Obama smear making the rounds in the RW Blogosphere.

[edhopper]

About sending a form letter to the families of fallen SEALs.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/08/obama-honored-fallen-seals-by-sending-their-parents-a-form-letter-signed-by-electric-pen/

Might be true, but I have a feeling that it is something that was done without his knowledge, perhaps by the DOD. And that it probably went on under Bush as well.
Anyone have a fact check on this?

[FightForMichigan]

1. But did you look at the signatures?

They're clearly different.

Here they are:




The signature on the letter on top has a big loop at the top of the "O" curving around the stem of the "b" and the letter beneath it doesn't.

[edhopper]

5. Thanks

[drm604]

6. Good point.

I doubt that an autopen would vary like that.

[Enrique]

7. new scandal

Obama has neglected maintenance of the Presidential autopen!

[FightForMichigan]

9. LOL! You're probably right about that. n/t

[drm604]

2. If true, it's probably standard operating procedure.

I'd imagine that it's been done this way for a long time.

[cthulu2016]

3. You know who else did that?

Every other president who presided over a war.

Yes, they use form letters.

Duh.

[RedStateLiberal]

4. White House Disputes Charge...

White House Disputes Charge President Uses "Auto-pen" for Letters to Lost Soldiers' Grieving Families
http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-disputes-charge-president-uses-auto-pen-203347929--abc-news-politics.html

[cthulu2016]

8. You should Post this as an OP also.

"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was in 2004 criticized for using an auto-pen to sign condolence letters to the families of fallen troops. At the time he issued a statement saying, "I wrote and approved the now more than 1,000 letters sent to family members and next of kin of each of the servicemen and women killed in military action. While I have not individually signed each one, in the interest of ensuring expeditious contact with grieving family members, I have directed that in the future I sign each letter."

[RedStateLiberal]

11. Done.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021235251

[Enrique]

10. wow

I am seriously surprised Obama responded to this. I misjudged the importance of it I guess.

I get that asshole Jim Hoft is surprised as well. Now he has to decide whether to retract it or stick to his story.

[drm604]

12. I guess it's a tough decision.

Sometimes responding to this kind of nonsense just brings more attention than it already had.

[BeeBee]

13. I'm still trying to understand what the problem is...

Of course it's a form letter. Did they expect him to write to each family personally? I do believe he does sign each one as was pointed out above.

[NashvilleLefty]

14. Which is more important - signing the letters

or seeing that the widows/widowers and Vets themselves are properly cared for?

I'll admit that the government doesn't take care of it's Vets and spouses as it should, but compare the Dem record against the Repub record. Here's a start: Michelle was talking last night on Letterman about a program started by Obama that already exceeded expectations.

[haele]

15. Presidential letters of consolation are for active duty fallen overseas only -

and - over the protests of some of the Pentagon - now includes condolence letters for service members who commit suicide, thanks to Pres. Obama. This has been a practice from the administration since Pres. Reagan, and it accompanies the official letter of condolence from the Secretary of Defense (which is robo-signed) that the DoD will send out.

Those condolence letters have always been printed in a form letter format where the command presents pertinent information (name, duty station, etc, unless it is a personal note to the family member of someone the President knows personally. This "format" allows the secretary that always drafts the letter for the President to look over to incorporate any edits and changes of phrasing that the President feels might be appropriate. The President then takes one of the fifty or sixty Presidential pens that are put in his desk daily and signs the letter of condolence. This is similar to the way most meritorious award letters are written.

The thing to remember is that a Presidential Letter of Condolence is an Official Presidential document. There are protocals for such documents. These are not like a Hallmark card note to be dashed off because a co-worker's family member was in a bad accident or their parents died.

And again, every single President since Reagan used the same process in writing the letter of condolence.

What those wanna-be online warriors are complaining about are several rumors that always go around when there is a Democratic President (these are the same rumors President Clinton had to deal with, btw)
- that the President has his secretary "robo-sign" the letter,
- that the President is supposed to hand-write every condolence letter he sends out (Presidents never hand-write official documents!)
- that the President didn't properly acknowledge the rank or the heroic way the fallen military member died in his (or her) letter to the family by inserting a personal little note or token or putting something other than a generic "sorry for your loss"-type scribble if the mood hits him when he reads through a particular letter.

And Pres. Obama has proved that he reads his correspondance regularly, unlike his predicessor who has been proven to waive off reports and paperwork when he didn't feel like dealing with it.
Did they complain about Pres. Bush?
Here's a link to a blog of a Gold-Star mom from 2009 on letters of Condolences - including the fact that she thought her actual letter from Pres. George Bush was signed by auto-pen.
She was writing about letters for overseas suicides, which Pres. Obama addressed soon afterwards.

http://gsmso.blogspot.com/2009/12/president-obamas-letters-of-condolence.html

Haele

[spanone]

16. i believe nothing at this point in an election....