Neo-conservative

Neo-conservative is a term that is synonymous with its abbreviated form neo-con. It is also identified with another less-flattering term: Chickenhawk.

According to the Chickenhawk Database complied by The New Hampshire Gazette, which claims to be the Nation's oldest newspaper, "the term chickenhawk is a term often applied to public persons -- generally male -- who (1) tend to advocate, or are fervent supporters of those who advocate, military solutions to political problems, and who have personally (2) denclined to take advantage of a significant opportunity to serve in uniform during wartime.

"Some individuals may," it continues, "qualify more for their political associations than for any demonstrated personal tendency towards bellicosity. Some women may be included for exceptional bellicosity.

"There is another, less savory definition of the term chickenhawk. It is not relevant to this discussion; we intend no such associations to be drawn here."

The Gazette's neatly-lined Chickenhawk Database chart categorizes the Chickenhawks according to political or social status. George Herbert Walker Bush and Richard Bruce Dick Cheney jointly command the "Chickenhawk Headquarters" and media bigwhigs like Brit Hume, Alan Keyes, David and Rush Limbaugh, and Michael Reagan are identified as the "Barking Head Brigade."

Bureaucrats, legal consultants, politicians, and propagandists all get equal treatment. Significant in all categories, though, is not only the position which each individual holds in today's world but also the year that he or she was born (clearly signifying generational status), the "relevant conflict avoided" (predominantly Vietnam), the "lame excuse" if there was one, or the "preferred activity" to attending wartime activities, that is.

The Gazette's Chickenhawk Database includes an endless number of links to other web sites and databases about the "neo-cons": http://www.nhgazette.com.

Links:

• [1] "Chickenhawk Bush on dodgy ground. Those who served and suffered find strange bedfellows in Iraq protest," writes Aaron Hicklin.
• [2] "Where were you in '72? Most of us remember...Bush does not..." headlines the home page.
• [3] "Roast the chicken hawks" by John Sugg.
• [4] "Bush's top Iraq hawks haven't been to war" by Jan Jarboe Russell, Seattlepi.com, Friday, September 6, 2002