Guardian UK: Dancing with DeLay

[marmar]

Dancing with DeLay
By appearing on Dancing with the Stars, disgraced Republican leader Tom DeLay gets another shot at fame – or infamy

Amanda Terkel
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 August 2009


Monday was a great day for Tom DeLay. For the past few years, the former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives has been dancing in the dark – around ethics investigations and charges of money laundering. But on Monday, ABC announced that DeLay will be dancing for real this fall – as a contestant on its popular TV show Dancing with the Stars.

There's no doubt that DeLay is excited about this resurgence in attention. His website, TomDeLay.com, was quickly updated yesterday to read: "Dancing with DeLay: Tom DeLay Joins DWTS Cast." Visitors are now encouraged to "follow his moves" by signing up for e-mail updates. DeLay also activated his Twitter account, writing: "This is going to be so much fun. I will need your support." He later observed that he will be the oldest Dancing contestant by 11 years and began making electoral calculations, joking: "Have to go after that #AARP vote."

DeLay even snagged a spot on ABC's Good Morning America today, where he bragged about translating his political skills to the dance floor. "Well … some people say I was the best Whip to ever serve in the House of Representatives, and I'd be a fool not to use that skill in this," he said. "I'm going to go out to the American people, show them that I can dance, and hopefully they'll vote for me. … I'm in it to win it. You bet."

....(snip)....

So will The Hammer break his way into Americans' hearts? Or will he flop like Tucker? One thing is sure: The other contestants might want to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't redistrict the audience to secure votes.

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/aug/18/tom-delay-dancing-with-the-stars

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. I won't watch

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to cross this show off my list. I'd become something of a fan of DWTS, but that's over now. I'll be sending a letter to ABC telling them I am no longer a viewer of the show, and I urge everyone else to do the same thing.

[santamargarita]

2. I don't even know what that is...

I never watched Laurence Welk either.

[a kennedy]

3. I love Dancing with the Stars.....but with "him"........I'm gonna pass.

I'll just read who got booted off and then watch when he's gone..... :puke: :puke: :puke: and you did read this didn't ya???

..........“That’s just five hours a day that I dance,” he told The Daily Beast Tuesday morning from Houston, Texas, as he drove to his first training session. “I’ve got another 19 hours to stop Obama.”


This guy should be in jail shouldn't he???


read it all here:

The new Dancing With the Stars contestant tells The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove why he’s more afraid of Obamacare than the dance floor.

Right-wing activist Tom DeLay—who was known as The Hammer during his reign as House Republican whip and then majority leader—has no intention of letting up on President Barack Obama just because he’s a contestant on Dancing With the Stars.

“That’s just five hours a day that I dance,” he told The Daily Beast Tuesday morning from Houston, Texas, as he drove to his first training session. “I’ve got another 19 hours to stop Obama.”

The 62-year-old DeLay—who three years ago was forced out of office amid the Jack Abramoff scandal after a Texas grand jury indicted him for alleged campaign-law violations—claimed to be “in pretty good shape,” but he hasn’t consulted a physician to confirm his dance-worthiness.

“I’d really have liked to—but Obamacare prohibits it!”

Since leaving office, DeLay has fleshed out a career as a professional conservative—he founded a political consulting company, First Principles LLC—and is a frequent cable talking head inveighing against the evils of Democrats in general and Obama in particular. He has long been fighting liberals, whom he usually likens to communists, as a leader of the embattled movement of cultural conservatives who oppose abortion rights and gay marriage but support the inclusion of religion in politics, arguing that the United States is essentially a Judeo-Christian nation.

full article: <http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-18/tom-delay-on-dancing-killing-bugs-and-stopping-obama/>