Chaz Bono eliminated from “Dancing With the Stars”

View Photo Gallery —  A look at the performances from “Dancing With the Stars.”

Chaz Bono became the sixth celebrity eliminated from ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” last night after he and partner Lacey Schwimmer received low marks for their tango performance. The couple received 19 points out of 30, coming in last behind Hope Solo and Maks Chmerkovskiy who scored 20 points.
Bono and Schwimmer did not seem surprised about the elimination, observed Emily Yahr of the TV Column:

Not looking too shocked, Chaz and Lacey talk with Tom and Brooke. “I came on this show because I wanted to show America a different kind of man,” Chaz says. “I know that if there was somebody like me on TV when I was growing up, my whole life would have been different.”
 
Although Bono said he was not bitter towards the show, he expressed his anger about harsh remarks by the judges.

Chaz gets angry backstage and managed to get bleeped, while being furious that the judges compared him to a cuddly penguin after already comparing to him to an ewok. “Bruno [bleep] makes comments every week ... like I’m some fat troll dancing with this beautiful woman every week, and I’m sick of it,” Chaz fumes.
 
Bono wasn’t the only one upset by the critiques. The Associate Press reported that Schwimmer cried backstage during Monday’s episode.

“Every week he gets referred to as an animal,” she said. “They always comment on his personality, and last I checked, this was a dancing show.”
 
Cher was likewise unhappy about the comments, according to her tweets, compiled by Sarah Anne Hughes of Celebritology:


“Is it ‘DWTS’ or looking perfect ‘WTS?’ It’s easy for him to take cheap shots at Chaz! Let him come to ‘my’ stage,’” Cher tweeted. “I could teach his little arm waving [butt] some manners! Critique Chaz’s dance style, movements, etc. But don’t make fun of my child on national TV.” 
 
Maks Chmerkovskiy also stirred up some controversey after exchanging some harsh words with judge Len Goodman.

Finally, some “Dancing With the Stars” controversy. It’s been a relatively quiet season, but the blogosphere lit up Tuesdayafter Maks and Len exchanged harsh words Monday night. Len said Maks and Hope’s dance was the worst of the season; Maks said Len should get out of the dance industry. Oh, and Maks added that “this is my show,” which surely went over great with his fellow pro dancers, said Yahr.
 
Chmerkovskiy and partner Hope Solo hung on for the week. Solo and five others remain in the competition: actors David Arquette and J.R. Martinez, reality TV personality Rob Kardashian, and TV hosts Ricki Lake and Nancy Grace.

Read more about “Dancing With the Stars”:
TV Column: Chaz Bono eliminated from ‘Dancing With the Stars’
Celebritology: Cher unhappy with Chaz Bono ‘DWTS’ critique
Time and luck run out for Chaz Bono, a plucky contender on ‘Dancing with the Stars’
Last night: ‘Dancing With the Stars’: Everyone loves Broadway Week
Last week: ‘Dancing With the Stars’: Time for ’80s night
Last week results: ‘Dancing With the Stars’: So long, Carson Kressley
Full coverage: ‘Dancing with the Stars’

Newt Gingrich announces his presidential announcement

Newt Gingrich is going to formally announce his candidacy for president on Wednesday via Facebook and Twitter, according to an apparently informal announcement he made today via professional journalists. (And a Facebook post announcing his future announcement.) Announcing things is so complicated, these days.

After his official announcement, which has already been announced, the former House speaker will give an interview to Fox's Sean Hannity. And on Friday he will give a speech, at the Georgia Republican Party Convention. Then he will be an official candidate for president, instead of just a guy who is on TV all the time, kinda-sorta running for maybe-president.

Gingrich also already announced that he was maybe eventually going to announce something back in March. (Everyone briefly thought this was going to be a proper announcement, at the time, but it was not.)

Announcing your official candidacy on social media is a great way to help your grass-roots supporters feel personally involved in your campaign, unless of course it is just a half-assed, perfunctory social media "announcement" preceded by leaks to the press and followed by a major appearance on national television. Then you are simply making a transparent bid for media attention.

Now various people in the press will treat Gingrich like a "serious," "proper" candidate, even though he has about as much of a chance of actually winning the nomination -- let alone the presidency -- as Gary Johnson, who is an "unserious" candidate. (Because, like Ron Paul, he loves heroin.)

Newt Gingrich Announces Presidential Run on Facebook & Twitter

Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich has announced that he will be seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. president in 2012. Gingrich’s plans were made public via Facebook and Twitter Monday, where he also asked supporters to tune into his Fox News interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday night.

Gingrich made his announcement on the aforementioned social networks late Monday morning, with both his tweet and Facebook post going out at about the same time. “I have been humbled by all the encouragement you have given me to run. Thank you for your support,” Gingrich’s Facebook post says, before asking the public to watch Hannity at 9 p.m. Wednesday. “I will be on to talk about my run for President of the United States.”

As the Associated Press reports, Gingrich’s bid isn’t much of a surprise. The former speaker spent months raising money and assembling a campaign team, while quietly opening campaign headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. He’s supposed to address the Georgia Republican Party Convention on Friday in Macon, Georgia — aides are saying this will be his first speech as a candidate.

Gingrich’s decision to enter the race marks a bit of a comeback for the politician, who became House speaker in 1994 — the first time Republicans had control of the House since 1954. But in November 1998, after facing ethics inquiries, Gingrich announced his decision to step down and leave Congress. Since that time, he has continued speaking about topics such as healthcare and foreign policy, while also producing documentaries and writing a book: Rediscovering God in America.

The former speaker isn’t the only political candidate to announce his run via social media. Last month, Mitt Romney — former Massachusetts governor — announced his 2012 presidential bid via a YouTube video. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty also announced his bid via Facebook in March. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama’s team is also pushing his reelection campaign via various digital initiatives.