One of the Most Awkward Moments We Can Imagine Actually Happened Yesterday

Following Senator Rand Paul’s impromptu 12-plus hour filibuster of the White House’s closely-guarded drone program, Republican Senator John McCain (and Lindsay Graham [S.C.]) spent Thursday morning rebuking the Kentucky senator.

“If Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts than fire up impressionable libertarian kids,” Sen. McCain said, adding that Sen. Paul did a “disservice to a lot of Americans by making them believe that somehow they’re in danger from their government.”

“They’re not,” he asserted.

Obviously, these are strong words coming from an old-school GOP member to a freshman senator. Imagine how awkward it’d be if the two suddenly came face-to-face right after the Arizona senator said all that.

Oh. Wait. They did:

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The above was taken by New York Times photographer Stephen Crowley right after Sen. McCain unloaded on Sen. Paul during a speech on the floor of the Senate:

Talk about uncomfortable.

And in case you were wondering, it doesn’t appear that Sen. McCain is going to back down from criticizing Sen. Paul anytime soon. Indeed, the war of words between the two escalated on Friday, with McCain referring to Paul and his filibuster allies as “wacko birds.”

“It’s always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone,” Sen. McCain told Huffington Post’s Jon Ward in an article entitled “John McCain: Getting Back To Maverick, With An Eye On Retirement.”

“I think it can be harmful if there is a belief among the American people that those people are reflective of the views of the majority of Republicans. They’re not,” he added.

Meanwhile, a McCain aid told BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray that the Arizona senator was merely speaking out because Sen. Paul is crazy (or something).

“Senator McCain is obviously well aware of the politics of this – he just doesn’t care,” the McCain aide said.

“He’s doing what he thinks is right. Unlike many of these guys, he’s actually been involved in a few national security debates over the years. He knows that jumping on the Rand Paul black helicopters crazytrain isn’t good for our Party or our country, no matter what Twitter says,” the aide added.

For his part, Sen. Paul has responded by saying Sen. McCain (and Sen. Graham) are simply “on the wrong side of history.”

But what’s your take on all of this?

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