Washington: Bobby Jindal may not have made the cut for Thursday`s prime time debate among top ten Republican presidential contenders, but he is nevertheless getting ready in a different way - by doing push ups literally.
Louisiana`s Indian-American governor, who along with six other bottom candidates has been relegated to a secondary forum earlier in the day by hosts Fox News, went elbow to elbow in a `push-up contest` with his top foes in a BuzzFeed video.
Each of the `issues` confronting him - taxes, Obamacare, hyphenated Americans and, of course, his own awkward delivery of the Republican rebuttal to President Barack Obama`s first speech to Congress - is represented by an individual.
A "Tanned. Rested. Ready" Jindal, as his campaign slogan puts it, in formal wear, including a neck-tie, does really well, beats most of the contestants, but then gets `totaled`.
Mother Jones, an American magazine featuring investigative and breaking news reporting, noted kindly: "It`s some real Rocky IV stuff".
"As the governor knows well, be it a 17-person race or a 2-person race, coming in second is not going to be enough, ever, to get either into the governor`s mansion or the president`s White House," it said.
Gawker, an American blog that promotes itself as "the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip", had a different take on the exercise:
"Buzzfeed and Bobby Jindal Try to Out-Whore One Another"
"This is image-laundering. It is not good comedy, and it is definitely not journalism," it said.
"It is Buzzfeed tacitly agreeing to make a goofy, feel-good video about a revolting presidential candidate to help improve his image."
"It is not funny. If you just contemplate Bobby Jindal`s actual policy positions while watching it, it is truly painful. Buzzfeed seems to have whored itself out rather cheaply in this case," added Gawker.