Michelle Malkin has a terrific commentary up comparing the media’s reactions to Obama’s rippling physique and rigorous gym routines with comments made about Bush recently, which were hardly as glowing.

Tale of two presidential workout fanatics

Chris Matthews won the Media Research Center’s quote of the year with his Obamedia-topping Leg O’ Thrill and Tingle remark. But Matthews only took first honors because Washington Post reporter Eli Saslow waited until Christmas to file his tribute to Obama’s sun-kissed pectorals. Have they no shame? No, they do not.

The gushing reminded me of a blog post I did three years ago on how Bush-deranged journalist Jonathan Chait reacted to President Bush’s workout regimen. It’s the subject of my syndicated column today. More liberal double standards: It’s just how they roll.

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Ah, the perks of media affection. On Christmas Day, the Washington Post delivered a front-page paean to Barack Obama’s workout habits. The 1,233-word ode to O’s physical fitness read more like a Harlequin romance novel than an A-1 news article.

Sighed smitten reporter Eli Zaslow: “The sun glinted off chiseled pectorals sculpted during four weightlifting sessions each week, and a body toned by regular treadmill runs and basketball games.” Drool cup to the newsroom, stat.

Heh!

Zaslow imparted us with vital information about buff Bam’s regimen: “Obama has gone to the gym for about 90 minutes a day, for at least 48 days in a row.” The Washington Post enlightened us with more gushing commentary from Obama friends and associates who explain how, as the subtitle of Zaslow’s opus put it, “Gym Workouts Help Obama Carry the Weight of His Position.”

For adoring journalists, you see, Obama’s workout fanaticism demonstrates his discipline and balance in his life. Apparently, what’s good for Obama’s glistening pecs is good for the country. Zaslow quoted Obama Chicago crony Marty Nesbitt, who offered this diagnosis: “He doesn’t think of it as something he has to do — it’s his time for himself, a chance for him to reflect. It’s his break. He feels better and more revved up after he gets in his workout.”

 Now, compare that to the treatment Bush got:

Too bad the doughy, McDonald’s-chomping, coffee-guzzling members of the White House press corps couldn’t see the merits of White House exercise over the past eight years. After giggling about his out-of-shape colleagues in the media, Zaslow mentioned in passing that President George W. Bush shares Obama’s commitment to health. What he failed to acknowledge is that the same reporters who so greatly admire Obama’s lithe figure derided Bush for his training schedule.

Former Washington Post writer Jonathan Chait famously attacked Bush three years ago in an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times headlined, “The (over)exercise of power.” Recounting how President Bush ran 3 1/2 miles a day and preached more cross-training to a federal judge, Chait fumed: “Am I the only person who finds this disturbing?…What I mean is the fact that Bush has an obsession with exercise that borders on the creepy.”

Chait argued that Bush’s passionate devotion to exercise was a dereliction of duty. “Does the leader of the free world need to attain that level of physical achievement?” he jeered. “It’s nice for Bush that he can take an hour or two out of every day to run, bike or pump iron. Unfortunately, most of us have more demanding jobs than he does.”

And there it is.  Bush is creepy, Obama is dreamy.

Chait was not alone. Reuters journalist Caron Bohan weaved the same unhinged themes into a piece on Bush’s two-hour, 17-mile bike ride with cycling champ Lance Armstrong in Crawford, Texas in 2005. After noting his six-day-a-week workout schedule, Bohan steered the piece into an anti-war screed:

“Bush says exercise helps sharpen his thinking. But some of his critics view his exercise obsession as an indulgence that takes time away from other priorities. Among them is Cindy Sheehan, the Vacaville, California, mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, who until late last week was camped out down the road from Bush’s ranch seeking a meeting with him to discuss her opposition to the war. Sheehan, who left her vigil on Thursday to tend to her sick mother, has said she believes Bush should take fewer bike rides to have more time to focus on the “the nation’s work.”

Joy.  Let’s all remember Saint Cindy and Camp Kasey.  Of course the aithor of that complaint left out the fact that Bush had already met with her once, a meeting that she has consistently misrepresented and has used to create a media circus (culminating in her idiotic and futile Congressoinal run against Speaker Pelosi).  I can’t for the life of me firgure out why he would decline another chance to have a meeting misrepresented by a woman who calls him a murderer.

So…the summary?

Fit Republican president = Selfish, indulgent, creepy fascist.

Fit Democratic president = Disciplined, health-conscious Adonis role model.

And let us not forget Bill Clinton who took his secret service along with him for his obsessive jogging.

Cycling Security Agents Join Clinton’s Jogging Entourage

Bodyguards on bicycles have joined President Clinton on his morning jogs. The Secret Service declines to discuss why.

Since Monday, the President’s jogging contingent has included the cycling agents, who usually ride far ahead of Mr. Clinton, apparently to scout his course.

To the dismay of his security detail, the President prefers to exercise in open areas like the National Mall. He usually runs three to four miles.

Until now, about six Secret Service agents and a military aide have run alongside him.

Had Bush done something as gauche as running in the public areas, the liberals would decry this as a selfish unfair obstruction of normal business due to the roadblocks and other traffic disruptions.

 So while this is clearly a case of Obama love, the fact is that it is also just more BDS for us to cite when wondering about media bias.

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