I think the idea of the comment you replied to is that the people whose out-of-office messages these appear to be are being defamed through the appearance of being partisan, or more strongly through the appearance of violating the Hatch act.
Oh gotcha. If they could show a harm, like financial loss, then it could be.
I think a close analogy would be if I send a letter, but sign your name. If a reasonable person would think you wrote the letter, then this might qualify as defamation. IANAL
> If they could show a harm, like financial loss, then it could be.
IANAL, but I think directly writing a Hatch act violation on behalf of a person would fall under defamation per se, not defamation per quod, and thus harm would not have to be demonstrated.
