Rik Mehta’s rhetoric touches all the required Republican points.

Cory Booker, he told a virtual forum tonight, “missed more than 65 percent of the votes last year.”

One thing wrong with Congress these days, he said, is that there are too many partisan hacks who think the job is about “talking on TV.”

Gee, who was he referencing?

But strip away the sniping and what remains?

In some ways, at least, a man whose disagreements with Booker don’t seem all that great at all.

Mehta, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, joined Booker for back-to-back appearances in a forum sponsored by the United Jewish Federation at Metrowest in Whippany.

Mehta spoke first and presented views that few on the Democratic side of the house would contest.

He wants to pass a stimulus bill, adding that extending unemployment benefits is a must.

Mehta also said the Gateway Tunnel should be built as soon as possible and that the SALT cap should be addressed. That is the $10,000 cap on deductions for state and local taxes. Both the tunnel and fixing the SALT deduction have been major goals of the state’s mostly Democratic congressional delegation.

When it was Booker’s turn,  he was gracious to Mehta, practically thanking him for running and saying he had no desire to “twist his words.”

The few polls in this race show Booker leading by 50-something to 30-something, so the senator can afford to take the high road.

It’s also true that Booker talks so much about common ground, good intentions and “love,” you get the impression he really believes it, although this approach didn’t do much good with his presidential campaign.

Answering the same questions, both men condemned antisemitism and professed strong support for Israel.

One disagreement was the Iran nuclear deal, from which President Trump withdrew in 2018.

Booker voted for the deal, but said tonight he doesn’t think the United States should simply get back into it. He said negotiations should resume and seek to curtail Iran’s support for terrorism. At the same time, he said it’s crucial to curb Iran’s nuclear ambition, claiming that the nation has substantially increased its enrichment of uranium since the U.S. exited the deal.

Mehta said he doesn’t trust the Iranians at all.

And if what he called a “rogue” regime seeks to threaten Israel or the United States, Mehta said he “would support military action if all else fails.”