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Chickenhawk (also '''chicken hawk''' and '''chicken-hawk''') is a Political Epithet used in United States to criticize a politician, bureaucrat, or commentator who strongly supports a War or other military action, but has never personally been in a war. The term is a deliberate insult, meant to indicate that the person in question is cowardly or hypocritical for personally avoiding combat in the past while advocating that others go to war in the present. Often, the implication is that the person in question lacks the experience, judgment, or moral standing to make decisions about going to war. The term was first applied to vocal supporters of military action who were perceived to have used family connections or College Deferments to avoid serving in previous wars, particularly the Vietnam War . In current usage, the label is used almost exclusively to describe prominent Conservative and Neoconservative supporters of the Iraq War who have themselves never been in combat. Those who use the term are generally but not always on the Political Left ; persons labeled "chickenhawks" are almost always members of the U.S. Republican Party . The label is not usually applied to women (who traditionally are not expected to serve in combat) and to members of the Democratic Party , even those who voted to support the war but have never served in the military (as they are perceived as being less "hawkish"). People who use the term have not necessarily been in the military themselves; people labeled "chickenhawks" have sometimes served in the military, but have not seen combat. The term is used most prominently by Civilian s to describe other civilians, and is not usually associated with current members of the military. Opponents of the term argue that it is an '' Ad Hominem '' Logical Fallacy , that it is historically unsound, that it is inconsistently applied, and that it suggests ideas that are contrary to certain fundamental principles of American democracy. ORIGIN OF THE TERM Although also a name for a Type Of Bird , in political usage ''chickenhawk'' is a compound of ''chicken'' (meaning ''coward'') and ''hawk'' (meaning someone who advocates war, first used to describe " War Hawk s" in the War Of 1812 ). According to the Internet site wordspy.com, the earliest known print citation of ''chickenhawk'' in this sense was in the June 16 , 1986 issue of '' The New Republic ''. (The magazine referenced the term in a way that suggests it was already in usage.) An association between the word ''chickenhawk'' and war was popularized several years earlier in the 1983 bestselling book '' Chickenhawk '', a memoir by Robert Mason about his service in the Vietnam War, in which he was a helicopter pilot. Mason used the word as a compound oxymoron to describe both his fear of combat ("chicken") and his attraction to it ("hawk"), a slightly different use of the term which nonetheless might have inspired the current usage. "Chicken Hawk" entry from Word Spy Previously, the term ''war wimp'' was sometimes used, coined during the Vietnam War by Congressman Andrew Jacobs (Democrat– Indiana ), a Marine veteran of the Korean War . Jacobs defined a ''war wimp'' as "someone who is all too willing to send others to war, but never got 'round to going himself", "Leading the charge from behind a desk" by Lionel Van Deerlin , '' San Diego Union-Tribune '', September 4 , 2002 which is equivalent to how the term ''chickenhawk'' is now used. HISTORY OF THE TERM'S USAGE The use of the term ''chickenhawk'' to describe a "hawk" who has never been in combat became more popular when members of the 1990 , the poster mocks the idea of Quayle as "President Chicken Hawk". One popular joke from this time, playing on the fact that "Quayle" and " Quail " are Homophones , was: ::Question: what do you get when you combine a chicken with a hawk? ::Answer: a Quayle.The earliest newsgroup appearance of the joke may be in this post , from December 7 , 1990 . The joke also appears in the book ''Comedy/Cinema/Theory'', edited by Andrew Horton (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991, ISBN 0520069978), p. 27. In the 1992 Presidential Campaign , conservative critics of Democratic candidate Bill Clinton questioned the way in which he had avoided service in the Vietnam War. They charged that while Quayle had at least served honorably in uniform, they argued that Clinton had been a " Draft Dodger " and was thus not suitable to become commander-in-chief. This criticism continued throughout Clinton's presidency, particularly on right-wing Talk Radio . Liberals countered with the argument that many of Clinton's conservative critics were "chickenhawks" who had themselves avoided being sent to fight in Vietnam. ), from Al Franken 's '' Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot '' (1996)]] A notable example of this response was liberal satirist Al Franken 's 1996 book '' Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot '', which included a chapter called "Operation Chickenhawk." The story details the exploits of a fictional Vietnam War squad comprised of Quayle, Newt Gingrich , Rush Limbaugh , Pat Buchanan , Phil Gramm , Clarence Thomas , and George Will —all conservative Republicans who were of draft age during the Vietnam era yet did not serve in the conflict. In the story, the cowardly and incompetent squad bungles a surprise attack on a North Vietnamese Army company and ultimately extricates itself from the battle by Fragging its gung-ho lieutenant, Oliver North (a conservative Republican veteran of the war). Usage of the term continued into the , who had served in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War but did not go overseas, was also called a chickenhawk. For example, in a November 15 , 2000 article in the '' Chicago Sun-Times '', liberal columnist Richard Roeper criticized what he regarded as Bush's "chickenhawk stance on the Vietnam War."Roeper's column was posted in a newsgroup Roeper's column here. Subsequently, in the 2004 Campaign , Vice President Cheney criticized the voting record of Democratic nominee John Kerry , a Vietnam veteran, suggesting that Kerry's positions on national defense made him unsuitable to be commander-in-chief. Democrats responded by highlighting Cheney's comment that he himself had not served in the military because he had had "other priorities", with Senator Frank Lautenberg calling Cheney "the lead chickenhawk" in criticizing Kerry. ''Washington Times'' , US News wire , Lautenberg's comments from cnn.com Lautenberg was in turn accused by critics of being a hypocrite based upon his previous support of Bill Clinton, who had also avoided serving in the Vietnam War. Since the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003, numerous conservative and neoconservative supporters of the war have been labeled "chickenhawks" by liberal opponents of the war. For example, the online edition of the alternative, liberal newspaper '' The New Hampshire Gazette '' maintains a "Chickenhawk Database", which they describe as "detailing the means by which various right-wing politicians and personalities avoided military service." The database accuses numerous supporters of the war (all or almost all Republicans) of being "chickenhawks", including conservatives such as Bill O'Reilly and Bill Kristol . The New Hampshire Gazette's "propaganda platoon" ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST THE TERM People who use the term ''chickenhawk'' generally make or imply a number of arguments:
The use of the term ''chickenhawk'' has been criticized for a number of reasons:
"Armchair General" , by Christopher Hitchens , November 11 , 2002 .
NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS General information
Advocates of the term:
Critics of the term:
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