Colbert I. King Quotes
Admiral General Gingrich
Gingrich, who avoided serving in the military throughout his life, was frequently opining on military matters, tactics and strategy in his speeches, media appearances and many writings. Generally, he was a Chicken Hawk {625110} urging military action and war although he had personally never experienced it. He spent much time in military meetings and conferences, and thought that he had developed some expertise from this and his extensive reading.
Colbert King, Journalist & Political Columnist, Derogatory name for Newt Gingrich, PBS Inside Washington, February 24, 2012
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The term “Chicken Hawk” was also used by Ron Paul in the Republican Presidential Nomination Debates in 2012. Of the 8 candidates in the debate, he was the only one opposed to military intervention abroad and he was the only candidate who had served in the military. Many Chicken Hawks not only never served but applied for deferments and used other techniques to avoid military service. The origin of the term is uncertain but it entered print in the late 1980s and was applies to Vice President Dan Quayle why was a strong war supporter but had used family connections to gain admission to the Indiana National Guard and thus avoid service in the Vietnam War,
Most Americans do not realize that our naval forces were disbanded after the Revolution and even the Constitution did not require a navy. We had some Federal revenue cutters to interdict smugglers but no warships and no permanent sailors or officers. The Barbary Pirates had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom. See {640850},86703,{640846} & {640848}
One difficulty of diplomacy with many Islamic leaders is that the culture produces very aggressive rhetoric and very aggressive actions like Islamic terrorism. This quotation is often cited to demonstrate that it is the Iranians that had decided that America is it’s enemy; that America is to be humbled; and that their weapons development are targeted at America. This along with the most frequent Iranian slogan, “Death to America,” for many argues for preemptive military action or maintenance of a high state of readiness. Given statements like this from the leading soldier of the theocracy, there is little doubt that Iranian nuclear weapons would be a great danger to America. Therefore when Iran complains that America did not object to the fact that other nations have the nuclear bomb, they do not take their own rhetoric into account. No other nation with possible nuclear capability has made America its major military adversity and claims as an objective to humble the United States.
The Persians arrived at an abandoned city and burned some of the major buildings. All the Athenian men went to the island of Salamis where he gathered Greeks from the other city states. They boarded ships and tricked the march larger Persian fleet into coming into the narrow part of the straits where it could not maneuver. The Greeks destroyed the Persian fleet with relatively few losses and with it went Xerxes dreams of conquest of the Greeks. The Persian navy could not feed their army and the Persians, the greatest empire of the day, retuned to Persia in defeat.
He didn’t succeed until Mahan wrote his marvelous treatise.
Without much fanfare, the United States was beginning to deploy naval power internationally.
- Born: September 20, 1939
- Nationality: American
- Profession: Opinion Writer, Editor, Columnist
Colbert Isaiah King is an American columnist for The Washington Post and the deputy editor of the Post's editorial page. In 2003, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
