Neal Sheeran

Rants, Raves, and Geekery

Chickenhawks

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Matthew Yglesias trots out the old chickenhawk argument, calling out John McCain, among others, because his daughter is not in the military. He neglects to mention that McCain has a son in the Marines that just returned from Iraq and another son at the Naval Academy, to say nothing of McCain’s prior service. Actually, ‘neglects’ is the wrong word. He didn’t even know about McCain’s sons until he was corrected by someone else and then posted an “update” to his entry that pretty much shoots down his entire premise.

Important factual error-like thing in the post, Jason Zengerle notes that McCain has a son in the Marines and another in the naval academy. I didn’t know that McCain even had sons. That obviously puts the point about Meghan McCain in a very different context.

Didn’t know? The fact that McCain has a son in the Marines is mentioned in nearly every article about him that even briefly mentions the Iraq war.

I’m so friggin’ tired of the entire “chickenhawk” argument. If only the intellectually weak-minded that employ it would take it to its logical conclusion: you’re not qualified to lecture me about home foreclosures until you show me the notice…for your house. If you think NAFTA sucks, I don’t need to hear it from you unless I see the pink slip. Got a problem with the curriculums in your schools, but don’t have any school-age kids? Find something else to bitch about. And unless your phoning in your newest rant on agriculture subsidies from the family tractor, then don’t bother.

What lazy folks don’t do is bother to argue something on it’s merits. It is just easier to say that people that disagree with you are unqualified to do so.

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