Donklephant » Blog Archive » The problem with “chickenhawk”

The problem with “chickenhawk”

By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Foreign Policy, General Politics, Military, The War On Terrorism, War

Jeff Jacoby had a generally good column yesterday on the incoherence of the term “chickenhawk.”

He’s right — but he’s also wrong.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 24th, 2006 and is filed under Foreign Policy, General Politics, Military, The War On Terrorism, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “The problem with “chickenhawk””

Kevin Says:
July 24th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
I’ve never liked Jeff Jacoby’s writing but I agree with his general point here, that throwing around the term “chickenhawk” is pointless.

What he fails to call attention to though is how often terms like “unpatriotic” have been thrown around at any one who opposes the war effort. That is equally pointless and inaccurate. To use the schoolyard logic that seems to be prevalent in Washington. They started it.
Kilroy Says:
July 25th, 2006 at 7:22 am
I think Jacoby’s effort to minimize the labeling effect of “Chickenhawk”will fail in the end.

“Bleeding Heart Liberal”,

“Tax and Spend Democrat”,

“Cut & Run”.

All name calling ? You betcha ! All designed to shade and simplify anothers position ? yep ! Effective in the long run although immature, irrational and trite ? unfortunately yes.
Is there a term for when the Country asks for sacrifice for the greater and better good and that same sacrifice is conciously and proactively avoided by persons with the means to achieve said end ? Dunno-(maybe…. politician ?)

I find it telling that we as a country are asking members of our military to make the ultimate sacrifice, while we force our children (and their children) to pay for this action and a bloated debt.

I have been told unceasingly that this is a war unlike no other, for our very survival. I have been given tax breaks. I have been asked no sacrifice other than some of my rights. I am not willing to make that sacrifice. Now because I do not support the way the war has been prosecuted I am a “TRAITOR”. If I supported the war would I be surprised at being called a “CHICKENHAWK” ? Nah.. these are only labels and names. Thats politics in its most infantile.

I wish we could call out other names like “Leader” & “Statesman”. Until then, guess its gotta be the sandbox at recess.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

NOTE TO COMMENTERS:

You must ALWAYS fill in the two word CAPTCHA below to submit a comment. And if this is your first time commenting on Donklephant, it will be held in a moderation queue for approval. Please don't resubmit the same comment a couple times. We'll get around to moderating it soon enough.

Also, sometimes even if you've commented before, it may still get placed in a moderation queue and/or sent to the spam folder. If it's just in moderation queue, it'll be published, but it may be deleted if it lands in the spam folder. My apologies if this happens but there are some keywords that push it into the spam folder.

One last note, we will not tolerate comments that disparage people based on age, sex, handicap, race, color, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry. We reserve the right to delete these comments and ban the people who make them from ever commenting here again.

Thanks for understanding and have a pleasurable commenting experience.