chickenhawks

In today's "War Room," Salon.com editorial fellow Aaron Kinney responds to conservatives' self-righteousness about being called "chickenhawks." (For those who don't know, "chickenhawk" is a term used to describe those who relentlessly push war but who do all they can to avoid service in wars, or in the military at all, themselves.) Kinney reasonably responds to the objections of chickenhawks like Jonah Goldberg of the NATIONAL REVIEW who have argued that this sort of name-calling is undemocratic and undermines the ethical, responsible, respectful kind of public discussion they value so highly.

I especially like how Kinney sticks to a reasoned argument and avoids talking about the elephant in the room: the utter absurdity of conservatives whining about how unfair ad hominem attacks, especially regarding military matters, are. Draft-dodger Clinton, Max Cleland the friend of Osama and Saddam, Gore who was "only" an Army reporter during Vietnam, Kerry the Swift Boat liar, Ann Coulter's bizarre recent statement about how New Yorkers would immediately surrender if, in some unforseeable event, they were attacked by terrorists... it'd be comical if it didn't, for reasons I still can't fathom, work on voters.

Check out the Chickenhawk Database here and a larger list of "Who served?" here.