Michelle Malkin quotes one of her fellow Townhall.com wingnuts on “The Chickenhawk Smear”.

Those who wear the uniform in wartime are entitled to their countrymen’s esteem and lasting gratitude. But for well over two centuries, Americans have insisted that when it comes to security and defense policy, soldiers and veterans get no more of a say than anyone else.

You don’t need medical training to express an opinion on healthcare. You don’t have to be on the police force to comment on matters of law and order. You don’t have to be a parent or a teacher or a graduate to be heard on the educational controversies of the day. You don’t have to be a journalist to comment on this or any other column.

And whether you have fought for your country or never had that honor, you have every right to weigh in on questions of war and peace. Those who cackle “Chicken hawk!” are not making an argument. They are merely trying to stifle one, and deserve to be ignored.

“Never had that honor”? Please. How ’bout, “Never had the guts to sign up and actually fight” the wars they so publically and virulently support?

Digby addressed the oft-repeated rationalizations for chickenhawkery back in June, 2005:

This is a bad argument for the right and I hope they keep making it. There is something quite primal and instinctive about the old “put your money where your mouth is” logic of expecting people who support a war to be willing to lay down their lives to fight it. People get this one in their gut. It most certainly is a withering put-down and the the put-downees know it very well.

Be sure to read the whole thing. And just for fun, head over to The New Hampshire Gazette’s Chickenhawk Database.