Are you watching the Don't Ask, Don't Tell hearings on the C-SPAN3 right now? (Or maybe you are reading Ana Marie Cox's liveblog?) Guess what: John McCain is the worst.

Harry Reid straight-up called the grizzled old Maverick a Sore Loser yesterday, and he really is just being a tremendous pain in the ass. Immediately after the State of the Union, McCain lumbered over to his Olivetti Lettera 32 and hammered out a quick statement on how kicking the gays out of the military while we are fighting two wars is totally working out just great and the policy should never, ever be changed. He has no actual argument for keeping the policy beyond the fact that the policy exists, and has existed, and also there is a war going on.

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, kicked ass with his statement. He said, in part:

Mr. Chairman, speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal and professional belief that allowing homosexuals to serve openly would be the right thing to do.

No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.

For me, it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.

At this point, Republicans cannot honestly claim to represent the true feelings of the Armed Forces or our Boys in Uniform. It is not just Those Crazy Gay-Loving Hippies who want to extend Special Rights to Homosexuals anymore. But, whatever, John McCain is still mad!

McCain was very, very cranky in his questioning of Admiral Mullen and Republican Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, because these old conservative dudes do not want to openly discriminate against the gays anymore. He is so mad that the military is enforcing the policy less strictly without first asking John McCain's permission! He also keeps arguing that everyone in the military loves the policy and wants to keep it and so he is somehow telling the people who are literally in charge of the military that they do not represent the will of the military, unlike John McCain, who has a list of veterans who hate gay people! We must always do whatever veterans want. (Unless the veterans are gay and want to not get kicked out of the military?) Oh, and McCain wants to know if the military will recognize gay marriages next! He is just stirring up trouble!

John McCain is an unpleasant, capricious old bastard.