Jonathan Hutchins wrote:

I have a client who's aparantly updated to a more recent
MS mail product, and is sending out newsletters that I used
to be able to post to his web page by a simple
cut-and-paste of the HTML.

   HTMLTidy can completely strip all of that with a single command line
   parameter. Try and stay on-topic. We're not talking about Microsoft's
   version of the Internet. No one disagrees that Microsoft is horrible
   at writing HTML.

Microsoft is just getting worse though,
the "XML" markup they're using has the typical overcoding where every segment
has complete font and color info, etc.

   That's been going on for quite some time -- Office '97. It is not XML.
   It's a non-standards compliant HTML. The use of the font tag has been
   depriciated in HTML 4. Microsoft didn't get the memo.

This is the kind of garbage Jason's mindless "hey, it's the new way man"
attitude is promoting.  Don't think that the general masses are going to
check the code or use anything but MS products to generate it.

Demand ASCII mail - it's the real thing.

   Illogical. You're claiming that because (A) a client that generates
   bad HTML code implies (B) all clients generate bad code and that (C)
   said bad code cannot be handled. B and C are false. How 'bout you
   expend your energy, instead, asking Microsoft to generate standards
   compliant code which would simultaneously benefit both the state of
   Web and the state of email? [1]http://www.webstandards.org/

   As of this writting they still can't handle the MIME RFC correctly,
   either -- which affects both plain text and HTML emails and is
   hampering the adoption of PGP/MIME.

References

   1. http://www.webstandards.org/