(CNN) -- As I watched the split screen of the Petraeus hearings and the Kagan hearings this week, two views of what makes America great were clearly on display. I was transfixed by the visual image of four-star Gen. David Petraeus, sitting in dress uniform decorated with row upon row of ribbons and patches awarded in recognition for some difficult task or accomplishment. The general was given a deserved lovefest by the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The contrast was Elena Kagan, also called general (solicitor general) in her modest suit being put through a little more grueling questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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Ed Rollins: Senators' message to Petraeus was we love you, but not your war
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He says Petraeus and Gen. Stanley McChrystal are heroes who deserve to be honored
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After nine years of battle, U.S. public and military are tired of war
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Rollins: We shouldn't forget U.S. didn't seek this war but responded when attacked
@placeholder is a stranger to most of the country and barely known outside the legal and political fields before her nomination.
A little over a year ago, he also sat in a decorated uniform before that same @placeholder.