The children of the chickenhawks

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gets the question: If you think the war is such a great idea, why haven't you sent your own kids?

By T.g.

Published August 29, 2005 4:48PM (EDT)

Back in June, a brave member of the White House press corps managed to ask Scott McClellan if any members of the Bush family were currently serving in the Armed Forces. McClellan said he didn't know and would have to check, and that's the last we've heard of it.

It's not the end of the question, of course. Editor & Publisher is predicting that more and more pro-war politicians will soon be pressed to say whether their own kids are enlisting in a cause they think is worth the lives of other people's children.

As E&P notes, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- a potential Republican presidential contender in 2008 and a staunch supporter of the president's "stay the course" policy in Iraq -- got the question from a Boston Herald reporter last week. He didn't much like it.

Romney has five sons, age 24 to 35, and the Massachusetts National Guard will take 'em up to 39. Asked whether he had encouraged his sons to sign up, Romney said: "No, I have not urged my own children to enlist. I don't know the status of my children's potentially enlisting in the Guard and Reserve." As he answered, the Herald says, his voice became "tinged with anger."


By T.g.

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Iraq Middle East Mitt Romney War Room