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Opinion: Tom DeLay withdrawing from ‘Dancing With the Stars’

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It looks like Tom DeLay’s time on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ is coming to an end. People magazine is reporting that the former Texas congressman is bowing out of the dance competition because of foot injuries.

Despite stress fractures on both feet and a doctor’s order to stay on the sidelines, DeLay took to the dance floor Monday night on the ABC program. He’s not as young as some competitors, and certainly not as lithe. But he survived some elimination rounds, although he did falter a bit in last week’s tango portion, when it looked like he was going to drop his partner, Cheryl Burke.

On Monday night, the big question — at least, we presume, among dancing Texas Republicans — was whether DeLay would strut his stuff. “What’s a little pain when you can party?” he said.

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And so he danced. Though clearly trying to be careful, he appeared to be having a good time dancing to a jaunty rendition of “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” — a rather bipartisan-themed selection for a man whose hardball tactics earned him the nickname “The Hammer.” He and Burke were dressed in costumes suggesting Old Glory — she in blue with white stars, he in red and white stripes with the GOP elephant emblazoned on the back of his shirt.

Alas, we don’t have a separate video of Monday night’s performance, but follow this link to ABC’s website for all sort of photos and trivia on the show, or watch the video above of DeLay’s dancing debut.

On Monday, he showed that he can play through the pain, and the judges admired his spunk. His time on the show also produced two memorable quotes. The first from DeLay: “One thing I wasn’t prepared for in learning to dance was getting in touch with my feminine side.”

The other came on an earlier episode when Adam Carolla gave the men a pep talk right before showtime. To DeLay he said: “I know what you’re thinking. You don’t have to practice as hard as everyone else. You don’t have to work as hard as everyone else because you’re a white, middle-aged Republican, and dancing comes naturally to you people!”

-- Steve Padilla

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