Mel does a flip-flop

Martinez regrets his role in Schiavo case

TALLAHASSEE - Nearly a year after calling for federal involvement to keep a brain-damaged woman alive against her husband's wishes, Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez has said it was a mistake to become involved.

Martinez, who has just completed his first year in office, led the Senate charge pushing a bill that would have given federal courts jurisdiction to reinstate Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

''If I had to take one lesson away, it's perhaps decisions of this nature really belong in state courts, not federal courts,'' Martinez said in a taped interview for Political Connections that aired Sunday on Bay News 9 in the Tampa area.

''Perhaps this was not in the realm of federal concern. It may have been better left to state courts to deal with it,'' Martinez said.

Why now? This makes him look weak and indecisive!