Schmidt head caught lying

Oh, this is rich!

Seems like Ohio Rep. Jean Schmidt lied when she made her silly "cowards cut and run" comment Friday. Rep. Schmidt said that Danny Bubp sent her the "coward" message to relay to Rep. Jack Murta but Bubp says that he never directed his comment towards Rep. Murtha when he talked to Schmidt. If fact, he says he never said "cowards cut and run, Marines never do" or anything close to that remark.

From The Cinncinnati Enquirer

Three days after Rep. Jean Schmidt was booed off the House floor for saying that "cowards cut and run, Marines never do," the Ohioan she quoted disputed the comments.

Danny Bubp, a freshman state representative who is a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, told The Enquirer that he never mentioned Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., by name when talking with Schmidt, and he would never call a fellow Marine a coward.

"The unfortunate thing about all of that is that her choice of words on the floor of the House - I don't know, she's a freshman, she had one minute.

"Unfortunately, they came out wrong," said Bubp, R-West Union.

Lawmakers were in the midst of a passionate debate Friday over whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, an issue pushed to a vote by Republicans after public comments from Murtha.

Schmidt - decked out in a red-white-and-blue suit that resembled the U.S. flag - went to the floor and quoted from a telephone conversation with Bubp: "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."

The comment drew a chorus of boos and shouting from Democrats.

It's unclear whether Schmidt, who will start her 79th day in the House today, knew at the time of her remarks that Murtha had served 37 years in the Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve.

She immediately took back her remarks. It's against House rules to refer to a fellow lawmaker by name or to criticize them.

Schmidt, a Republican from Clermont County's Miami Township, then wrote to Murtha to explain that she has a lot to learn and did not mean to disparage his service.

Bubp, who has served in the Marine Corps Reserve for 27 years, including three years of active duty, said he called Schmidt on Friday afternoon to discuss the resolution that called for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq - not to talk about Murtha.

The House nonbinding resolution failed by a 403-3 vote.

"There was no discussion of him personally being a coward or about any person being a coward," Bubp said. "My message to the folks in Washington, D.C., and to all the Congress people up there, is to stay the course. We cannot leave Iraq or cut and run - any terminology that you want to use."

[...]
Several bloggers called on Schmidt and Bubp to apologize and resign their offices. Others compared her remarks with a statement she made minutes after she was sworn in on Sept. 6.

"I pledge to walk in the shoes of my colleagues and refrain from name-calling or the questioning of character," Schmidt said then. "It is easy to quickly sink to the lowest form of political debate. Harsh words often lead to headlines, but walking this path is not a victimless crime. This great House pays the price."

Sarah Feinburg of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Schmidt's remarks could attract Republicans to oppose her in next year's primary election or encourage Democrats to run. Freshmen typically are the most vulnerable lawmakers in elections.

"We're starting to talk to folks in the district about running against her," Feinburg said. "Jean Schmidt's been in Congress less than three months and she's already managed to alienate the entire House of Representatives, not to mention every veteran. ... She hasn't shown herself to be an asset for the district."

What an idiot.