“It’s always shocking when the Left unmasks itself–it’s usually very brief but when it happens not only can’t you turn away, it’s actually important that you don’t,” writes iconoclastic columnist Tammy Bruce.


Bruce points to two recent instances of the left’s unmasking itself in print: an L. A. Times piece on Bush and physical fitness (you need registration for the L.A. Times but it is also carried here) and the already remarked-upon  Washington Post piece by surly fashionista Robin Givhan on the nice clothes worn by the Roberts family.


“In a piece for the Los Angeles Times on July 22, 2005, titled ’The (over)exercise of Power,’ Jonathan Chait notes he finds the president’s interest in exercise ‘disturbing.’ He bleats, ‘What I mean is the fact that Bush has an obsession with exercise that borders on the creepy.’ As opposed to a president’s obsession with Big Macs and a certain intern?”


Chait sneeringly says that he imagines Bush associates physical exercise with mental prowess (and we know what the left thinks about the president’s mental prowess!)
Bruce comments:


“It would be easy to dismiss Chait as just another ’journalist’ who makes a living hating the president, but there’s more to it than that. You see, leftists harbor a personal jealousy of people unlike them. And who would that be? People considered ‘on the Right’ or ‘conservative,’ those who have a healthier, happier, more positive view of life. When you view the future with optimism, when you feel you are in charge of your destiny, you’re going to be kinder and take better care of yourself.
 
“The pettiness of Chait’s argument reaches its pinnacle of envy with an insistent but unconvincing shout of I-Have-Self-Esteem-Too! in his last gasp. …”


The second piece, Givhan’s “An Image A Little Too Carefully Crafted,” “eclipsed Chait with an astounding pettiness only in existence on the elementary school playground,” notes Bruce. To refresh your memory, Givhan was critical of the Roberts family for looking nice: 
 
“His wife and children stood before the cameras, groomed and glossy in pastel hues–like a trio of Easter eggs, a handful of Jelly Bellies, three little Necco wafers’Separate the child from the clothes, which do not acknowledge trends, popular culture or the passing of time. They are not classic; they are old-fashioned. These clothes are Old World, old money….”


Bruce observes:


“In other words, the Roberts children should have been dressed in GAP clothes, preferably with a piercing of one body part or another. While Josie, their daughter, would have been more appropriate in a pair of low-rider jeans which make refrigerator-repairmen out of little girls.


“President and Mrs. Bush, and the Roberts family make the mistake of not pledging allegiance to the decline of culture. They insult the Left by reminding intellectually lazy Slaves to Decay like Chait and Givhan that class, decorum, and respect still exist. Tradition, caring for one’s family, and caring for oneself are still values that prevail.”