Generation Chickenhawk

The Nation has an interesting piece about the upcoming wave of college republicans that is looking to continue the Bush agenda of rich-get-richer-poor-get-poorer. Like Bush they are gung ho about the idea of war, but (also like) Bush they're too chickenshit to actually enlist in the service.

Here's one nugget:

By the time I encountered Cory Bray, a towering senior from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, the beer was flowing freely. "The people opposed to the war aren't putting their asses on the line," Bray boomed from beside the bar. Then why isn't he putting his ass on the line? "I'm not putting my ass on the line because I had the opportunity to go to the number-one business school in the country," he declared, his voice rising in defensive anger, "and I wasn't going to pass that up."

Bray recounted the pride he and his buddies had felt walking through the center of campus last fall waving a giant American flag, wearing cowboy boots and hats with the letters B-U-S-H painted on their bare chests. "We're the big guys," he said. "We're the ones who stand up for what we believe in. The College Democrats just sit around talking about how much they hate Bush. We actually do shit."

And besides, being a College Republican is so much more fun than counterinsurgency warfare. Like their president, these clowns are only interested in waging war with your kids.

Another example:

I chatted for a while with Collin Kelley, a senior at Washington State with a vague resemblance to the studly actor Orlando Bloom. Kelley told me he's "sick and tired of people saying our troops are dying in vain" and added, "This isn't an invasion of Iraq, it's a liberation--as David Horowitz said." When I asked him why he was staying on campus rather than fighting the good fight, he rubbed his shoulder and described a nagging football injury from high school. Plus, his parents didn't want him to go. "They're old hippies," Kelley said.

I am an old hippie too. And though I am not a parent I understand the idea of not wanting to send your kid off to a war to die.

And finally....

Munching on a quesadilla at a table nearby was Edward Hauser, a senior at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas--a liberal school in a liberal town in the ultimate red state of Texas. "Austin is ninety square miles insulated from reality," Hauser said. When I broached the issue of Iraq, he replied, "I support our country. I support our troops." So why isn't he there?

"I know that I'm going to be better staying here and working to convince people why we're there [in Iraq]," Hauser explained, pausing in thought. "I'm a fighter, but with words."

So, college Republicans have have too much to do back home — things that are more important than helping ensure the success of the war they support so much when it comes to other people serving and risking their lives. It's contemptable when supporters of the war spend more time worrying about their own lives rather than working to help the war succeed.

Their faliure to enlist suggests that their support of the war doesn’t extend to any sort of real, personal commitment that would place themselves in harm’s way.

Hattip to Pam