One oddity of the report: Mr. Obama weighed 179.9 pounds with his shoes and workout attire on, which is not the usual way to measure a patient’s weight.

 The Times, March 1

KATIE COURIC (in studio): “What’s the president hiding?” This question from senior members of the Republican Party, who are outraged tonight at what they’re calling the president’s “purported” weight. In a hastily called news conference, the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, said he would call on Congress to convene a bipartisan panel made up entirely of Republicans to investigate the president’s weight:

MITCH McCONNELL (at news conference): This president claims to weigh 179.9 pounds. How do we know that’s true? He wore shoes and workout pants and a jacket and a T-shirt and some kind of presidential undergarment. What is that garment? How much does it weigh? How do we know that he wasn’t wearing long underwear to add bulk to his delicate frame? Why is this administration so secretive when it comes to its own weight?  “CBS Evening News”

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Senate Democrats responded angrily this evening to allegations by senior members of the Republican Party that President Obama may, in fact, be wildly underweight.

“It is despicable that members of this esteemed body would question the integrity and the weight of a sitting president during wartime,” said Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader. “I weigh 160 pounds. John McCain weighs 165. I know the height and weight of every member of my party because we’ve stood in a room, removed our clothing, and stood on that scale like old naked American men. While I have never seen the president naked, I have no doubt his weight is 179.9 and, if he were a woman, would probably wear a size six, though possibly a four in Armani.”