Earlier "Chickenhawk" Meme

The accusation of being a "chickenhawk" was popularized during the run-up to the Iraq War, in which the lack of military service among many supporters of the conflict (Cheney being particularly notorious, he of the five draft deferments and the "other priorities").

Thing is, the same argument could be made about Bill Clinton during Bosnia (1995) and Kosovo (1999), since he avoided serving in Vietnam as well.

So what if someone had come up with the term "chickenhawk" to describe Bill Clinton and it had become a meme?
 
I recall hearing it said quite a bit about Dan Quayle. Along with all the terrible puns of course.

And once in awhile being said about conservative celebrities who had gung ho kill em all or super patriotic personas that avoided military service IRL:

John Wayne
Stallone
Lee Greenberg
Limbaugh

People said that about LG and Rush at least as far back as the Gulf War, Stallone at least as far back as the opening of Rambo.

For Wayne the label's been around since...what, WWII? There's the story of director John Ford giving Wayne a beating on the first film they worked on. Ford was a decorated vet, and he knew about Wayne pulling strings to avoid getting drafted.

I don't think the term works well on Clinton precisely because those who hate him the most don't consider him hypocritical on the matter, the central accusation of the label. To them he's a coward/traitor anyway so the "hawk" part is something they don't want to give him.

And if anything, his response on Bosnia was pretty timid and widely criticized as such at the time.
 
MP,

Sorry, but no.

The term came into widespread use during Vietnam era. It was only re-used, and with much less effect, during the run-up to the Iraq War.


Bill

Oh. I did not know that.

(All I know is there was the site that parodied the "Most Wanted" Iraq playing cards that listed Reagan as a chickenhawk, though he did serve, but did not list Bill Clinton, even though he didn't.)
 
Oh. I did not know that.

(All I know is there was the site that parodied the "Most Wanted" Iraq playing cards that listed Reagan as a chickenhawk, though he did serve, but did not list Bill Clinton, even though he didn't.)
Well, the rreasons for inclusion and exclusion in the cards are pretty clear. Reagan was a hawk who exaggerated his service record--claimed to have seen service overseas, which he didn't. (Reagan at one time claimed to have been at one of the concentration camps when it was liberated.) Clinton was not a hawk--he made no bones about not wanting to go to Viet Nam and being against the war.
 
Well, Al Franken used the "Chickenhawk" phrase in a story in his book "Rush Limbaugh is a big Fat Idiot and Other Observations". (He wrote a somewhat funny ATL story in which Oliver North commands a number of conservative pundits and politicians sent to Vietnam. A few get killed, but North saves the rest of their butts. (Interestingly, North thought the story was funny...))
 
Top