What's that sulfurous smell emanating from ABC-TV these days?
It's not that network's usual crappy new fall prime-time lineup, although it's pretty stinky.
No, it's Toxic Tom DeLay, aka The Exterminator, the unctuous little weasel now making a fool of himself (again) on ABC's dismal enterprise called "Dancing With The Stars." The very same well-tailored humanoid who was directly responsible for some of the most acrimonious and bitterly partisan sessions of Congress.
The same fancy dancer who was responsible for Bill Clinton's ridiculous, time-wasting impeachment, and whose reapportionment schemes gave us the likes of Goat Boy Gohmert, aka Texas Congressman Louis Gohmert, pointy-headed co-leader (along with Rep. Michelle Bachman, of course) of the Tin Foil Hat Brigade in the House. As one commentator put it this week:
"DeLay is responsible for some of the greatest miseries of our time, from the Patriot Act to the non-response to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina."
Thanks to the ethically challenged ABC programming geniuses who decided to let this grinning eel put on his fancy dancin' clothes and soften his image for the good folks on the jury at his upcoming felony trial.
What, were Gov. Mark Sanford, jailed Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, and Dennis "Jabba The Speaker" Hastert unavailable for this year's festive dance-a-thon?
The New York Times' Maureen Dowd may well have summed up the bio ABC scanned before selecting DeLay:
"The former exterminator drove the loony Clinton impeachment, pushed the nutty Terri Schiavo legislation, gutted the House ethics committee, engaged in gerrymandering schemes, enhanced the pay-to-play political culture and made the Republican Party so sulfurously partisan, ethically suspect and God-centric that voters recoiled."
I remember an interview former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal gave to NPR's San Francisco affiliate KQED-FM, in which Blumenthal put a very fine point on DeLay's thuggish tactics, and how The Hammer threatened even fellow Republicans on such things as the notorious, sleazy 3 a.m. vote to ram through the laughable prescription-drug bill.
"I had Republicans call me who were scared of the guy. They'd never been threatened by anyone before," said Blumenthal about ABC's latest dancin' fool.
So, has network TV reached the bottom of the barrel? Or is the barrel just getting deeper?
As offensive as putting smarmy legislative thug DeLay in a dance costume and asking him to smile for potential jurors may be, consider this:
Prince Rupert Murdoch's Fox Network once gave Pauly Shore his own series.
I thought that was the bottom of the barrel.
Now I'm not so sure.
Follow Bill Mann on Twitter: www.twitter.com/newsmann
Chip Berlet: Roots of Right-Wing Populist Rage -- the Christian Right
Many of the ideas in the Political Right ignore about 50 years of social science -- but not in their book. Or on the TV they watch. Or the radio they listen to. Or the magazines they read.
Fred Karger: Fighting For Civil Rights Has Consequences
In the past year, I've led a series of boycotts against CEOs and business owners who fund campaigns to ban same-sex marriage across the country.
Tom Gerdy: Dear Rush, Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
I am not terribly prolific, Rush, and by my own admission only occasionally do I touch on the slightly profound. However, I still feel like I am one of those Deranged Pseudo Columnists you referred to.
Tom DeLay Injured While Rehearsing for 'Dancing With The Stars ...
Moraes on TV - DeLay Doesn't Do It for "Dancing" Ratings
Moraes on TV - Tom DeLay to Save "Dancing with Stars" From Old ...
What wusses! We can't even send a complaint to the network.
I'll try to find the DWTS sponsors are.
I am boycotting DWTS (dancing with the has beens) because Tom Delay is on it. He has done more damage to Texas than three other men could do!
He is a crook.....
I was absolutely shocked when I saw that he was going to beon the show. I think that Disney/ABC are desperately going for some political gold here. How about it?
Do you want to be the guys out there on any of the crab boats in Alaska's crab fishery in the middle of the winter? You want to be the person out there in -30 degree weather having to chop ice off the boat to keep it from capsizing? When you have the real US Coast Guard looking for real lost crab boats and their crews, there is no doubt about how real their life and death situations really are.
I could give a good God d@m about what happens to dancers, "real world contestants" or survivors. They are only after their 15 minutes or trying to prolong the 15 that expired years ago. Egomaniacs like Thomasina have absolutely no attraction for me and none of that garbage is ever allowed in my house.
History Channel, Discovery, Animal Planet rule the airwaves here.