Dancing with DeLay?

[Grace]

The next session of Dancing With The Stars begins September 21st. They're going to have 16 contestants this time.

One of them will be Tom DeLay, former Majority Leader in the House of Representatives

[RICHARD]

I thought the programs were live.

[Grace]

I thought the programs were live.

They are.

[RICHARD]

They are.

So why the DeLay?

[Karen]

Now, now - we know there's always a 7-second delay on even "live" shows or some such thing, so adding a Tom DeLay ain't gonna change much!

[Grace]

So why the DeLay?

Richard - you get worse with each passing day

[RICHARD]

Is Seven Second Delay related?

I have to apologize, I can NEVER pass up a good joke like that!

[Grace]

Is Seven Second Delay related?

No doubt cousins once or twice removed

[RICHARD]

No doubt cousins once or twice removed

Oh, encourage me...why doncha?

[Grace]

Oh, encourage me...why doncha?

Encouragement - well there are kissing cousins and spitting cousins, and then there are the sort known as SMIBs. Those are only found in states beginning with the letter M.


I did look for some images to define kissing and spitting, but this is a family message board

[RICHARD]

Encouragement - well there are kissing cousins and spitting cousins, and then there are the sort known as SMIBs. Those are only found in states beginning with the letter M.


I did look for some images to define kissing and spitting, but this is a family message board

As the thread spins off in all directions!

Back on point?


I saw some people I would want to see.....I may tune in!


Wait.

Is this the program where the woman judge screams all the time?

[Grace]

Is this the program where the woman judge screams all the time?

This one - I don't recall that Carrie Ann screams all the time . . .

[RICHARD]

This one - I don't recall that Carrie Ann screams all the time . . .

No, not her, I can watch.

[Scooter's Mom]

You're thinking of So You Think You Can Dance, where the lady judge screams a lot.

[Grace]

Gail Collins does a couple of opinion pieces each week for the NY times.
This is her latest - love the wry humor.

August 20, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Shall We Dance?
By GAIL COLLINS

Although this has certainly been a tough August on many counts, it is important to remember the little moments of pure joy. One of which was hearing the news that Tom DeLay is going to be a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars.”

I know. It takes very little to make some people happy.

Reality TV plus politics — this could be the start of something big. Right now in Congress we have six senators who are supposed to be coming up with a health care plan, and all we’ve got is conference calls and gridlock. What if we locked them in a house together and made them compete every day for valuable prizes? Don’t miss the final episode, where the winner gets to decide whether or not there’s a public option.

DeLay’s entry into the world of competitive TV dancing is also the answer to two critical problems facing the American economy. One is a serious celebrity shortage. This is something I really didn’t see coming. But the proliferation of low-cost reality shows on television has drained the nation’s hitherto-robust supply of slightly famous people to the point that last year’s “Celebrity Apprentice” featured a woman whose claim to fame was opening briefcases on “Deal or No Deal.”

It’s understandable that the producers of, say, “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew” might have to make certain compromises in their quest to find people who are willing to go on camera during cocaine withdrawal. But under normal circumstances, when I hear the word “celebrity” on television, I am expecting to see at minimum the co-star of a canceled situation comedy or a lesser Baldwin brother.

Yet on the new lineup for “Dancing With the Stars,” the alleged stars include a professional snowboarder and the son of George Hamilton. Entertainment industry, you can do better. Eliot Spitzer seems to have time on his hands, and I’m sure Mark Sanford will be available soon.

Then we’ll be ready for “The Boys of Prayer House,” in which the philandering congressmen who used to hold Bible study classes in that C Street row house hold a reunion, and vie to see who can achieve spiritual rebirth while hanging from a pole in a backyard endurance test.

Turn enough disgraced politicians into reality show contestants and you also solve the looming crisis over what to do with the nation’s large supply of repudiated elected officials. This is a serious matter. Within the next year I’ll bet you that in New York alone, we will have enough state senators under indictment to fill a small stadium, and none of them have any marketable job skills whatsoever. As I see it, it’s going to be “Wipeout” or food stamps.

DeLay, you may remember, had to quit his job as majority leader when he was charged with conspiring to violate campaign finance laws. He does not seem interested in returning to his former career as a bug exterminator, and he refers to himself as “president of a strategic political consulting firm,” a Washington synonym for semi-employed.

But I understand he is a really nifty dancer.

DeLay first entered the “Dancing With the Stars” culture back in 2006, when he urged fans to wipe out the evil that was a fox-trotting Jerry Springer and vote for the country singer Sara Evans as a representative of “good American values.” This was shortly before Evans quit the show in order to devote more time to her new divorce suit against her husband, a former Republican Congressional candidate who she claimed cheated on her, drank excessively and watched porn in the family home.

Evans has since found happiness with a former University of Alabama quarterback. But this does bring us to an important tip: When citing someone as a potential role model, always keep your commendations narrow:

“Sara Evans’s last album is an example of good American values.”

“John Edwards’s comment about poverty on Dec. 10, 2005, is an example of good American values.”

“Rod Blagojevich’s hair is an example of good American barbering.”

We are bringing up the former governor of Illinois because of his pioneering role in the melding of disgraced politicians and reality television. Unfortunately, Blagojevich’s attempt to compete on “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” was quashed by an unsympathetic judge who apparently did not appreciate the fact that the man was only a half-step away from making a living as an Elvis impersonator.

And now, Tom DeLay, an excellent example of good American waltzing.

“Headed to the studio for my first rehearsal and to meet my partner. Hope it’s not Nancy Pelosi ,” DeLay twittered with the wry sense of humor we have come to know and love. The new site had only 1,489 followers as of Wednesday. It hasn’t been up long, but he had better get cracking. One of his competitors, the recycled reality show star Kelly Osbourne, has more than 110,000.

He needs to step up his game. A lot is riding on this. Sarah Palin is so, so ready for TLC.