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.
"is the investigation of Murtha ..."
What's this? What investigation? Yippeeeee.
Bah! Don't ever apologize for telling the truth.
Everyone we need to be strong is a coward........not good!
He's a traitor.
"What's this? What investigation?"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1526109/posts
Ms. Schmidt, please, you did nothing wrong. Don't back down.
Stand for what you believe. We need more like you.
Hey, until recently, she had bigger cojones than any other House Republican.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
I like this woman.
She has a pair and nothing to apologize for.
Everyone should call Jean Schmidt and tell her, you were right to repeat a call from Danny Bupf, the vote was 403-3. Why are you groveling to this bunch, that is the foolish thing.
New Motto, If you support the troops, Quit investigating the troops.
Apologizing for what we think is the first step to giving up our ideals.
Just look at John McCain...
will call her office tomrrow to voice my support
This is how the media twists what conservatives say. She did not call Murtha a coward. She quoted a serviceman who said it was cowardly to withdraw from Iraq. No apology should have been given. Why oh why do conservatives wimp out to the evilness of the demorats?
One woman with more balls than the entire Democratic Party, and many republicans.
She said nothing wrong,
She insulted no one, except, perhaps...
cowards.
Typical AP journalism. The bias starts up right in the first sentence.
[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]
She is a man amongst girlie boys in a Congress run by fools,liars and idiots.
>>>And anyway, what the heck does having been a War Heroe, 30 years ago, have to do with his dangerous idiocy, now?<<<
Very few people in the general population are fit for public office. The same for war heroes. I know of at least two war heroes who are not fit: McCain and Murtha.
Did anyone hear a whisper about Sam Johnson of Texas from the MSM after the House vote? He was 10 times the hero that Murtha was; yet his brilliant closing speech in opposition to cutting-and-running seems to have been completely suppressed by the MSM.
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