Jean Schmidt Takes on a Marine

Jesselee captures Congresswoman’s Jean Schmidt’s comments in full. Let’s focus on one sentence each from her original rant v. her retraction.

From the rant:

He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message, that cowards cut and run, Marines never do.

From the retraction:

Mr. Speaker, my remarks were not directed at any member of the House and I did not intend to suggest that they applied to any member.

But Murtha IS a member of the House. Too bad Ohio’s second district did not send that other Marine to Congress.

Update: Thanks to AB reader JP for pointing out this story:

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The top U.S. commander in Iraq has submitted a plan to the Pentagon for withdrawing troops in Iraq, according to a senior defense official. Gen. George Casey submitted the plan to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It includes numerous options and recommends that brigades – usually made up of about 2,000 soldiers each – begin pulling out of Iraq early next year.

So there we have it – the whole furor over Murtha’s proposal was a smoke screen. The Bush Administration wants to pull the troops home in time for our November 2006 election, but they wanted it to appear to be their idea and not a proposal from the Democrats. Will the Iraqis be able to maintain order in their nation within a year? Not likely. So by his own logic, George W. Bush intends to “cut and run”.