Sen. Mel Martinez has a history of blaming his staff for his mistakes

[Nothing Without Hope]

Kos pointed this out today at the DailyKos in an article published Nov 4, 2004 in the St. Petersburg Times:

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/11/04/Opinion/The_real_Mel_Martinez.shtml

The real Mel Martinez

A Times Editorial

(snip)

...But Martinez will need more than a gesture to separate his office from the ugliness and excesses of his campaign.

Long after leaving Republicans embittered by his appeals to bigotry and his vulgar attacks on former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum, Martinez used his general election campaign to tar Castor, a distinguished former legislator and education leader, as a terrorist sympathizer.

When challenged, Martinez was too eager to assign blame to his staff or to groups he said he couldn't control. As a senator, he will need an office and a staff that speaks with the measured and centrist tone he says will be his own. He can't pretend to be above it all if the people he employs are not.

(snip)

As Kos comments in his post on this ("With Martinez, the buck stops elsewhere" http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/4/7/11732/92411), "Sigh, a tiger can't change his stripes, can he?"

Yep, some evil, misguided, abolutely unsupervised, solo staffer typed up and distributed that Schiavo memo all by himself and even secretly put it - all unbeknownst to Mel - in the very pocket of the senatorial jacket!! Shocking, the uppitiness of help these days. No wonder the neocons want that bankruptcy legislation and the Social Security changes - then they can hire all the desperate unemployed people they want!

[kevinmc]

1. Has the same M.O.

as "The Bush" all part of Rove Politics

[Up2Late]

2. I don't know if you heard, But Martinez just screwed up BIG TIME!

Remember the Schivo memo that leaked about 2 weeks ago, that said, "this would be a very good issue to get involved in Politically." Hum?

Well it turns out that that memo came from Senator Martinez's office, from his Lead Council to be more precise. Turns out that his Lead Council, who has now admitted the mistake and Quit, mistakenly sent that memo to all the Repukes in the Senate AND one Democrat Tom Harkin of Iowa.

Doh!

:evilgrin:

[Nothing Without Hope]

3. Yes, I've been following that story. Last I heard he was STILL saying

it was all his senior aide's fault! That's why I thought this report of him doing exactly the same thing before when he crossed the line might be of interest. Like Bush, the buck NEVER stops with him, he always points his finger at someone in a position to not fight back. Despicable!

[ima_sinnic]

4. here is LBN on the exact same angle about Martinez

New gaffe, old Martinez defense

Sen. Mel Martinez turns to familiar words to explain his office's role in an unsigned memo on Terri Schiavo.

By ANITA KUMAR and WES ALLISON
Published April 8, 2005

WASHINGTON - In the final, critical days of fall's Republican primary for the U.S. Senate from Florida, Mel Martinez's campaign sent out a flier accusing his conservative rival of catering to "the radical homosexual lobby."

Under blistering criticism, Martinez said he had not seen the flier before a staffer mailed it to voters; he promised he would never again be caught unaware of his staff's actions. . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1380204#1380270