We’ve received a ridiculous number of emails and reader comments about former Secretary of State Madeleine’s Albright’s claim that she can leg press 400 pounds. We’ve heard persuasive contentions and evidence on both sides. The argument has been more vigorous, spirited, and detailed than the congressional debate over the Iraq war resolution.

But now the Albright-and-leg-press dispute has been definitively resolved. From the Washington Whispers column of U.S. News:

Did you laugh when you read former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s claim in the New York Times to leg-pressing 400 pounds? Well, she knew you would. So the day after the interview, Albright rushed to her Definitions gym in Georgetown and tagged her trainer, Margo Carper, loaded up the weight on the leg press, and completed 10 reps.

“I got a little nervous after I had said that,” she confessed. “So I got off the red-eye … Thursday, and I went to my place and I said, ‘OK, Margo, we have to do this to prove again that I could do it.’ And so I did.” She adds, “Yes, I do leg-press 400 pounds. To what end I don’t know. I could make a vulgar comment.”

Yes, Madam Secretary, please do! Just be sure that a Wonkette operative is around to hear it, so it can be reported in these pages. This town loves a good “overheard obscenity” pseudo-scandal. Just ask Dick Cheney.

Update: Albright has made some nice progress with the leg press. Back in 2001, on NPR, Albright boasted of being able to leg press 200 pounds (and used a vulgarism in doing so).

Is Kickboxing Next for Albright? [USNWR]
Madeline Albright Reveals Exercise Regimen For “Kicking Ass” [NPR]

Earlier: Madeleine Albright & the Leg Press: The Controversy Rages On
An Addendum on Albright’s Athleticism
Madeleine Albright Can Crush You

The afternoon has been a bit slow in terms of news. So let’s take you back to the great debate over Madeleine Albright’s ability to leg press 400 pounds. We reported about it, and then we questioned it.

Several of you now question our questioning. One of Secretary Albright’s students at Georgetown writes:

I’ve been following your coverage of the great Albright leg-press debate and have some fuel to add to the fire. I am a student in her class at Georgetown and in our most recent class we discussed her leg-press abilities in between discussions about Kosovo and Kim Jong Il. She told us that she slowly worked up from small weights, adding a few pounds on each time. But she asserted that she most definitely can leg-press 400 pounds. And seeing how fit she looks now—she’s lost a lot of weight since she was Secretary—I wouldn’t doubt her. With guns like that, she doesn’t need diplomatic security anymore!

We just saw Albright on CNN — she was promoting her new book — and we’re inclined to agree. Maddy’s looking svelte these days.

And this is just for starters. After the jump, a frighteningly detailed defense of Albright’s ability to leg press four hundred pounds.

Check out this email, which tells you more than you ever needed to know about the leg press:

Disclaimer: I’ve never worked out with her, and I don’t know the gym where she works out. But I do have grounds to take issue with the tipster who claimed (apparently without ever seeing Albright leg-press) that 400 lbs was impossible because Albright “seems sort of fragile up close,” and accused her of “cheating.”

I am an average-weight-and-height 45-year-old woman who blew through 400 pounds on the leg press several years ago. Despite my legs being much smaller and more “fragile”-looking than men at my gym who can’t even move half that much, I now leg press 600 pounds, 3 sets, 10 reps each, at every workout. And that is after I do at least three sets of squats with 225. My workout attracts a lot of stares, I think mostly because of the erroneous assumption (shared by your tipster) that my legs look too “fragile” to be doing such a thing.

As to whether it is possible to “cheat” on the leg press machine, I don’t know what Madame Secretary uses, but I use a 45-degree Hammer Strength leg press rack which has to be manually loaded with plates. I load the plates onto the rack myself - 4 100-lb. plates, 4 45-lb plates, and 2 10-pound plates for a total of 600, adding more 10s if I feel strong. Unlike some people, I don’t count the weight of the “sled” that the weights ride on. (If I did, that would be 750 pounds, but in my book that’s like adding your body weight to the amount you squat. In other words, “cheating.”)

