Chickenhawk Hall of Shame

[Paul in Saudi]

Something called The New Hampshire Gazette has a list of public figures who have dodged out of military service. I truly cannot vouch for its accuracy or completeness, but I still found it amusing.

The site has links to their cites for each entry. Still a remarkable cast of characters. It amazes me no Vietnam vet ever became President.

Spencer Abraham
Elliott Abrams
Ken Adelman
Roger Ailes
Lamar Alexander
George Felix Allen
Richard Keith "Dick" Armey
John Ashcroft
Harvey Leroy "Lee" Atwater
Haley Reeves Barbour
Bob Barr
Roscoe Bartlett
Robert Leroy Bartley
Joseph Linus "Joe" Barton
Charles Foster "Charlie" Bass
Gary Lee Bauer
Glenn Lee Beck
William Bennett
Richard B. Berman
Wolf Isaac Blitzer
Richard Blumenthal
Roy Blunt
John Andrew Boehner
Clint Bolick
John Bolton
Pat Boone
Neal Boortz
Max Boot
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning
George Walker Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush
Carl Cameron
Kirk Thomas Cameron
Andrew "Andy" Card
Gerald Posner Carmen
Clarence Saxby Chambliss
John P.H. "Pecker Head" Chandler
Richard Bruce "Still Dick" Cheney
Thomas Leo Clancy
Thomas Allen "Tom" Coburn
Roy Cohn
Norman Bertram "Norm" Coleman
John Cornyn III
Ann Hart Coulter
Toby Keith Covel
Larry "Wide Stance" Craig
Dinesh D'Souza
Thomas Dale "Tom," "The Hammer" DeLay
Steven James Doocy
Charles Gwynne "Chuck" Douglas III
John Mathias Engler
Donald Louis Evans
Jerry Lamon Falwell
Don Feder
Douglas J. Feith
Jim Finnegan
Bryan Fischer
Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes
Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama
Frank Gaffney
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich
Rudolph Wiliam Louis "Rudy" Giuliani
Alan Gottlieb
William Franklin "Billy" Graham
William Franklin Graham
William Phillip "Phil" Gramm
Lee Greenwood
Judd Gregg
Sean Hannity
Paul Harvey
Dennis Hastert
John Edgar Hoover
Brit Hume
Asa Hutchinson
Young Timothy Hutchinson
David R. Ignatius
Laura Anne Ingraham
Frederick Walter Kagan
Robert Kagan
Joyce Kaufman
Francis Anthony Keating
Ronald Kessler
Alan Lee Keyes
Brian Kilmeade
Charles De Ganahl Koch
David Koch
William "Bill" Kristol
Jon Llewellyn Kyle
Wayne LaPierre
Michael Arthur Ledeen
Irve Lewis "Scooter" Libby
Joseph Isidore "Joe" Lieberman
David Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III
William "Bill" Loeb III
Chester Trent Lott, Sr.
Frank I. Luntz
David Martin McIntosh
Joseph "Joe" McQuaid
Gerald McRaney
Michael Medved
John Luigi Mica
Don Nickles
Grover Glenn Norquist
Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent
William "Bill" O'Reilly
Patrick Jake "PJ" O'Rourke
Marvin Olasky
John M. Olin
Ted Olson
Richard Norman Perle
James Danforth "Dan" Quayle
Michael Reagan
Ralph Eugene Reed, Jr.
Robert James "Kid Rock" Ritchie
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson
Willard Mitt Romney
Karl Christian Rove
Marco Antonio Rubio
Antonin Gregory Scalia
Charles Joseph "Joe" Scarborough
Todd Andrew Schnitt
Melvin Floyd "Mel" Sembler
Richard Craig Shelby
Alan Kooi Simpson
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra
Willard Cleon Skousen
Robert Anthony "Tony" Snow
Britney Jean Spears
Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone
Kenneth Winston Starr
Michael Stephen Steele
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein
Mark Steyn
David Alan Stockman
Roger Stone
Thomas Gerard "Tom" Tancredo
James Taranto
Clarence Thomas
Fred Thompson
Meldrim "Mel" Thomson
Donn Tibbetts
Clyde Anderson Tolson
Robert Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.
Jon Vincent Voight
Christopher "Chris" Wallace
John P. Walters
John "Duke" Wayne
John Vincent "Vin" Weber
Michael Alan "Michael Savage" Weiner
William Floyd "Bill" Weld
George Frederick Will
Walter Winchell
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz

 

[Cutlass]

Just a quick glance tells me that it's not a well crafted list. Bill Clinton should be included. Britney Spears, not so much.

