Marines show more respect to Bush than to Clinton-Fiction!

The Marines At the White House Are Showing Respect for George W. Bush That They Did Not Show to President Clinton-Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:
The eRumor claims that the Marines of the presidential "Marine One" helicopter are showing George W. Bush greater respect than they did Bill Clinton. It says that recently, the Marine who met the president as he stepped off the helicopter faced President Bush even as the president walked away...something that was not done during the previous presidency.

The Truth:
Harry Levins of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looked into this one and found it fiction.

In an article from March 10, 2001, he quotes a spokesperson from Marine Corps headquarters as flatly denying the eRumor. The spokesperson said the Marines assigned to the president's helicopter have a protocol for greeting the president and have used it equally for both Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush. That is that the
The Marine at the bottom of the steps salutes the president. As soon as the salute is returned, the Marine does a right face to face the president's back. The Marine holds that position until the president "has moved a comfortable distance away."

Any Marines departing from that would not be disrespecting the man, but the presidency, and that would not be tolerated.

A real example of the story as it has been circulated:

Military Courtesy Change

This morning on CNN George W. was shown leaving 'Marine One
Helicopter. The Marine enlisted man at the front step saluted, GW
returned it, and as GW walked away, the Marine executed a right
face to stand facing GW's back... something that was not done in
eight years of the Clinton presidency.

This traditional Marine Corps mark of respect was rendered to the
new president. The Marine's respectful facing maneuver goes back
to the days of sailing ships with rigging, when the Marine orderly to
the ship's Captain always faced him, no matter the direction of the
Captain's movement, so to be ready to receive an order from the
Captain.

Who says that the enlisted force could not withhold respect from an
individual who didn't deserve their respect as a person? For eight
years, they did. And for eight years Clinton and his civilian
advisors didn't know enough about the military they were
"commanding" to realize what the enlisted Marines were actually
doing (or rather not doing).

Leave it to the Marines to speak so loudly without ever uttering a
word.