Readers are starting to get responses from Time concerning the astroturf:
Thank you for commenting on the letter from Thomas J. Stokes, which appeared in the May 26 Letters column. We included it for balance, since in the same section we also published three letters that were critical of the President. We appreciate your pointing out, however, that Stokes’ comments were from a form letter scripted by the Republican National Committee, and we certainly regret having included it in what is indeed meant to be a forum for the comments of individual TIME readers. Form letters are not new, of course, and just as we’ve resisted granting them space in the past, we assure you that we will be even more vigilant about screening them from here on in. We certainly regret that this one got through.
Our thanks again for registering your concern with the editors. We value your attentive interest in our efforts, and we send you our best wishes.
TIME Letters
I still think we should keep the pressure on until they print a correction/clarification in the magazine itself, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. At minimum, you can bet they’ll be keeping a much closer eye on the GOP Team Leader site.