What is a Chickenhawk?

[xotoxi]

Having served in the military and being a life long Republican, the term "Chicken Hawk" always referred to someone who spoke a good line about going to war, but had never served themselves, regardless the reason that they never went.

Does that mean that if you never served, then you are not allowed to have any opinion on going to war?

Only You. Everyone Else has a Waiver.

Good. Because I have no opinions.

 

[theHawk]

Are Mormons pacifists like the Quakers?
Questions About Romney's Sons and Military Service - NYTimes.com

Romney is someone who I would consider a chickenhawk. He talks a tough game about deploying the military, but he got a deferrment to go be a missionary in France during 'Nam, and NONE of his 5 boys have ever seen a uniform.

How many years did Obama serve? You think he'll ever allow his daughters to serve?

 

[ABikerSailor]

Are Mormons pacifists like the Quakers?
Questions About Romney's Sons and Military Service - NYTimes.com

Romney is someone who I would consider a chickenhawk. He talks a tough game about deploying the military, but he got a deferrment to go be a missionary in France during 'Nam, and NONE of his 5 boys have ever seen a uniform.

How many years did Obama serve? You think he'll ever allow his daughters to serve?

Granted, Obama never served, but his wife has done excellent things for veterans.

As far as his daughters? You have to be 17 1/2 to DEP in, and cannot go to boot camp until after your 18th birthday. They've got several years to decide.

 

[Dot Com]

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[Care4all]

Are Mormons pacifists like the Quakers?
Questions About Romney's Sons and Military Service - NYTimes.com

Romney is someone who I would consider a chickenhawk. He talks a tough game about deploying the military, but he got a deferrment to go be a missionary in France during 'Nam, and NONE of his 5 boys have ever seen a uniform.

for now, I disagree with that opinion on romney being a Chicken Hawk....as a President or Presidential Candidate, in my opinion they should hold a big stick.....they should hold it high...yes, threaten, warn, baffle and rattle the enemy with the big stick bull crud....if and when it is needed....BUT if Romney were to send other citizen's children and husband's and wives and mothers to die on any and all whims, while never serving himself or while never having a child serve or be put in the risk of dying for their country....then I'd say he could be called a chicken hawk.....

A Hawk is different from a chicken Hawk.....and although I am a Dove, I am not brain dead, and realize Hawks for National Security reasons, can be necessary in our society as well....we just need enough Doves to balance them out....

 

[editec]

What is a chickenhawk?

Mr. Romney expressed appreciation for the country’s “volunteer army” and said “that’s the way we’re going to keep it. He explained his sons had made
different career choices in life and had not chosen to serve in the military but he mentioned a niece whose husband he said had just been called up by the National Guard.

 

[whitehall]

The redtailed hawk is the victim of the chickenhawk legend but redtails usually don't prey on chickens. According to wiki the left leaning New Republic magazine first used the phrase chickenhawk in a political context. The fact is that there are no chickenhawks either in real life or in a political sense. Only a fool would actually think a politician should have to serve in the Military to be authorized to vote on matters concerning the Military. It's just a catchy little word that the ignorant can't seem to let go of.

 

[geauxtohell]

What is a Chickenhawk?

The guy that stares at you in the mirror every morning.

 

[geauxtohell]

Obama was never called on to serve and therefore cannot be a chickenhawk.

The term arose in connection with Vietnam. The reason being that Vietnam was such a controversial war, fought with draftees, and an issue that divided the generation of an age to fight it. Many of us were against the war. Many of us were for it. To be for it and go to fight in it was one thing -- wrong-headed but honorable. But to be for it only if someone else had to do the fighting and bleeding was something else again. The term "chickenhawk" was invented to describe such a person.

I don't think Cheney was of draft age, so he doesn't count. George W. Bush definitely does, though: the National Guard, and especially the Air Guard, was one of those "outs" provided for the young and well-connected. As the son of a rich man and a Congressman, Bush had escape hatches that many did not. There was of course nothing illegal about this (although there should have been), but his willingness to make use of such an escape hatch while at the same time favoring the war and condemning those opposed to it brands him as a chickenhawk.

