Chickenhawkitis: a Repug malady.

Some thoughts on the terms:

A chickenhawk is someone who has actively supported military action, yet actively avoided serving in the military. The second essential component of "chickenhawk-ism" is criticism of people who did not serve.

Thus, for example, Rush Limbaugh is the classic example of the chickenhawk; he avoided military service, is a proponent of war, and has been critical of Bill Clinton for getting a deferment during Vietnam.

To use another example, G. Gordon Liddy, also critical of Clinton's "draft dodging," is someone I wouldn't classify as a chickenhawk because of his service in Korea. (I would classify Liddy as a traitorous, egomaniacal pyscho, but he's no chickenhawk!)


This article is dated but still tells the story.

CHARACTER MATTERS
by Fred W. Crawford

Which American political party is the bravest and most patriotic?
Let's see...

The Democratic leadership in the House and Senate:

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt - Served his country in uniform, 1965-71
House Minority Whip David Bonior - Served his country in uniform, 1968-72
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle - Served his country in uniform, 1969-72
The Real President Albert Gore - Served his country in uniform and in Vietnam, 1969-71

The Republican leadership in the House and Senate:

Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Majority Leader Dick Armey- avoided the draft, did not serve.
Majority Whip Tom Delay - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott - avoided the draft, did not serve.

THE CHICKENHAWKS

Conservatives made great fun of ex-President Clinton for questioning the Vietnam War, standing up to his beliefs and questioning his own participation in that war as well, i.e., being honest and walking the walk of his own belief system. On the other hand there were literally millions of dishonest hypocritical, cowardly right-wing "patriots" who supported the war while refusing to personally participate. Here are just a few:

Elliott Abrams - Sought deferment for bad back.
Richard Armey - Sought college deferment, too smart to die.
Bill Bennett - Sought graduate school deferment, too smart to die.
Pat Buchanan - Sought deferment for bad knee.
Resident George W. Bush - Turned down as too dumb for graduate school or law school so daddy had to get him into the Reserves. He MAY have learned to fly jets, if he did, the type of jet he says he trained in was no longer in service in Viet Nam at that time. He then proves how brave a patriot he is by going AWOL from the Reserves for over a year (which means he deserted). It is important to note that George Bush Sr. likes to tell how he is a WWII hero (you only find this version in publications funded by Bush backers). He says he bailed out on a mission because his plane was hit, on fire and going down. Unfortunately for
Lieutenant Bush, the official day log entry of the Tail -gunner in the plane ahead of George Sr. wrote that he saw only a puff of smoke, no flame, no loss of altitude or control and only one parachute - that of the pilot ejecting immediately.

The other two airmen in the plane died when it crashed into the sea with no pilot at the controls. So much for the rules of the Navy where the captain goes down with his ship. So we can't blame Little George for cowardice, he can't help if it's genetic.

Vice Resident Dick Cheney - Sought school deferments five times, too smart to die, wanted to live so he could make millions off of the taxpayers without ever working.

Tom DeLay - - Sought college deferment, too smart to die.
Newt Gingrich - Sought graduate school deferment, too smart to die.
Phil Gramm - Sought marriage deferment, too loved to die.
Jack Kemp - Sought medical deferment while still playing in the NFL.
Rush Limbaugh - Sought deferment for ingrown hair follicle on his butt (bizarre but true).
Trent Lott - Sought deferment, didn't want to muss his hair.
P.J. O'Rourke - Sought deferment, too stoned.
Dan Quayle - Family got him into the Reserves (too dumb for grad school but was not a deserter like the Bush boy).
Ron Reagan - Enlisted but never left U.S. (although he later claimed to have liberated the concentration camps). Stayed on Hollywood backlit to do war films while cheating on his wife and later impregnating girl friend Nancy)
Pat Robertson - Father pulled him out of Korea as soon as the shooting began
(went home, heard the call of God and proceeded to knock-up his girl friend... alleluia).
Kenneth Starr - Sought deferment for psoriasis (can't pull a trigger if your trigger finger is scratching other itches).
John Wayne - Sought deferment to further acting career (never served, never left country).
George Will - Sought deferment, too much of a wussy, wanted to stay home
watch baseball and use stolen Presidential documents to brief the actor, Ronald Reagan.
John Ashcroft sought deferments Daddy helped out.
More on Ashcroft: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=498105

Ashcroft Ran Away from the Vietnam War
The New Republic And They Call Him General Post date 12.13.01 | Issue date 12.24.01 John Ashcroft's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week--during which he declared that his critics "only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve"--was despicable. And not just for the obvious reasons. Ashcroft, you see, is the last person who should be accusing others of undermining a war effort, given his own sorry performance during the Vietnam War. While attending Yale and then the University of Chicago Law School in the 1960s, Ashcroft repeatedly sought and received student deferments from his local draft board in Springfield, Missouri. In this, Ashcroft was hardly unique. But, as The Boston Globe reported last January, when Ashcroft graduated from law school in 1967 he took the far less common step of seeking an occupational deferment granted to those who hold critical civilian jobs. (Out of 35 million men registered with the Selective Service in 1967, only 264,000 received occupational deferments.) The "critical" job in question? Teaching business law to undergrads at Southwest Missouri State University--an assignment he lined up with the help of a family friend. Although Ashcroft's draft board had already earmarked him for induction--indeed, Ashcroft had already passed his pre-induction physical--the board reversed itself and granted the deferment, and Ashcroft spent the rest of the Vietnam War in Missouri, safe and sound. And quiet: Although Ashcroft was clearly eager to avoid going to Vietnam, he never protested the war. At least those people Ashcroft now brands traitors have the courage to voice their dissent. <http://www.thenewrepublic.com/122401/notebook122401.html>


And then there is more from http://www.awolbush.com/whoserved.html:

Bob Kerrey... Democrat... Congressional Medal of Honor, VN
Daniel Inouye... Democrat... Congressional Medal of Honor, WW II
John Kerry... Democrat...Silver Star& Bronze Star, VN
Charles Rangel...Democrat... Bronze Star, Korea
Max Cleland... Democrat... Silver Star & Bronze Star, VN
Howell Heflin... Democrat... Silver Star
Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA) - two tours in Vietnam, two Distinguished Flying Crosses as a helicopter pilot, two Bronze Stars, and the Soldier's Medal. <http://www.afji.com/mags/1997/Jan/VietVets.html>
Ambassador "Pete" Peterson, Air Force Captain, POW, Democratic congressman, Ambassador to Viet Nam, and recipient of the Purple Heart, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit <http://www.af.mil/news/Apr1997/n19970414_970430.html>
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-CA: served in combat with the U.S. Army as a staff sergeant/platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade; was wounded and received a Purple Heart. <http://www.house.gov/mthompson/bio.html>

Lay down some stats about what's happening to vets and then ask them what they think should be done about it, since they are so strong on defense.

I've got one even better. The very time Shrub was bailing out of the Guard early my brother was earning a Silver Star in Viet Nam for bravery. I add that he would have appreciated some air backup during that time.....