Remember Frank Burns? The prototypical repug chickenhawk?

[thereismore]

Frank Marion "Ferret Face" "Blood and Guts" Burns

George Walker "Bring'em On" "Crawford Coward" Bush

Is there any similarity between the two? I mean, beyond the obvious physiological likeness?

Frank Burns was

1) a coward
2) a chickenhawk
3) a republican
4) a pathological liar
5) a meanie
6) a bungler
7) a whiner
8) unfit for command
9) a "Christian"

He giggled like a fool. Loved playing soldier.

Memorable quotes:

Frank: I'm sick of hearing about the wounded! What about the thousands of wonderful men who are fighting this war without any of the credit or the glory that always goes to those lucky few who just happen to get shot?

Frank: I have never cared, and at this point I don't care twice as much as I never cared before!

Frank: The way I see it, unless we each conform, unless we obey orders, unless we follow our leaders blindly, there is no possible way we can remain free.

Margaret: You lied to me, Frank! That's worse than stealing!
Frank: Well, I happen to think that stealing is worse than lying!
Margaret: And you did both!
Frank: So I oughta know!

Frank: What I don't understand is why do people take an instant dislike to me?
Trapper: It saves time, Frank.

[Captain Hilts]

1. BRILLIANT! (nt)

[cdb]

2. Excellent! That is perfect!! Really got me laughning! n/t

[Orrex]

3. Frightening!

If only Larry Linville, who was by all accounts a fine human being, were playing our Bungler in Chief, who is by all accounts a deplorable monster.

[Hobarticus]

4. Does anyone ever recall a POTUS wearing a jacket that IDs him

as "Commander in Chief"? Just in case you forgot, y'know.

I like to see civilians in charge of our military, not wanna-bes.

Jeezus. It's the ultimate dress-up fantasy for this failure.

:puke:

[ClusterFreak]

5. Nicely done!

...don't forget Burns the philanderer....he and Hot Lips.....

George & Condi??

Ah heck, now I've gone and made a banal comparison between Bush and Burns.....shame on me.:)

[H5N1]

6. That is just too good

They do look similar and I Love those quotes

[scarlett1]

7. My favorite Frank Quote -

Frank: The way I see it, unless we each conform, unless we obey orders, unless we follow our leaders blindly, there is no possible way we can remain free.

So many Republicans today still feel that way ,

except when the leader was Bill Clinton!

[ochazuke]

11. OH POUND IT OUT YOUR BLOW HOLE!

You.....GUYS!!

[UTUSN]

8. Frank Was in a War Zone, Not a Chickenhawk n/t

[thereismore]

9. Frank loved everything military, except the actual fighting. I think

he classifies as chickenhawk. He was a coward but not quite at the same level as Bush*. Bush* is worse.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

10. 3 points in rebuttal:

1. Burns was a Major, indicating one of two things: 1. He was career military, or 2. He had a few years of private practice under his belt (I had the impression Hawkeye, Trapper, and BJ were meant to be fresh out of med school or a few years into residency). If 1 (unlikely), he was no chickenhawk. If 2, I expect he would have been able to get some kind of deferment or exemption if he wanted it.

2. Burns was a medical officer, prohibited from engaging in combat in the first place.

3. Burns was DYING to prove himself a hero. I recall one episode where he "captured" a family of Korean farmers.

[thereismore]

13. Good points. I have to think more about

Frank. He certainly acted like he was "playing soldier" all the time even though he was actually career military. He also had private "malpractice" in Idaho, which is strange. Anyway, he certainly was musing about combat but when it came to some danger he found an excuse to send somebody else, like when he was sent to diffuse the unexploded bomb (propaganda leaflets) in the compound, he fainted after two steps and Hawkeye had to do it. So I think he was a chickenhawk but you certainly make good arguments. I like episodes with Frank the best (first 4 seasons).

[Geoff R. Casavant]

15. Frank beats Charles any day of the week

and twice on Sunday. That being said, Charles had a few good episodes, one where he sneaked chocolate to the orphanage for Christmas because he didn't want anyone to see past his gruff exterior, but Klinger found out anyway and kept his secret. And the final episode with the Korean POW musicians pretty much brought 14-year old me to tears with its poignancy.

[thereismore]

16. Charles was pompous and selfish at times, but he was a good guy.

He volunteered to give blood to the guy with an arterial transplant.

I also liked the episode where he drugged Radar's mouse and got sick from the amphetamines - taught my son a lesson about drugs.

Another one was when Charles chose to tell the truth (some Colonel sexually assaulting Margaret) even when it meant no transfer to a cushy place.

And he liked Mozart - that cannot be a bad person, can it?

Nice talking to a fellow M*A*S*H fan!

[Geoff R. Casavant]

18. Wait, wait, two more!

The stuttering soldier -- his unit treats him like an idiot because of his stutter and Charles lets him see how intelligent he truly is, then we learn that Charles's sister Honoria is also a stutterer.

And, the ep where a second grade class is sending pen-pal letters to them, and Charles is drafting nasty little letters to send back until he gets one with a New England autumn maple leaf in it.

God, we better stop. Eleven seasons of really good episodes can take a long time to type out! :-)

[thereismore]

20. Sorry, I had to:

he brought a soldier (pianist who lost right hand) out of depression by giving him a piece for the left hand.

Sorry I had to.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

22. Stop me before I Winchester again!

[Ganja Ninja]

24. Bush manages to combine the worst features of both.

Smug rich guy with an overblown sense of entitlement and selfish, whining, sniveling coward. But at least neither of them deserted their unit in time of war.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

28. Change of topic

Is that Novak wearing makeup on your sig?

[LeftHander]

12. kick for irony - nt

[zbdent]

14. Sorry, it doesn't fly

Frank Burns actually went to Korea . . .

[thereismore]

17. Right. Nothing's perfect... nt

[SalmonChantedEvening]

19. Neither owns an actual pair of lips. n/t

[thereismore]

21. Excellent! And chin also! nt

[LittleClarkie]

23. One thing ol' no lips did

that Bush hasn't.

At least Frank was in the middle of a war zone. He was playing soldier with bombs flying over head. Pretty bad place to be dellusional, but still, I think we can peel away the label "chickenhawk".

Otherwise, it's still a pretty good analogy.

[SeattleGirl]

25. I've long thought that Burns was the perfect fictional TV counterpart

to *.

[jmowreader]

26. Frank was just an asshole, not a chickenhawk

Remember that Frank is the one who ordered the antiaircraft gun sent to the 4077th after Five o'Clock Charlie started trying to bomb the base.

The entertainment world equivalent of Bush is Lieutenant Milo Minderbinder from Catch-22. He finagled a way out of combat, sold all the medical supplies and all of the parachutes the unit had, and cut a deal with the Germans that involved bombing his own base.

[DerekG]

27. One difference: In the first season, Burns was a competent surgeon

I know, I know, the writers turned him into a bungler right quick, but I do recall some accolades thrown his way in that first year.

Bush, on the other hand, was a f--- up from the beginning.

[ProfessorGAC]

29. At Least Burns Went To The War!

That means that the weasel Frank Burns was more of a man than Silverspoon.
The Professor

[ArkDem]

30. How could he be a chickenhawk? He was in a frontline

mash unit in a war zone....