Jonathan Chait
Posted on 07/22/2005 8:27:34 AM PDT by guitarist
The (over)exercise of power
A week ago, when President Bush met with Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III to interview him for a potential Supreme Court nomination, the conversation turned to exercise. When asked by the president of the United States how often he exercised, Wilkinson impressively responded that he runs 3 1/2 miles a day. Bush urged him to adopt more cross-training. "He warned me of impending doom," Wilkinson told the New York Times.
Am I the only person who finds this disturbing? I don't mean the fact that Bush would vet his selection for the highest court in the land in part on something utterly trivial. That's expected. What I mean is the fact that Bush has an obsession with exercise that borders on the creepy.
Given the importance of his job, it is astonishing how much time Bush has to exercise. His full schedule is not publicly available. The few peeks we get at Bush's daily routine usually come when some sort of disaster prods the White House Press Office to reveal what the president was doing "at the time." Earlier this year, an airplane wandered into restricted Washington air space. Bush, we learned, was bicycling in Maryland. In 2001, a gunman fired shots at the White House. Bush was inside exercising. When planes struck the World Trade Center in 2001, Bush was reading to schoolchildren, but that morning he had gone for a long run with a reporter. Either this is a series of coincidences or Bush spends an enormous amount of time working out.
There's no denying that the results are impressive. Bush can bench press 185 pounds five times, and, before a recent knee injury, he ran three miles at a 6-minute, 45-second pace. That's better than I could manage when I played two sports...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
-Isn't Chait the one who wrote the "I hate Bush" column?
-He misses the point that Bush is trying to teach people: if I have time to exercise, so do you. Chait is worried about, theoretically, say, a terrorist attack while Bush is out running laps. By the same token, the President ouught not to sleep, take a shower, or do anything else during which one can't easily be interrupted. Kind of silly.
-He also misses a HUGE point. Bush was talking to Wilkinson, his oldest interviewee. It's as if to say, if I am going to appoint you, you can't go off retiring or croaking on me in ten years!
I rather liked the fact that Bush asked him about exercise. But I don't begrudge Chait his column.
How do I get this on the SCOTUS list???
I see it's there. Did the moderator put it there? (If so, you guys are fast! Molodtsy.)
I ask potential employees about exercise habits.
I've even driven by and checked out their lawns.
Slovernly people in private life are slovernly workers.
I'm an extraordinarily precise programmer with a messy lawn. And it's "slovenly."
Doesn't Chait have anything better to 'opine' about than this idiotic piece of tripe? The depth of liberal Bush bashing has no limits. I'm mad at myself wor waisting time reading it.
What is disturbing about it Chait? That during an interview the President would talk about something "trivial" like exercise? There's nothing creepy about being human and including things other than judicial philosophies in the conversation.
As for the notion that Bush "has an obsession with exercise that borders on the creepy", Chait must really have some deeply held aversion to physical fitness. For some people, exercise is a daily routine. Is there something creepy about that? Certainly not. I'll be the first to admit that I am out of shape and don't exercise nearly enough. That hardly makes me find it creepy that some people exercise almost religiously. It seems to me that Chait is so desperate to find something to criticize that he has to take an admirable example of discipline and healthy behavior and try to couch it as something "creepy". Chait is obviously the one with creepy issues here -- not the President.
Chait is the guy who wrote that he hates Bush, with a "hate that is white-hot"....I think the quote is fairly accurate, but may not be verbatim.
Mr. Chiat, I worry about someone who hates as much as you do, hate is much worse than exercise.......get help fast.
There are some issues:
-Should friends let friends not exercise, get fat and die?
-Should the government continue interfering in our personal lives, like, say, imposing a fast-food- or fat-tax?
-Should Roberts vote to overturn Roe? (Yes.)
I love my job, I do it as well as it can be done, why, I wish it were an Olympic event, my yard would be a messy pile of gold medals and ribbons.
Oh yes, the presidency is not a demanding job. That's why all presidents age about 20 years when they've completed their terms. Putz.
The lawn is a minutely small issue in the realm of things, and depends on the profession --- and how busy a person is.
For example, good petroleum engineers, almost without fail, have obscenly neat lawns, that are often ugly in their sparseness and clean lines.
Good petroleum geologists, in contrast, typically have cluttered lawns, potentially with lawns gnomes and a overgrown flower beds.
Obviously exceptions abound, but you take 20-30 factors like this and put it together.
Oh yes, the presidency is not a demanding job. That's why all presidents age about 20 years when they've completed their terms. Putz.
Sneaky?
Hell, I typically show up at the door with a twelve pack of beer, which is part two of the test.
I'll also need a bottle of Black velvet.
I wish petro-folks would have the refineries as neat as their yards.
With todays tech, there's no reason for the slovenly noisy mess there. It should look like Bellengrath Gardens(did I speel the Alabama Coke Bottlers name right?).
-Eric
I agree with all your points.
And .. why wouldn't a President want to know about the health of a person he's going to nominate to a position for life ..?? I don't see anything "creepy" about it.
People who think that way are usually those who don't exercise themselves, and therefore consider anybody who does "creepy". Hmmmmm?? Maybe he didn't get the DNC memo .. the word is "extreme".
This is just more of the PETTY sniping from the left.
Jonathan Chait
"I wish petro-folks would have the refineries as neat as their yards."
As a former partner in a refinery in Big Spring, Texas, I agree.
Alas, you change almost ANYTHING in a refinery, you are no longer grandfathered, and have to comply with cost-prohibative regulations, hearings, oversite, lawsuits, etc.
As a result, no new refineries have been built (and little capacitiy added or changes made, cosmetic or otherwise) for 30 years.
In sum, thank Jimmy Carter for the ugly refineries.
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