There were so many ways that well-connected people could obtain draft deferments that "legitimate" reasons existing mean nothing -- the question is, if you believed in the war, were you willing to do your duty (as you saw it, or should have) and serve? Or did you only seek to make others do so while you stayed home safe?

You don't need to be "called" to serve, asswipe. You need to sit in the Oval Office and bomb the living shit out of the world having never served your country/been in harm's way and make executive decision's from the golf course. And of course salute Marines when you step off of Marine 1 on the south lawn and act as if they have one shred of respect for you.

I served for 24 years- volunteered to do so.
When/where did you serve?
Or are you a fucking Chickenhawk too?

My God.

What happened to turn you from being a rather articulate and polite poster to a complete dick? Are you one of those posters that is going to turn batshit crazy in an election cycle?

Thanks for your 24 years of service.

 

[rdean]

George Bush.

 

[whitehall]

Chickenhawks is a crazy myth that people sometimes subscribe to because they are either ignorant or they are political fanatics. Ever notice that foreign dictators often wear military uniforms? That's because they are military officers. In the greatest Country in the world the Founding fathers created a system of government never seen on the globe. For the first time in human history the military would be run by a civilian government. Live it and love it.

 

[ginscpy]

Clinton was a shameless draft-dodger - but not a chickenhawk in the traditional sense.

not a war-monger president.

 

[theHawk]

Romney is someone who I would consider a chickenhawk. He talks a tough game about deploying the military, but he got a deferrment to go be a missionary in France during 'Nam, and NONE of his 5 boys have ever seen a uniform.

How many years did Obama serve? You think he'll ever allow his daughters to serve?

Granted, Obama never served, but his wife has done excellent things for veterans.

As far as his daughters? You have to be 17 1/2 to DEP in, and cannot go to boot camp until after your 18th birthday. They've got several years to decide.

Oh, "his wife has done excellent things for veterans". LOL you libs are pathetic, I am sure all First Ladys have done some wonderful things for the veterans. But suddenly that is good enough for a President who never served a day in his life in the military.

I know his daughters are very young, my point was he will never allow them to serve because he dislikes the military and always has.

 

[High_Gravity]

Clinton was a shameless draft-dodger - but not a chickenhawk in the traditional sense.

not a war-monger president.

You dodged the draft too ass wipe.

 

[ABikerSailor]

How many years did Obama serve? You think he'll ever allow his daughters to serve?

Granted, Obama never served, but his wife has done excellent things for veterans.

As far as his daughters? You have to be 17 1/2 to DEP in, and cannot go to boot camp until after your 18th birthday. They've got several years to decide.

Oh, "his wife has done excellent things for veterans". LOL you libs are pathetic, I am sure all First Ladys have done some wonderful things for the veterans. But suddenly that is good enough for a President who never served a day in his life in the military.

I know his daughters are very young, my point was he will never allow them to serve because he dislikes the military and always has.

Wanna use some of that ESP you have that tells the future to let us all know who is going to be prez in 2012?

 

[The Gadfly]

Let's face it; this term came about because of an unpopular war, during which we had a draft system that simply wasn't fair. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't be having this discussion; we be arguing over something else instead. I suppose we can continue to have it, unless we pass a constitutional amendment that would make military service a requirement for holding the office of president-that would narrow the pool considerably, and is probably not the best idea. Hell, look at Vietnam; LBJ served; he also sent us to Vietnam, based on an"incident" that HE knew (but we didn't for a long time) NEVER REALLY HAPPENED. Beyond that, what's the qualification for NOT being called "chickenhawk" for a president that has to send our troops in harm's way? What about the guy who was drafted during Vietnam, and spent his service assigned as a file clerk, stateside? He DID serve, didn't he? What about the man who enlisted, and was assigned a non-combat MOS? What about the guy who was turned down, because of a medical problem? I have a friend, who was opposed to the Vietnam war, but wanted to serve anyway. he tried to enlist as a combat medic, and they were going to take him-until they found he had a chronic kidney ailment he had no idea he had. I'm a combat vet, and for the life of me, I can't look at any of those I just mentioned as somehow less than I am, or say they did not try to do the right thing.

