Following up on Monica's and Adam's posts below about the crazy right-wing reaction to the fact that Rima Fakih, a Muslim-American from Michigan, won the Miss USA contest, I have a question: Why are beauty pageant contestants asked for their opinions about hot-button political issues? Apart from giving right-wing bloggers justification for railing about the liberal bias of the pageant cabal, which gives the rest of us the ability to make fun of them, that is?
Yes, the beauty pageant should have disappeared with the poodle skirt. But as long as we have them, why is it that someone thinks it's important for a beauty queen to be able to speak intelligently about controversial political issues? Gee, Miss Nebraska looks really sparkly in that ballgown, but on the other hand, Miss New Hampshire seemed to have a better grasp of the implications of treating hedge fund managers' income as capital gains for tax purposes. Goodness knows I love politics, but there are some places you could probably do without it.
-- Paul Waldman
