Malkin: Just Another GOP Chickenhawk Smearing Democratic Veterans

Given their penchant for routine and grotesque hypocrisy, it should never surprise us that the craven crew in the Republican party, who claim above all else to support the troops and America's Veterans, are the first to Swiftboat them, cut their funding and ridicule them if they happen to be members of the Democratic party.

What's also politically interesting is that it's almost always the Republicans -- who seem to spend more time in prison cells for corruption than they do in the military and who generally avoid military service at every turn -- who embrace war, death and killing like Rush Limbaugh hugging up to his local pharmacist. Meanwhile, the biggest opponents of wars like the Iraq quagmire are either Democrats like John Kerry and John Murtha or Republicans like Chuck Hagel who have actually seen war and know that it's something far more grim than making big bucks for your buddies at Halliburton.

And the little screech monkeys on the right-wing side of the media never fail to go after Democrats who oppose the disastrous war in Iraq, whether it's through challenging their patriotism and the terms of their military service or just good old-fashioned, junior-high school, calling someone "chicken" like we have today as Exhibit A from Michelle Malkin.

Malkin, who, of course, has never served in the military, proudly posted on her personal web site, Hot Air and YouTube, today a video she stars in showing her in a faux cheerleader costume -- the cheerleader image just forever went from wholesome to skank in my mind -- and bellowing out "The Defeatocrats' Cheer."

She does the old "gimme an 'L,' gimme an 'O'" routine until she spells out "loser" complete with the clucking of a chicken after each silly chant and showing unflattering pictures of Kerry, Murtha, Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi with each letter of the word. Malkin even waves little white flags at the end to signify surrender from the Democrats.



(I won't post links to the video as I don't want this article to result in any additional traffic for the likes of Malkin but, if you look under enough rocks, you'll find it.)

But once again we find ourselves in bizarro world, where the people who have never served our country in uniform, challenge the fortitude and patriotism of those who have.

Kennedy did two years in the Army from 1951 through 1953. Kerry had his tour in Vietnam, for which he was awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V and three Purple Hearts. Jack Murtha served in the U.S. Marines for 37 years, is also a Vietnam combat veteran and was decorated with the Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

These are the guys that Malkin and her ilk say are cowards.

But she's totally cool with these guys (with descriptions courtesy of the great folks at ChickenhawkCards.com, creators of "The Deck of Republican Chickenhawks"):

• George W. Bush: Went National Guard, checked the box marked "Do Not Volunteer for Overseas" on his application and then went AWOL.
• Dick Cheney: "Had other priorities" like four student deferments.
• Karl Rove: Avoided the draft. Many schools, no degrees.
• Paul Wolfowitz: Avoided service through college deferment.
• Condoleeza Rice: Chickenhawk enabler. Never served.
• Tom DeLay: Chose to enlist in the war on cockroaches, fleas and termites as the owner of an exterminator business, rather than joining Kerry or Murtha in battling the Vietcong.
• Newt Gingrich: Avoided Vietnam through college deferment.
• Rudy Giuliani: Never served.
• Sam Brownback: Never served.
• Mitt Romney: Never served.

And let's not forget some of Malkin's colleagues from the GOP Barking Head Brigade:

• Ann Coulter: Never served.
• Rush Limbaugh: Got out of Vietnam due to an ingrown hair on his buttocks.
• Bill O'Reilly: Avoided Vietnam through college deferment.
• Sean Hannity: Never served -- though he talks tough.

So I'll ask the same question I have often asked in these scenarios: If you were in a war, with a firefight coming up and the crap about to really hit the fan, who would you rather have in your foxhole: Murtha, Kerry, Kennedy and even Chuck Hagel? Or Bush, Cheney, Rove and Gingrich?

I thought so.

And two things for the record: While Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi did not serve in the military, they do not fit the prevailing definition of a Chickenhawk, which is "A person enthusiastic about war, provided someone else fights it; particularly when that enthusiasm is undimmed by personal experience with war; most emphatically when that lack of experience came in spite of ample opportunity in that person’s youth."

They may not have served themselves, but they're also not quick to send other peoples' kids off to die, like the motley crew listed above would do so easily.


And second, you right-wingers can spare me the predictable hate mail, because I'm yet another Democrat who also happens to be a Veteran.

But, come to think of it, I guess that would make you more inclined to attack me, wouldn't it?