On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) started what turned into a marathon filibuster that lasted for nearly 13 hours over concerns he has about CIA nominee John Brennan and the administration's use of drones against American citizens on American soil. But that didn't sit too well with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who spent Thursday morning attacking Paul, The Blaze reported.
“I don’t think that what happened yesterday is helpful to the American people,” McCain snarled from the floor of the Senate.
"The country needs more senators who care about liberty, but if Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms. He needs to know what he’s talking about,” he added.
“To allege that … our government would drop a drone hellfire missile on Jane Fonda,” he said, “that brings the conversation from a serious discussion about U.S. policy to the realm of the ridiculous.”
But McCain twisted Paul's comment and took it out of context.
“Are you going to just drop a hellfire missile on Jane Fonda? Are you going to drop a missile on Kent State?” Paul asked. "That’s gobbledygook,” he later said.
“This idea that we’re going to use a drone to attack a citizen in a cafe in America is ridiculous,” Graham said while appearing at Fox News.
Graham continued his attack from the Senate floor later.
"I don’t remember any of my GOP colleagues coming here to say Bush would kill Americans with a drone,” he said. “The chance of you being killed by a drone because you went to a Tea Party rally … is zero.”
As a result of the filibuster, Graham told reporters he would vote to confirm Brennan, Business Insider said, adding that he was "disappointed" with the senators who supported Paul.
"Basically, as of this writing, the White House’s unofficial response to Sen. Paul’s filibuster has come from two GOP senators and a Wall Street Journal editorial," Beckett Adams wrote at The Blaze.
While Paul's old-fashioned filibuster resonated with many on both sides of the political aisle, Thursday's attacks are angering many conservatives.
"McCain is an idiot for saying yesterday was a waste of time," one person tweeted.
"If it's so d**ned false, @SenJohnMcCain, let the administration SAY they won't kill US citizens on us soil without due process!" added "Film Ladd."
"'Maverick' McCain appears to be getting out-mavericked by @SenRandPaul," tweeted Charlie Spiering.
"So, yea, I'll take Rand Paul's side over McCain's," said another Twitter user.
One person called McCain the "Chair of Advanced RINOlogy Studies at The University of Suckuppitude."
"McCain-style conservatism: Standing athwart the Constitution, yelling stop," added Jim Antle.
Dana Loesch said that the two senators "see the writing on the wall" and are "infuriated that in one night they were shoved aside for the new guard."
While Paul was speaking about the need to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law, McCain and Graham were having dinner with Barack Obama, along with 10 other Republican senators.
McCain's comments can be seen here.
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