Vietnam, and the controversy around it, has poisoned my generation. Some still hate the vets who fought there; some of us vets still hate the people who abused us for it. The recriminations over who did right and who did wrong are still flying, along with the insults, the venom and the epithets. 58,000 dead, so many more broken in body and mind, and now, forty years of this, and still it goes on, and on, and on. What a legacy, and now another generation that never saw the place, has taken up the bitterness of it. It's too late for us, but you younger ones, let it die with us...please.

 

[High_Gravity]

Let's face it; this term came about because of an unpopular war, during which we had a draft system that simply wasn't fair. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't be having this discussion; we be arguing over something else instead. I suppose we can continue to have it, unless we pass a constitutional amendment that would make military service a requirement for holding the office of president-that would narrow the pool considerably, and is probably not the best idea. Hell, look at Vietnam; LBJ served; he also sent us to Vietnam, based on an"incident" that HE knew (but we didn't for a long time) NEVER REALLY HAPPENED. Beyond that, what's the qualification for NOT being called "chickenhawk" for a president that has to send our troops in harm's way? What about the guy who was drafted during Vietnam, and spent his service assigned as a file clerk, stateside? He DID serve, didn't he? What about the man who enlisted, and was assigned a non-combat MOS? What about the guy who was turned down, because of a medical problem? I have a friend, who was opposed to the Vietnam war, but wanted to serve anyway. he tried to enlist as a combat medic, and they were going to take him-until they found he had a chronic kidney ailment he had no idea he had. I'm a combat vet, and for the life of me, I can't look at any of those I just mentioned as somehow less than I am, or say they did not try to do the right thing.

Vietnam, and the controversy around it, has poisoned my generation. Some still hate the vets who fought there; some of us vets still hate the people who abused us for it. The recriminations over who did right and who did wrong are still flying, along with the insults, the venom and the epithets. 58,000 dead, so many more broken in body and mind, and now, forty years of this, and still it goes on, and on, and on. What a legacy, and now another generation that never saw the place, has taken up the bitterness of it. It's too late for us, but you younger ones, let it die with us...please.

I am really sorry to hear that Gadfly but it looks like the Veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan are going to be facing that same kind of discrimation, although not as bad as what Vietnam vets faced when they got home. Employers and other companies are already starting to steer away from hiring Veterans, because they don't want any "problems" or take a chance dealing with PTSD in the work place, if you look at the unemployment numbers for veterans you will see, its pretty high.

 

[ginscpy]

Clinton was a shameless draft-dodger - but not a chickenhawk in the traditional sense.

not a war-monger president.

You dodged the draft too ass wipe.

I played by the rules.

Responded to my Selective Service notice in Sept 1971 - around my 18th birthday.

Went to an SS office - filled out the forms etc.

Then let the chips fall where they may.

Didnt evade anything - unlike draft-dodger clinton.

 

[High_Gravity]

Clinton was a shameless draft-dodger - but not a chickenhawk in the traditional sense.

not a war-monger president.

You dodged the draft too ass wipe.

I played by the rules.

Responded to my Selective Service notice in Sept 1971 - around my 18th birthday.

Went to an SS office - filled out the forms etc.

Then let the chips fall where they may.

Didnt evade anything - unlike draft-dodger clinton.

Liar, you are a fucking coward who skipped out on Nam and than have the nerve to call the guys who served their asshole cowards, you deserve to get a good punch in the fuckin teeth for such ugly disrespect.

 

[ginscpy]

You dodged the draft too ass wipe.

I played by the rules.

Responded to my Selective Service notice in Sept 1971 - around my 18th birthday.

Went to an SS office - filled out the forms etc.

Then let the chips fall where they may.

Didnt evade anything - unlike draft-dodger clinton.

Liar, you are a fucking coward who skipped out on Nam and than have the nerve to call the guys who served their asshole cowards, you deserve to get a good punch in the fuckin teeth for such ugly disrespect.

At the peak ofthe nam war in 1968 - I was all of about 5 feet 0 inches - 90 lbs - 14 years old. A late bloomer who grew to 5'10."