I’ve observed several brawny-looking men at my gym (the Clarksburg, WV YMCA) try, and fail, after watching me leg-press, to equal it. I watched one guy who looked like an Olympic powerlifter struggle unsuccessfully with only 400 pounds. I’ve also had several football-player types outweighing me by at least 75 lbs. ask me to “leave the plates on” after my sets, and then manage to do about two really crappy partial reps before giving up. They look like they could do it, but they can’t. I look like I couldn’t do it, but I can. Seeing as how I come from the “reality-based” school of reality, I think that means I can, and they can’t. Anyone who concludes that Albright can’t leg-press 400 because she seems “fragile,” apparently without ever seeing her try it, is speaking from that “belief-based” school of reality that Bush and Co. belong to. And we know how reliable that is.

Consider us convinced. And no matter how much Secretary Albright can leg press, it’s a helluva lot more than we can!

Earlier: An Addendum on Albright’s Athleticism
Madeleine Albright Can Crush You

• Reliable Source: Fitness instructor who joked about Bush told friends that he voted for him… Stephen Colbert: “This administration is SOARING! They’re rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.”… Laura Bush spotted at Smith & Hawken in Georgetown… Andy Card is looking “perky” now that he can sleep in — until 5 a.m. [WP]
• Heard on the Hill: Tony Snow has referred to Bush as “something of an embarrassment,” “impotent,” and not “truly special”… Fitness instructor who offended the Bush twins will go on spinning. [Roll Call]
• Page Six: Smithsonian portrait of Bill Clinton doesn’t include his wedding ring. Responds Hillary flack, “Can you just quote me giving you a different finger?” [NYP]
• Cindy Adams: Bob Woodward is being “kept on a short leash” at the Washington Post. [NYP]
• Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Rumsfeld did not attend the retirement ceremony of Eric Shinseki, the former Army Chief of Staff who has been critical of war planning. [NYDN]

• Heard on the Hill: Fitness instructor was “horrified” to find out that the Bush twins were in his spin class after he made jokes about the president and distributed a DVD of “Bushisms”… Tennessee House candidate Joe Ford Jr. uses MySpace instead of an official campaign site. [Roll Call]
• Reliable Source: Drew Lachey and Steve Case are also attending the Correspondents’ Association Dinner… Euan Blair has a late, antic-filled night… Birthday party for WRC anchor Wendy Rieger is nearly ruined by the Cheneys and the Rumsfelds. [WP]
• Under the Dome: Reps. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) are the only House members who did not sponsor a single bill during this session… Princeton students Lauren Bush, presidential niece, and Harrison Frist, son of the senator, helped to select Bill Clinton as commencement speaker. [The Hill]
• Inside the Beltway: Politicians announce their commencement speech plans… Sandra Day O’Connor: “I was disappointed to see the percentage of women on the court drop by 50 percent.” [WT]
• Rush & Molloy: Mick Jagger won’t give up his hotel suite in Vienna for Bush… Bill Clinton, in Las Vegas, “enjoying Grey Goose, sea bass and apple pie.” [NYDN]
• Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Laura Bush holds White House screening of “Akeelah and the Bee.” [NYDN]

We are impressed not so much with this man’s audacity as with his ability to give a “tirade” while leading a spin class.

A spin class instructor at The Sports Club/LA is apparently among the 57 percent of Americans who disapprove of President Bush’s job performance. He could soon be among the 4.7 percent of Americans who are unemployed.

The instructor launched into a Bush-bashing tirade during Thursday’s early morning spinning-and-sweating session. And it didn’t go over so well with two of his pupils, whom he obviously had no idea were there: Jenna Bush and boyfriend Henry Hager.

“Obviously had no idea”? We’re not so sure. Depends on how big the class was, of course, but we think we’d notice a First Daughter hanging around. Henry — good sort, that one — bitched out the club, and they assured Hank (we can call you Hank, can’t we?) that, uh, it wouldn’t happen again. But they didn’t fire the instructor.

Considering that we’ve heard from Madeleine Albright’s gym buddy recently, we figure one of you must work out at the Sports Club — you wanna stop by Glenn’s class and ask him if he knew who was in his audience? Alternatively, bring a camera crew and get all Barbara Harrison on Jenna and Hank.