 

[Borachio]

Muhammad_Ali http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali#Vietnam_War_and_resistance_to_the_draft

In 1964, Ali failed the U.S. Armed Forces qualifying test because his writing and spelling skills were sub-par (he was quoted as saying, "I said I was the greatest, not the smartest!").[95] However, in early 1966, the tests were revised and Ali was reclassified as 1A.[20] This classification meant he was now eligible for the draft and induction into the United States Army during a time when the U.S. was involved in the Vietnam War.

When notified of this status, Ali declared that he would refuse to serve in the Army and publicly considered himself a conscientious objector.[20] Ali stated: "War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an. I'm not trying to dodge the draft. We are not supposed to take part in no wars unless declared by Allah or The Messenger. We don't take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers." More succinctly and famously he said, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong - no Viet Cong ever called me [n word redacted] ." The statement articulated, for many people, a reason to oppose the war

Jimi Hendrix, though, was in the military, but, perhaps unsurprisingly:

"He has no interest whatsoever in the Army ... It is my opinion that Private Hendrix will never come up to the standards required of a soldier. I feel that the military service will benefit if he is discharged as soon as possible."[49] On June 29, 1962, Captain Gilbert Batchman granted Hendrix an honorable discharge on the basis of unsuitability

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix#Military_service

 

[JollyRoger]

In fairness, we just got rid of don't ask, don't tell and before that, gays theoretically couldn't serve.

 

[kramerfan86]

Guys like Hendrix are a good example of why the draft is a stupid concept in the first place.

 

[NovaKart]

I don't think you could really count Muhammad Ali since he wasn't a hawk and I don't know if bill Clinton really supported the Vietnam War either.

 

[Borachio]

Oh yeah. You're right. I didn't consider the meaning of chickenhawk carefully enough.

Ali was a fairly violent fellow, though. No?

 

[downtown]

I'm not sure it's fair to count Mitt in there too, to be honest.

 

[jackelgull]

Oh yeah. You're right. I didn't consider the meaning of chickenhawk carefully enough.

Ali was a fairly violent fellow, though. No?

He was a boxer, which doesn't necessarily mean he's violent. It just means he makes a living off of violence. Still I like the guy. He had presence and flash.

 

[r16]

and having watched the movie , ı can say it took some courage to refuse the draft . It cost him the title you know .

 

[gay_Aleks]

I'm not sure it's fair to count Mitt in there too, to be honest.

Do Mormons even serve in the army? Just curious.

 

[bhavv]

I could never serve in the army. I could never fight. I am a pure softy weakling squishy pacifist that would just run up to the enemy with a peace or surrender flag.

 

[Borachio]

You're a funny fellow, Mr Havv!

How do you square your pacifism with your desire to exterminate the entire human race?

As for pacifists being pure, soft and weak, I beg to differ.

Speaking as an aggressively militant pacifist myself, I think you're confusing pacifism with cowardice or quietism.

 

[bhavv]

My mind is a very confusing place.

 

[Borachio]

I agree. But I think you're an interesting person just the same.

 

[bhavv]

I think its a case of when I have no power I'm a liberal. Gibe me power and I become most tyrannical dictator armed with nukes.

 

[Borachio]

That's funny. Only the other day I was reading how the peaceful parts of the Koran date to when Muhammad had practically no followers. It was only when he became much more popular that the Koran turns aggressive.

I've generally thought that aggression was a sign of weakness. But it may not be true.

 

[Hygro]

I had a dream about a month ago that WW3 had started and there was a total draft. Everything looked like WW2 footage. In the dream, though, women were being drafted—as they would in the event we actually have a draft again.

As such one of my female friends was drafted in the dream, and in the dream I was angry thinking about how much being drafted could permanently break some people. Especially those in their teens and early 20s.

My distaste for a draft has gone from intellectual to quite visceral.

 

[downtown]

Do Mormons even serve in the army? Just curious.

Sure, lots of them do.

 

[warpus]

I dodged my country's required military service.

Technically I was exempt, since I was attending university on another continent, but .. details got lost in the bureaucracy.

I can't think of many scenarios under which I would actually join up and become a soldier.