The disclosure on Tuesday of Arizona Senator John McCain‘s poker playing session during a hearing on a potential war in Syria (pictured, image courtesy Washington Post) has shocked some and angered many. During Tuesday’s debate in the Senate Foreign Relations committee that was convened to discuss U.S. military action against Syria for its alleged usage of chemical weapons against its own citizens, several prominent members of the Obama Administration appeared to plead their case.

While the testimony from Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey of the U.S. Army was going on, McCain was caught red-handed not paying attention to the testimony being delivered. Instead, the former Presidential candidate was playing a mobile version of a popular free play poker game while the proceedings occurred.

From the looks of the screen that McCain was playing on, he was logged into VIP Poker, which offers play money games for U.S. customers. One photo that has made the rounds makes it look as if McCain is playing a five-handed table and, although it isn’t readily identifiable, it looks as though the Senior Senator from Arizona is playing Texas Hold’em.

While many will do this to pass a few minutes, most don’t do it in the middle of their jobs. Consequently, the uproar was almost immediate that McCain should not be doing it during such an important hearing.

“It’s absurd to expect someone who pushed us into two, now maybe three, wars to give his full attention,” Digg’sDavid Weiner Tweeted to his followers, according to Forbes. Astronomer and writer Phil Plait added in, “Yes, we shouldn’t expect our Senators to pay attention for three whole hours. It’s just bombing another country, after all!”

McCain didn’t exactly try to calm the rhetoric himself, Tweeting after the disclosure of the photos, “Scandal! Caught playing iPhone game at 3+ hour Senate hearing. Worst of all, I lost!”

Poker pros, for the most part, took the news with a shrug. “Hey [McCain], hit me up for some free poker lessons!” commented Christian charderHarder (pictured) on Tuesday night after the story broke. “Is that Zynga?” QuadJacks’ Marco Valerio queried upon seeing the photo, while Taylor Green Plastic Caby took a little more serious approach in Tweeting, “I can’t even describe the emotions I feel reading this John McCain story.”

Poker Players Alliance Vice President Rich TheEngineerMuny took the opportunity to push for online poker legislation. Poker journalist B.J. Nemeth. Nemeth Tweeted, “It’s funny to see how excited the poker world gets any time poker is part of a mainstream story, no matter how minor.”

While it is nice to take a break from your activities to play some meaningless play money poker, perhaps McCain should have chosen a different time to play. What do you think?

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