| MAINA |
Posted
on 03-Apr-02 01:52 PM
On Native Ground
A FLOCK OF CHICKENHAWKS
by Randolph T. Holhut
American Reporter Correspondent
Dummerston, Vt.
DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Why does it always seem like the distinguished folks who scream the loudest for the use of military force are the ones who never spent a day in uniform?
The super-patriots who wormed their way out of military service when it was their time to fight have richly earned the title of "chickenhawks."
Daniel Fowle, editor and publisher of The New Hampshire Gazette, has made it easy to keep track of the men who, in his words, "share a number of qualities: a tendency to favor American military action, past, present and future; allegiance to the Republican Party, and a paradoxical lack of military service despite there having been a war on in their youth."
Fowle, a Vietnam veteran, has created the "Chickenhawk Database," a compendium of prominent GOP members who either didn't serve in the military or who hid out in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. The list, which is growing longer and more detailed with each passing week, can be found at http://www.nhgazette.com/chickenhawks.html.
The hypocrisy of the chickenhawks is boundless. Take House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and this story related by columnist William Rivers Pitt at Truthout.com.
Back in 1988, when George Herbert Walker Bush picked Dan Quayle as his running mate, there was some controversy about how Quayle managed to avoid going to Vietnam through his family pulling some strings and getting him into an overstrength Army National Guard unit in Indiana. Pitt wrote that, at a news conference defending Quayle, DeLay said Quayle was prevented from enlisting for active duty because all the available spots were grabbed first by minorities.
DeLay, who apparently avoided military service during the Vietnam era at the urging of his wife, was one of the first people who jumped up to attack Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., for raising questions about George W. Bush's "war on terrorism."
DeLay served as a bug exterminator during the Vietnam era. Kerry was a Naval officer, doing river patrols in Vietnam. He earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts in two combat tours and later was one of the founders of Vietnam Veterans Against The War. Who do you think has more legitimacy talking about the conduct of American military policy?
Of course, pointing this out doesn't deter the chickenhawks. Perhaps you heard about the new conservative lobbying group, Americans for Victory over Terrorism. This group is part of William Bennett's Washington-based think tank, Empower America, and its goal is to "take to task those groups and individuals who fundamentally misunderstand the nature of the war we are facing."
Bennett, who made his reputation as America's moral scold, is ready to go after anyone who questions the "war on terrorism." But Bennett spent the Vietnam era in graduate school. At least he got a degree. President Bush's chief political advisor, Karl Rove, spent a lot of time in college during Vietnam but somehow managed to avoid graduating.
Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., went after Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., for his mild criticisms of President Bush "cloaking the war on terrorism in secrecy." Lott, who said Daschle's remarks could threaten the nation's resolve, avoided the draft and did not serve. Daschle was on stateside active duty in the Air Force during Vietnam.
Oh, and need I mention that Lott vigorously criticized Bill Clinton's military decisions -- including the bombing of Iraq and Osama bin Laden's bases in Afghanistan in 1998 and the bombing of Serbia in 1999?
Vice President Dick Cheney is all for our current war. But when it was his time to serve in Vietnam, he sought several deferments and said that he "had other priorities than military service." That line of thinking was apparently also adopted by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, Attorney General John Ashcroft, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Tex., White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, former Independent Counsel Ken Starr, Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, and Republican National Committee Chairman Mark Racicot.
Yep, they all avoided serving in Vietnam.
The conservative pundit corps, which vigorously attacked Bill Clinton for being a draft dodger, is also filled with chickenhawks. Anal cysts kept Rush Limbaugh out of Vietnam. George Will hid out in divinity school. Pat Buchanan had a bum knee. Chris Matthews, Bill O'Reilly, P.J. O'Rourke, Michael Reagan and Alan Keyes all sat Vietnam out.
And then there is George W. Bush's Air National Guard career. Yes, family connections got him a safe job flying fighter jets over Texas. But, according to several published reports, he was taken off flight duty midway through his six-year enlistment and never showed up for training during his last two years of duty. Somehow, he got away with it.
I'm not saying that lack of military service disqualifies someone from being able to comment on military issues. I'm also not saying that the six years I spent as an infantryman in the Army National Guard makes me qualified to comment on military issues. What I am saying is that people who question the courage and patriotism of others and eagerly send young men and women off to war while passing up their chance to prove their courage and patriotism is wrong.
Sen. Kerry is absolutely correct. Democracy demands that citizens ask questions of their leaders and that they receive truthful answers in reply. This need for truth isn't served by bullies who attack other people's patriotism - especially from those who never put their bodies where their beliefs are.
