Attack of the Chickenhawks

Over the last couple of days I have noticed an explosion of web interest in the mysterious phenomenon of known physical cowards in high places who somehow find a blustery bravery while crouching behind the teenage sons and daughters of others. I'm of course referring to our draft-dodging Republican leadership. I am routinely (as in every election cycle and every military action) amazed that this scandal doesn't cause the right wing at the least to be exiled from power, if not to die in a spectacular implosion from the weight of their own contradictions. However this issue is finally getting more attention than just beery me haranguing my war loving friends about the hypocrisy of the current regime. And the present examination is demonstrating that these aren't a couple of isolated instances, rather these cases betray an epidemic pathological narcissism in the once and future ruling class.

Hall of Shame

Another list of traitors

Yet another compendium of cowards

An insane Tom Delay's excuse:

So many minority youths had volunteered for the well-paying military positions to escape poverty and the ghetto that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself.

Tom Tomorrow asks:

I'd be curious to get some feedback on this from those of you in uniform. Are the men and women you serve with in any way troubled by this-- that so many of the politicians who are so eager to send you into harm's way did everything possible to avoid risking their own lives during the conflicts of their youth?

Well, I myself never served (too young for Vietnam, too old for everything else, whew) but my father spent most of his life in the Army. He was the one who alerted me to this problem during the reign of Bush I, specifically citing then Secretary of Defense Cheney as uniquely unqualified for his position and noting his comment that he "had other priorities" was particularly offensive. Many of those who were drafted surely had things on their to-do list ahead of "miserable jungle death". My dad was also incensed at a comment by Newt Gingrich that since he had two small children, it would have been "insane" for him to go to Vietnam. My dad had two small children and a pregnant wife at that time. And he volunteered. For combat. Twice. Dad's problem with this issue wasn't personal though, he was a career officer who had made a choice to be where he was. His problem was with the children of elites finding easy routes out of harm's way, while the poor and politically disenfranchised were being shot at daily in a struggle of dubious import to the security of the nation. He knew this contributed in no small measure to the legitimate opposition to the war on the homefront and a thouroughly demoralized corps on the real front. In his eyes, the galling ethical duality of people like Cheney, Bush, Quayle, Gingrich et. al. is staggering. They putatively supported the Vietnam war, and now seize every martial opportunity that comes their way, rendering their own combat avoidance pure cowardice and hubris. My dad would contrast these men with the political opponents of the war, many of whom were imprisoned, whose refusals to serve were acts of conscience and yes courage. Of course, this is all anecdotal narrative of one admittedly maverick soldier and doesn't demonstrate any breadth of resentment in the armed forces and hardly answers Tom's question. But I can't help but think that if this scandal was given the relentless media blitzkrieg that Oval Office blow jobs received then the American people would come to realize how truly unfit is the present leadership of this nation.