As Tbogg and Uggabugga have noted, Michael Kelly's latest article on Chickenhawks is his usual lesson on strawman construction and demolition. But, Michael Kelly also errs by including Abraham Lincoln in the list of honorable chickenhawks like himself. Kelly Says:
Such has given us the leadership in war of such notable "chicken hawks" as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
A quick Google search will reveal to all that Abraham Lincoln did indeed volunteer to serve in the Blackhawk Indian War of 1832.
UPDATE: And, Buckminster Fush writes in with this:
FDR was not a chickenhawk either! A chickenhawk is a Draft Dodger, and this doesn't describe Roosevelt in the least.
He was 16 at the time of the war with Spain, and by the time the USA entered WWI
he was 34. During WWI he was assistant Sec. of the Navy, as someone in the comments pointed out. In which of these wars does Kelly think he should have fought?
FDR, though he favored intervention in the Second World War, was handcuffed by the Neutrality act of 1935. When he did seek to support the allies he asked for, and received, congressional authorization, most famously for the Lend-Lease Act.
The first time FDR called for war with the Axis was AFTER the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
To call him a chickenhawk is shameful and fallacious.
