Delicious irony

From the Miami Herald:

As the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign rails against trial lawyers, Florida Democrats are basking in a delicious irony that's making some Republicans squirm: The very same White House pushing to limit lawsuits recruited the past head of the Florida trial-lawyer lobby, Mel Martinez, to run for the state's open Senate seat.

The issue surfaced Tuesday, when the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee seized on Vice President Dick Cheney's statements that White House challengers John Kerry and John Edwards opposed limiting medical-malpractice jury awards 'because, frankly, they are too close to the plaintiffs' attorneys.'' The committee distributed an e-mail that parenthetically inserted Martinez's name after every lawyer reference Cheney made.

Martinez is currently eight points behind Bill McCollum in the Republican Senate race, and the White House has recently backed off in its support of Martinez, Bush's former housing secretary. If he can overcome that lead, it will be next to impossible for the GOP to continue the ridiculous anti-trial lawyer diatribe and support Martinez for Senate at the same time. It would be a dream to see this come true and watch Rove and company find a way out of the mess they created. Fingers crossed.