The Presidential Physical Fitness Award

Digby discovers that it's more important to look good than govern good:

MSNBC guest Karen Hanratty "Republican Strategist" on Gore:

There was a blind quote in one of the papers, actually Carville, James Carville said if he loses 15 pounds we'll know he's running, and I thought, it's going to take a lot more than that! (Gales of laughter on the panel.)

Presidents who win are usually very athletic. Bush runs like a seven minute mile! And Clinton liked hamburgers but he worked out.

Those are the little things that actually matter.

There you have it.

To paraphrase John Locke: "An unsound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of the unhappy state in this country."

But, lawdy, that bike riding and brush-clearing really pay off.

Even liberal Canadian rockers have taken notice. Sez Neil Young:

One thing about Bush: You’ve got to respect him for being in such good physical condition. He works like hell to be fit. That’s a great example at his age.

If Mr. "Impeach the President" sees the benefits of a studly statesman, so should anyone who doesn't give a shit that we're killing and dying in the Middle East for no reason, running up a record deficit, abandoning the disadvantaged, defiling the Constitution, and trashing the environment.

C'mon, who would you rather have represent our country — gimpy FDR or male babe Warren G. Harding?

So, in November 2008, remember the little things that actually matter, like whether you want to spend the next four or eight years looking at a big tubby geek or a leggy chorus boy?