Posted on 01/03/2011 7:56:13 AM PST by jmaroneps37
On December 12 six United States Army soldiers were killed in Afghanistan when a truck loaded with explosives was driven into a building they were in. One of those heroes was Sgt. Sean M. Collins, of Washington State. He was a member of the 101st Airbourne Division and 2004 graduate of Yelm high school.
The pain of losing a man such as Sgt Collins is something that should be felt by all Americans but honesty requires acknowledgement that not everyone feels this pain. For some his passing is merely an opportunity to pretend to be patriotic. As we have been reminded again and again since we took up arms against Islamic terrorists, the majority of elected Democrats don’t have a patriotic bone in their body.
A Gallup survey released last July revealed that just 20% of Democrats self identify as “extremely” patriotic as compared to 52% of Republicans who do.
It was therefore, no surprise that a letter sent to Sgt. Collins’ mother by one of Washington’s Democrat Senators Maria Cantwell turns out to be an obvious form letter.
Cantwell apparently barrowed her heartfelt message from another “patriotic” Democrat Senator the outgoing Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.
“What is surprising is that while 84 [Washington] War Fighters have lost their life in the…. Cantwell still uses a form letters to express her “deep condolences”
Ordinarily sustaining such a charge would be difficult if not impossible. Nevertheless, in this case, the fraud jumps off the page. The letter received by the Collins family makes reference to their son “Bryn.” Had it said Bob or Joe the “patriotic” staff at Cantwell’s office could have crafted a self serving lie when Sgt. Collins’ father ret. Lt. Col. Patrick Collins called the missive a “form letter” which it most certainly is.
More…
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
In addition to being disrespectful of this soldier and his family’s sacrifice, the letter is a demonstration of the incompetence and mediocrity of Cantwell’s staff. Cantwell’s contempt for the military is evident in every element of this story.
I'm stunned the figure is even that high.
A lot of stuff was done by form letter in the Army, for instance:
“The Secretary of War regrets to inform you that on 5 January 1945 in a hospital at Bertrix, Belgium, your son Harold died of wounds received in battle.”
The use of form letters is judicious and practical, they have been tested and shown to be appropriate in various situations (the “bug letter” is an example).
What is not acceptable is sloppily failing to enter the correct data in the forms.
My brother worked as an intern for Geraldine Ferraro before she was Mondale’s running mate. He worked in “constituent services”, which mostly consisted in sending out form letters to address constituent complaints. On one occassion he had an opportunity to exercise some originality and compose an original letter, to wit:
Dear Mrs. Bulltacio,
Elvis Presley was a great American and made a number of contributions to American life and culture. I will give HR-82-205, making his birthday a national holiday, the consideration and attention that it deserves.
Yours truly,
Representative Geraldine Ferraro
Apparently I didn’t make my point very well. I don’t object to form letters, per se, but in the incompetent way they are deployed. At least get the victim’s name right. That said, as a senator she has a large enough staff to personalize letters sent from her office in her name to the families of those who have died in service to their country. If she cared. From the legislative correspondent who bungled this up to her chief of staff, who approved it, this episode speaks volumes about the quality of her staff and the standards she sets for them. How embarrassing.
The article you linked to complains about form letters. Actually, you can write scripts in MicroSoft Word or other fine product to do most of the work for you.
The case sited is an exceptionally slovenly piece of work in an exceptionally delicate situation, I agree.
I'm stunned the figure is even that high.
Factoring in the usual "fudge factor", your assessment would undoubtedly be correct...
the infowarrior
I linked to an article?
Bush personally wrote to the family of every soldier who died, but the left still went after him for not meeting with the families.
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