Instead of apologizing, she should have repeated that she was quoting a constituent. And she should have said that she was not calling Murtha a coward, but making a general statement--namely, that cowards cut and run.
She might even add that since Murtha voted against the bill that demanded an immediate pullout, evidently he is not a coward.
You can count on AP to spin this until it's backwards, but there's no need to help them do it. Showing that you are afraid of their lying criticism doesn't help; it only encourages them to do more of it.
"She might even add that since Murtha voted against the bill that demanded an immediate pullout, evidently he is not a coward."
Good point. Though obviously he doesn't have the courage of his own convictions in voting for something he claims to support.
The point is, what Schmidt said is far, far less outrageous than the swill being directed against the nation's top office holder, President Bush, especially some of the utterly vile things members of the black caucus regularly direct against him about lying us into war and stealing the election in Ohio. Why are those kinds of remarks considered acceptable?
Anyway, seems to me she must have cut Murtha to the quick for all the protesting he's doing about what was said.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051122/NEWS01/511220352
Fine and dandy, except she wasn't "quoting" a constituent.