McCain Plays Poker During Syria Hearing

Call him Arizona Slim. Or just the Maverick. While America's most senior foreign policy and military officials made President Obama's case for using military force against the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain was busy playing poker on his iPhone. A Washington Post photographer snapped an over-the-shoulder picture of McCain casually betting play money on his electronic cards, while Syria's fate was the subject of passionate statements and often carefully manicured rhetoric. Minutes after the Post published the photo online, McCain cracked a joke in the hope of limiting what is bound to be an embarrassing news cycle. 'Scandal!' read his sardonic tweet. 'Caught playing iPhone game at 3+ hour Senate hearing - worst of all I lost!' As the news broke, McCain was waiting to appear on CNN to discuss the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. 'Occasionally I get a little bored,' he admitted on the air, 'and so I resorted.' CNN associate producer Ashley Killough tweeted afterward that McCain 'said he lost "thousands" of fake dollars' during the marathon Capitol Hill session.