What do you get when you have a congresswoman who has been in office three
months crossing a thirty year veteran of Congress? A congresswoman working hard
to do damage control.

Ohio Republican Jean Schmidt said Tuesday she should have rephrased her
sharp critique of a fellow congressman’s call to immediately pull troops
from Iraq.

Schmidt was booed off the floor of the U.S. House on Friday after she
criticized Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), D-Pa., saying that
“cowards cut and run, Marines never do.”

When Schmidt made the comment, Democrats rose in protest at the
suggestion that Murtha, a decorated Vietnam veteran and the ranking Democrat
on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, was a coward.

Schmidt said the comment was prompted by a conversation she had with
state Rep. Danny Bubp, though he denies discussing Murtha with Schmidt.

Schmidt, who sent Murtha a note of apology on Friday moments after her
speech, said in a statement Tuesday that she never intended to attack Murtha
personally.

“While I strongly disagree with his policy, neither Representative Bubp
nor I ever wished to attack Congressman Murtha,” she said. “I only take
exception to his policy position.”

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Schmidt has been taking to the local airwaves like crazy. Her first
appearance was on 700 WLW’s talk show hosted by Willy Cunningham, a staunch
conservative. Last night it was followed by her appearing on different local
news broadcasts trying to repair the damage done by her comments last week.

Her defense is still not lining up with the comments of state representative
Bubp’s though. He continues to say he never discussed Murtha with Schmidt yet
her statement that caused this turmoil was from a supposed call she got from
Bubp. Someone is lying and the question is who. While I am not a big fan of
either person, I would have to place my money on Schmidt lying. Her opponent in
the August special election, Paul Hackett, proved she lied during her campaign.
Her level of trust took a hit that day and I doubt it will ever recover.

Murtha’s comments on the issue were very welcoming:

You can’t spin this. You’ve got to have a real solution,” Murtha said
Monday when asked about her remarks at a news conference in Pennsylvania.
“This is not a war of words, this is a war.”

Leave it to a decorated veteran to put the whole debacle back into
perspective. This is a war. While Jean Schmidt sat there and criticized a war
hero, new heroes were out in the trenches fighting and dying. Schmidt seems to
not realize the magnitude of war. She is more concerned about being a rubber
stamp to the alienated administration of Bush. Before long, Jean Schmidt will be
a very lonely person in Washington.