Though it is possible that Glenn didn’t know they were there: Jenna and Babs, just like real-life celebrities, employ pseudonyms when doing public stuff like working out, running marathons (which they did recently in Richmond as “Emily and Sarah Jackson of Arlington.”), or drinking illegally (we miss those days, yes we do).

Update/Correction: Mary Ann Akers let us know that it was not, in fact, Jenna and Hank in Spin class (we were gonna say, we don’t take Hank for a spin class kinda guy), but Jenna and Barbara. Which is totally funnier.

Riding Bush [Roll Call, sub. req’d.]

In response to our recent item about Madeleine Albright’s ability to leg-press 400 pounds, a tipster tells us:

I used to work out at the same Georgetown gym as Madeleine Albright. She is actually quite strong and is very dedicated in her workouts. But I find it hard to believe that she can leg press 400 pds since she seems sort of fragile up close. Unless she uses the cheating leg press machine.

She sweats a heck of alot and looks well like an old eastern European hag without the make-up, made up-hair, and cute suits with pins. All that being said, she was always nice to all the other clients in the gym and didn’t chatter on her cell phone like other high powered folks in the same gym when she was doing her cardio exercises.

Madam Secretary: Please wipe down the equipment after each use. Thanks.

Earlier: Madeleine Albright Can Crush You

I WILL BREAK YOU LIKE TWIG

Holy **** .

In an interview in the The New York Times Magazine that will appear this coming Sunday, Madeleine Albright reveals, among other things, that even at 68, she works out three times a week “and I can leg-press up to 400 pounds.”

Uh, wow. Yeah, we all had a bit of fun with Condicise, but it turns out Albright is not only the most fit Secretary of State, she’s also the scariest. And she doesn’t even need dominatrix boots. We don’t think she’ll be palling around with Barbara Harrison any time soon, though.

Seriously, are we gonna find out next that Eagleburger could bend iron bars with his bare hands?

‘NYT’ Sunday Preview: Madeleine Albright Can Leg-Press 400 Pounds [E&P]

Hey, guys — you’re dropping the ball. You were all over Condicise, but nary a one of you thought to let us know that today, Barbara Harrison of NBC4 was gonna talk fitness with Laura Bush. Sure, Condi may be the more popular one, with her insane workout regimen and intense concentration, but we have a soft spot for Laura, because she seems a wonderful throwback to the Pat Nixon/Lady Bird Johnson tightly-wound unmoving haircut school of First Ladydom. Here, in a sharp contrast to Condi’s workout, we see that Laura just sort of walks around the White House:

And, uh, you know that when Barbara’s not there, Laura’s 45-minute walk on the jogging path is her daily chance to suck down a pack of Parliaments before the first press op. You wanna keep the pounds off, Barbara? Add that to your daily menu.

Barbara Harrison Gets Fit With Laura Bush [NBC4]
Earlier: Condicise

Today: CONDI STRETCHES ON PLANES

RICE: You’d be surprised how many places around the world now have gyms, or exercise machines.

CONDOLEEZZA’S BIGGEST PROBLEM: DOESN’T LIKE WATER

This installment just depressed us. We’re glad Condicise has drawn to a close. There’s only like 13 seconds of working out in this one, even. Was Condi’s famous 4:30 AM workout not long enough to fill up three days worth of short segments?

Inspiring moment: The most important thing the most powerful woman in the world can express to you is that everyone — everyone — can make time for exercise in their busy schedules. Even 15 minutes can help clear your mind and allow you to temporarily forget the fact that you’re lonely, unmarried, and sexually frustrated.

Can we start on Shopping With Michael Chertoff next? Guy’s a snappy dresser, we want a three-part series of him trying on suits.

Talking Fitness With Condoleezza Rice [NBC4]
Earlier: Condicise

Your Secretary of State:

We like to pretend the newsticker along the bottom is running commentary. “When I’m on the road, I absolutely schedule time to get in my exercise first [Three bombs exploded today within in hour in Baghdad…].” It’s fun!

Tomorrow she tells us about the one time her weight got out of control! Don’t miss it!

Talking Fitness With Condoleezza Rice [NBC4]
Condicise! [Princess Sparkle Pony]