Last night, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) called for unanimous consent to bring the Defense Authorization bill to the floor of the Senate after the August recess. The bill includes an amendment to begin the process of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who earlier in the day reassured reporters that he woud not filibuster the measure, objected.

In the debate that followed, McCain misrepresented the language of the DADT repeal amendment and accused Levin of attaching “social legislation” — the hate crames bill — to last year’s defense measure. Levin reminded McCain that DADT won’t be repealed until the Pentagon and the President certify the review of the policy and explained how hate crimes relates to national defense:

MCCAIN: I’m not going to allow us to move forward and I will be discussing with out leaders and the 41 members of this side of the aisle as to whether we’re going to move forward with a bill that contains a Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy repealed before, before a meaningful survey on the impact of battle effectiveness and morale on the men and women who are serving this nation in uniform. It’s again…moving forward with a social agenda on legislation that was intended to ensure this nation’s security.

LEVIN: It was a Senate Armed Services Committee bill that put into place Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The provision that we have in there now, that changes that policy, makes it conditional upon that survey being completed and the certification from the military leaders that there is no negative impact on morale….But the main point is, that the place to debate these policies is on the floor of the Senate. ….I’m not going to deny the Senate the opportunity ot take up a bill that is essential for the men and women in the military because I disagree with some provisions in that bill. I would then move to strike those provisions, if I disagree that much, if we can get the bill to the floor….

MCCAIN: Instead of, perhaps the senator from Michigan can tell me what hate crimes had to do with the defense of this nation. It had everything to do with his social agenda, so I object.

LEVIN: Mr. President, I would be happy to tell the Senator from Arizona what the hate crimes bill has to do with the defense of this country. Men and women who defend this country, defend this country for a lot of reasons, one of them is that we try to act against hate in this country. That’s one of the values that we stand for, is that we try to defeat hate.

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In some ways, McCain’s unwillingness to debate the defense authorization measure is ironic, given his emphasis on military service throughout the 2008 Presidential campaign and frequent jabs at Obama for allegedly allowing the issue of Iraq to trump the needs of the military. McCain accused Obama — who at the time voted against the defense authorization measure because it did not include a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq — of embracing the policy of surrender and called his vote “the equivalent of waving a white flag to al-Qaeda.” That year, McCain also lashed out against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (R-NV) for temporarily pulling the Defense measure, asking “What have we done by not passing the Defense Authorization bill?” “We have placed the care of our wounded veterans in a lower priority than a debate over Iraq.”

Now, McCain is apparently comfortable placing “the care of our wounded veterans in a lower priority than” a debate about DADT — a policy he had previously questioned. Since the issue came to a head, McCain began lying about the repeal amendment’s language and even promised at one point to threatened the entire defense authorization measure in protest.

Late last month, Bill O’Reilly suggested that President Barack Obama should “sign an executive order” ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) and yesterday, during a segment about Judge Walker’s decision overturning Proposition 8, O’Reilly wondered why Obama has not come out in support of same-sex marriages:

O’REILLY: But why do you think he opposes it?

HOLDER: I don’t know. I mean, I wish we could get a reason from him…. I wish we could get a reason from him instead from Axelrod and his administration. Why do I think? I can’t speculate for the president. I don’t think anybody knows.

O’REILLY: Because I don’t know either. I mean, I got — I’ll sympathize with you. I don’t know why the president is against it either. I mean, you know.

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O’Reilly’s concern is shared by many opponents of Proposition 8, who have expressed bewilderment over the administration’s response to the ruling. The administration attempted to portray the President both as a supporter of Judge Walker’s decision and an opponent of same-sex marriage.

“The President has spoken out in opposition to Proposition 8 because it is divisive and discriminatory. He will continue to promote equality for LGBT Americans,” the White House said Wednesday night after the ruling and tried to clarify its position the following day. “The president does oppose same-sex marriage, but he supports equality for gay and lesbian couples, and benefits and other issues, and that has been effectuated in federal agencies under his control,” Obama adviser David Axelrod told MSNBC. “The president opposed Proposition 8 at the time — he felt it was divisive and mean spirited,” he said, adding that Obama believes that governing marriage is “an issue for the states.”

Blogger Andy Towle described the response as “An odd statement from a President whose official position on marriage is not equality, and whose Justice Department continues to aggressively defend DOMA in the courts.” Similarly, John Aravosis remarked that Axelrod’s point suggests that “the President is for ‘separate but equal’ benefits for gay couples.” “Putting aside the obvious horror of that statement, we can’t get ‘equal’ benefits because of DOMA. That would be the law that the President routinely defends in court against our civl rights challenges, and the law about which the President has done nothing to get repealed, even though he promised to repeatedly during the campaign.”

During the 1996 race for the Illinois State Senate, however, Obama expressed support for marriage. “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages,” Obama said in an answer to a 1996 Outlines newspaper question on marriage. (H/T: Towleroad)