Randolph T. Holhut was an infantryman in the Massachusetts Army National Guard from 1981 to 1987. He has been a journalist in New England for more than 20 years
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| MAINA |
Posted
on 03-Apr-02 02:55 PM
April 01, 2002
FEC Recess Appointment Irks Democrats
By Amy Keller and Mark Preston
After quietly signing campaign finance reform legislation last week, President Bush on Friday made a recess appointment of his former campaign lawyer Michael Toner to the Federal Election Commission - a surprise move that agitated some Democrats.
"It is the President's prerogative to recess-appoint people," said Ranit Schmelzer, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.). "Of course, we always prefer to work these things out. But again, it is within his prerogative to recess-appoint and we accept that."
Mr. Toner's nomination was only sent to the Senate on March 4, 2002," Feingold said in a statement Friday. "There is no indication that the Rules Committee would not have moved expeditiously on Mr. Toner's nomination, and no good reason for bypassing the Senate confirmation process in this way."
The President's sudden recess appointment - one of five announced last week - caught some by surprise on Good Friday. Bush's other appointments included Dennis Schornack, an aide to Michigan Gov. John Engler (R), as commissioner and chairman of the International Joint Commission for the United States and Canada; Emil Frankel, a former Connecticut transportation official, as assistant secretary of Transportation; D.C. lawyer Jeffrey Shane as associate deputy secretary of Transportation; and Gerald Reynolds, a lawyer for Kansas City Power and Light, as assistant secretary of Education.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which was vetting Reynolds' nomination, expressed outrage Friday at Bush's actions.
"This is one more example of the administration's lack of commitment of the enforcement of our nation's civil rights laws," Kennedy said. "Gerald Reynolds' confirmation hearing raised serious doubts about his qualifications for this important post that affects civil rights of millions of Americans."
Feingold said Toner's recess appointment "deprived the Senate of its constitutional role to advise and consent on the nomination."
Just as important, he has deprived the Rules Committee of its right to have a hearing on the appointment, and the public the opportunity to hear from this individual, who will play such a pivotal role in implementing the recently passed campaign finance reform bill," the Wisconsin Democrat complained.
But several sources said the White House decided to temporarily bypass the uncertain Senate confirmation process specifically to make sure Toner is in place for the critical drafting of new campaign finance regulations.
Under the recess appointment, Toner may serve through the end of the 107th Congress and through the first session of the 108th Congress. But he must receive Senate confirmation early in 2003 to continue at the watchdog agency in an official capacity.
Typically, the Senate handles confirmations to the FEC in pairs, usually approving both a Democrat and Republican at the same time. Democrats, however, have not yet nominated anyone to replace Karl Sandstrom, whose term expired nearly a year ago.
Sandstrom's successor, while officially nominated by Bush, is actually handpicked by House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) in consultation with Daschle.
A longtime GOP operative, Toner served as general counsel for Bush's 2000 campaign and has an extensive background in campaign finance law. He was an attorney with the firm Wiley Rein & Fielding from 1992 to 1996 and was put in charge of the RNC's legal department late last year.
In 1996 he acted as counsel to former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole's (R-Kan.) unsuccessful presidential campaign. From 1997 to 1999, he was deputy counsel to the RNC. He also served as counsel to the Bush-Cheney transition team.
"Congress has directed the commission to complete a rule making on all issues relating to the new campaign finance law by the end of this year," Toner said. "Congress was wise to establish this ambitious schedule so that regulations will be in place when the new law goes fully into effect in January.
"There is a tremendous amount of work to be done in a very short period of time," he added. "I look forward to working with everyone at the FEC to meet this major challenge."
"The commission is about to start its rulemaking on the new act and it is about to respond to the litigation that's already been filed, and Ithink it's appropriate to have a new commissioner right there at the start of this whole process."
Potter said he is concerned that Democrats have not stepped up to the plate and picked their own replacement for Sandstrom, who was term-limited and is not eligible for reappointment.
"I think it's unfortunate you have a lame-duck commissioner there and not his successor," Potter said. "He can stay until his successor is qualified ... [but] as a general matter of policy, it defeats the whole purpose of term limits to leave someone there whose term is up."
But a Democratic aide on the Hill defended the pace at which Democrats are proceeding in their hunt for Sandstrom's replacement and accused Potter and others of having their own agenda.
But Feingold passed the buck to Bush, urging him to move to fill the Democratic vacancy: "President Bush should move quickly to nominate someone for this seat so that none of the members of the commission who are to work on the implementation of the McCain-Feingold bill are holdovers whose terms have expired."
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