Happy giving tree festival to all, and to all a good night!

Town Hall ^ | 12/23/2004 | Ann Coulter

[rlmorel]

Happy giving tree festival to all, and to all a good night! Ann Coulter (archive)

December 23, 2004

Since the attack of 9-11, we've won two wars, liberated millions of people from monstrous regimes, presided over one election in Afghanistan and are about to see elections in Iraq and among the Palestinian people. Focusing like a laser beam on the big picture, liberals are upset that, during this period, the secretary of defense used an autopen.

An autopen is a mechanical arm that actually holds a pen and is programmed to sign letters with a particular person's precise signature. Imagine a President Al Gore, with slightly more personality, signing all official government letters – that's an autopen. (You can relax now, there will be no more exercises imagining a President Al Gore.)

[exhaustguy]

Not true. Several wars have had deaths lower or close to Iraq II.
Battle deaths
Iraq I - 147
Spanish American - 385
Indian - 1,000 approx
Mexican - 1,733
1812 - 2,260
Revolution - 4,435

Now we get into big numbers:
Korea - 33,741
Vietnam - 47,410
WWI - 53,402
Civil (Union) - 140,414
Civil (Confed) - 74,524
WWII - 291,557

How many deaths are we going to have in Iraq? Will it be like the Mexican American War or Korea/Vietnam?

I really think he should have signed every letter personally. Not a reason to remove him or criticize him too much, but I know that I would have if I were in his position. I sign over 100 letters for Christmas every year - what is 1,200 over the course of two plus years (2 per day for example).

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

My own reaction was to think of the Spanish-American war, with less than 1000 deaths. Historically it's the 20^th century wars - and the Civil War - that dwarf the American casualty figures of Iraq. But then, the population base of America was so much lower in the founding era . . . Her comment was hyperbole; it was followed by an even-further-over-the-top comment.

[Terpfen]

Guess it's a good thing I grew up in Hollywood, FL for a few years. I now live in the town adjacent to it.

[rabidralph]

Why are you excerpting Ann Coulter. You never, ever excerpt Ann Coulter. That would be like posting a picture of the top of her head! Welcome to FR, newbie.

[freedomcrusader]

Q: Is it right, the Iraqi conflict? A: No, it's wrong. The rabid savages who are fighting American troops should give up immediately.

Love it!

[gridlock]

I would assume that the letters were going out on a schedule and the Secretary was unavailable to sign them, since he has a job that involves a fair amount of travel and unavoidable scheduled obligations. So, in this situation, the normal procedure would be to have outgoing correspondence signed by his Deputy. The use of the autopen allowed the letters to go out over the Secretary's signature, which would be better than having them signed by the Deputy, IMHO.

I think the Libs are in a lather because they think the only reason the SecDef supports the war is that he has not fully understood that we have lost 1350 soldiers in the conflict. They simply cannot understand that anybody can look at a military situation with losses and accomplishments and say that the victory is worth the price paid in blood. They are of the "If it saves one soldier, it's worth it..." mind-set. We are lucky the SecDef is not operating on this level.

[freedomcrusader]

Another great quote (the interview is in an Italian magazine for those of you who chose not to follow the link to this inexplicably excerpted piece):

Q: Is it possible to export democracy? A: Yes. Ever heard of "Italy"?

[PGalt]

Beautiful Mind bump!

[blanknoone]

What she said is true...all of the wars you cited with low casualties preceded the existance of the Secretary of Defense. For as long as there has been a SecDef, this is the first war that is even theoretically 'signable' by him.

[OXENinFLA]

LOL!!

---

PING...

[rightinthemiddle]

"...this is the first war America has been in where the number of casualties is small enough that it would even be theoretically possible for a Defense secretary to sign each condolence letter personally. "

____________________

Technically, she is correct. The Secretary of Defense position wasn't created until after WWII (not sure of exact date at this very moment and I don't have time to google).

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

My Brother interned for the Honorable Geraldine Ferraro before she became a housewife from Queens and ran for vice-president in 1984. Most of her constituent correspondence was handled by interns and generally required nothing more than 1.) finding the correct form letter, 2.) date, 4.)autopen 4.) frank and 5.) send.

There was one particular letter for which no appropriate form letter could be found. My brother had the rare opportunity (for an intern) to draft an original response:

Dear Mrs. Bullaccio,

Elvis Presley was a great American and made many contributions to American music and culture. We will give House Resolution HR-83-206, making Mr. Presley’s birthday a national holiday the consideration it deserves.

Thank you once again for your taking the time to write and express your interest in matter.

[rightinthemiddle]

BTW...Don should have signed the letters personally. But he doesn't deserve the media attacks and he should be spending his time trying to win the war and bring our troops home as victors.

[gridlock]

Well, before that we had a Secretary of War. I like that better. If I were King-for-a-Day, I would change it back to the War Department.

[MoralSense]

b

[Mr. K]

THANK GOD FOR ANN COULTER

Merry Christmas to everyuone too!!

(Ann I am still waiting for your response to my marriage proposal- stop being coy)

[WideGlide]

Every $#%&*!! time we sit down for a drink here come the Paparazzi with cameras a-poppin. A little private time is all we ask. :o) </fantasy>

[rlmorel]

Why are you excerpting Ann Coulter. You never, ever excerpt Ann Coulter. That would be like posting a picture of the top of her head! Welcome to FR, newbie.


I stand with hanging head.

I plead stupidity in this case, and am genuinely contrite.

[rlmorel]

Thank you for posting this. I have tried to say this to people in various threads, but I am just not eloquent enough to get the point across effectively.

This summarizes why I think this "scandal" is not worthy of attention. It is an attempt by people with an agenda to discredit the current Commander in Chief by proxy.