So what about it? Is the White House press corps out of shape, a bunch of sedentary slugs who lack the muscle tone to even properly hold up their microphones?
President Bush seems to think so.
After an early morning, 25-minute run at a college football stadium, on which only Associated Press reporter Rita Beamish elected to join him, Bush challenged a dozen or so other reporters.
”The rest of you lazy guys get out there and run,” Bush said, sounding somewhat, but not entirely, tongue in cheek.
”Arnold Schwarzenegger and I would like this message to go out. A fit America is a fine America. A fit America should include photo dogs
(photographers) as well as print reporters who slovenly sit back in the stands while some of us are out running.”
Stressing the value of workouts, the 65-year-old Bush told audio engineers that exercise ”would give you more strength in the forearms to keep those microphones up in the air.” Squelching scattered protests, he said,
”You can`t take it. You can dish it out but you can`t take this advice.”
Among those who objected was UPI correspondent Lori Santos: ”I found it offensive because one, my job isn`t to play with the president, and two, I exercise every day. I was going to go swimming until I had to cover his jog.”
