Posted on 12/04/2005 8:31:46 PM PST by Former Military Chick
WASHINGTON - Rep. Jean Schmidt, the lowest-ranking member of the House, can't escape the firestorm she caused by calling 30-year congressman and Vietnam veteran John Murtha a coward for wanting U.S. soldiers out of Iraq.
So Schmidt, R-Ohio, is trying to laugh at the ridicule.
Her staff obtained a DVD copy of Rachel Dratch's spoof of Schmidt on NBC's Saturday Night Live. And Schmidt pores over positive notes from constituents, some of which say ''You go girl!'' and at least one of which requested her hand in marriage.
Schmidt said her biting Nov. 18 remark about Murtha -- ''Cowards cut and run, Marines never do'' -- was a mistake. She said she didn't know Murtha, D-Pa., was a decorated Marine veteran, and that she got the message from another Marine, Ohio state Rep. Danny Bubp, who later denied mentioning Murtha.
''Would I have changed the words? Yes. Would I change the message? No,'' Schmidt said. ``I am sorry to have caused any consternation to Congressman Murtha.''
Schmidt's Washington office fields angry calls daily from around the country -- mostly blue states. The Democratic National Committee held her up as an example of Republican callousness, and is raising money to erect a billboard near Schmidt's Portsmouth district office that reads, ``Shame on You, Jean Schmidt: Stop Attacking Veterans. Keep Your Eye on the Ball -- We Need a Real Plan for Iraq.''
Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., a Vietnam veteran who demanded that Schmidt be admonished under House rules, accepted her request to withdraw her comments and doesn't think his party will hold a grudge.
''Everyone makes mistakes and she made a doozy, but I think she realized it and apologized for it and learned from it,'' Snyder said.
Schmidt's chief of staff, Barry Bennett, says while it isn't all positive, Schmidt's growing reputation as a passionate conservative isn't all bad either.
''You're not important in this town unless they're talking about you, and they're definitely doing that now,'' said Bennett, who's been on congressional staffs for two decades.
Before she criticized Murtha, Schmidt was struggling to know her more senior colleagues.
She promised in her first floor speech Sept. 6 that she would not engage in name-calling from the House floor. Republican rivals say she went back on her word, lied about who was responsible for what she said, then avoided the media for four days.
Schmidt bested a crowded GOP primary field and went on to defeat Iraq veteran Paul Hackett in this year's special election to replace Rob Portman, who left Congress to become U.S. trade representative. Two rivals in the primary, former Rep. Bob McEwen and current state Rep. Tom Brinkman, say Schmidt has become the poster child for rising anti-Republican sentiment, which might embolden Democrats to try to unseat her next year.
Schmidt says she's unconcerned about the Democrats, and calls her GOP opponents ''a fringe group'' who are plotting a future challenge.
But among war critics there is still hope that Schmidt's few words will be her undoing. Jeff Szabo of Amelia, an independent whose son served in Afghanistan with the Air Force, predicted in a letter to The Cincinnati Enquirer that military families might turn against her.
''She's embarrassed the Republican Party, no doubt about it,'' Szabo said.
Amen!!!
"Schmidt said her biting Nov. 18 remark about Murtha -- ''Cowards cut and run, Marines never do'' -- was a mistake."
No, it was the truth.
Good for her. Too bad she backed down, but it would probably be political suicide if she didn't. Let's hope she can make a name for herself and be able to speak up at some time in the future.
What gets me, is that she never called him a coward. She read a letter from a Marine, that said Cowards cut and run. The media seem to ignore this fact over and over and over again.
This is why I will no longer vote for Republicans without fail. They now have to earn my vote one candidate at a time.
This shows the dems are hoping desperately to get Brinkman and McEwen to try again so that they can use this to suck money out of other Ohio races.
He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message - that cowards cut and run, Marines never do," said Schmidt, of Miami Township. "Danny and the rest of America and the world want the assurance from this body that we will see this through."
Democrats booed and shouted at Schmidt as Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., charged across the chamber's center aisle screaming that her comments were an uncalled-for personal attack.
I can think of a few Republicans, on Capitol Hill, who have embarrassed me, not to mention angered me, but it was because they haven't shown the backbone that she demonstrated by confronting Murtha's asinine analysis. Count me in the "you go, girl!" category.
Remember, Congresswoman, only RINOs cut and run, conservatives never do.
Seriously though, wouldn't it be a kick in the pants if the toughest person in Congress turned out to be a lady, Jean Schmidt, who was always willing to tell it like it is and never back down when the demoquits howl?
Exactly. I still think you're a coward Martha.
"Dear Mr. Murtha, I'm sorry you are a coward".
Brilliant!
Has anybody ever seen decorated war hero Murtha's military medical records?
Just wondering.
I think maybe Schmidt should have called Murtha a defeatist, an appeaser, and then, a coward. He's a turd.
By the way, is the investigation of Murtha being handled by prosecutors with the ability to throw him in jail, or is the investigation of Murtha strictly a worthless "ethics" investigation by the House? That is, is Murtha a crook or merely a sleazeball?
Thanks.
"Murtha's military medical records?"
Good idea. But I read recently (where?) that he won't release them. May have been Ann Coulter who wrote that.
I need to look up Murtha's voting record. The guy needs "exposure".
And anyway, what the heck does having been a War Heroe, 30 years ago, have to do with his dangerous idiocy, now?
I call Murtha a lot more than "coward" (see tag line), and I'm not apologizing.
IMHO, Rep. Schmidt has absolutely zip, zilch, zero, nada to apologize for aside from failing to mention that Mutha's role as an ex-Marine, she nailed everything. Additionally, I'll mention that people who served in the Marines will tell you that there is no such thing as a former Marine, once a Marine, always a Marine. I guess this Mutha is the exception to the norm. And yes, I'm aware that his name normally includes an "r" after the "u".
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