Jean Schmidt: From calling out “cowards” to eating crow

Remember when Ohio Rep. Jean Schmidt called Jack Murtha a coward for suggesting that it’s time for the U.S. military to redeploy out of Iraq? So does Schmidt’s Democratic challenger, Victoria Wulsin, who’s using a video of Schmidt’s statement on the House floor — complete with the howls of complaint that could be heard when she made it — as part of a new television commercial. Schmidt’s campaign is crying foul, saying that Wulsin’s ad violates a House Ethics Committee rule against using video of floor proceedings in campaign ads. But as the Cincinnati Enquirer notes, there’s just one little problem with Schmidt’s argument: The House Ethics Committee rule applies only to members of the House, not to those who’d like to be one someday.