a protester and a POW, finding common ground on anything else shouldn’t be so hard at all.

“I will always thank John McCain for sharing in the discovery of that lesson — and tonight I ask all of you to join me in raising a glass to one of the best and bravest men I know, my friend — our friend — John McCain.”

McCain has been finding refuge in Arizona in the months since he announced that he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer. The typical survival period after a diagnosis is 12 to 15 months, though a small percentage live longer than five years.

The senator called his prognosis “very poor” in a September interview with “60 Minutes.”

Last week, both Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) spoke with McCain and said he was “making progress” and “sounding good.”

And McCain, who is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is apparently calling the shots all the way from Arizona, according to Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).

“I’m chairing the meetings, but we’re chairing the meetings consistent with what John feels we should be doing,” he told C-SPAN.

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