Opinion | Calhoun: Wake-up Call

Wake-Up Call: On your toes, Tom

Owing to an aunt who taught ballroom dancing classes, I know more than I should about that world. And even so, I was amazed -- slack-jawed, even -- when Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader whose tactics earned him the nickname "The Hammer," showed up as a contestant on...
By Patricia CalhounSeptember 24, 2009
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Owing to an aunt who taught ballroom dancing classes, I know more than I should about that world. And even so, I was amazed — slack-jawed, even — when Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader whose tactics earned him the nickname “The Hammer,” showed up as a contestant on the latest incarnation of Dancing With the Stars.

And then survived the first round of eliminations last night.

Sure, DeLay displayed plenty of fancy footwork while in Congress, but his latest gig proves that there are not just second, but third acts (some of them in sequins) in political life.

Is this a great country, or what?

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Patricia Calhoun is editor emeritus of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She was editor-in-chief from 1977-2026. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame (probably for her bar tab). She’s received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists, and is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS12’s public affairs roundtable.

patricia.calhoun@westword.com

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