Miss Calif: Gay marriage answer cost me Miss USA crown

[underpants]

Source: Newsday


Miss California says candor cost her the crown in Sunday's Miss USA competition.

"In my country, and in my family, I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman," Prejean replied. Later, she lost to Miss North Carolina.

"It did cost me my crown," Prejean said of her response, on Monday's "Billy Bush Show." "I wouldn't have had it any other way. I said what I feel. I stated an opinion that was true to myself and that's all I can do."

"That's not the kind of woman I want to be Miss USA," he (Perez Hilton)said. "Miss USA should represent all Americans and, with her answer, she instantly alienated millions of gays and lesbians and their friends."

Earlier, Hilton had said on his video blog he would have run onstage and ripped the tiara off Prejean's head had she won the title.

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/iphone/ny-etmiss2112675670apr20,0,7238621.story

---

Blogger Perez Hilton pans Miss California's gay marriage answer
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/ny-ethilt2012674458apr19,0,3248080.story


" Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?" he asked.

Prejean, 21, of San Diego, answered that she thought it was great that she lived in a country where a person can choose one or the other, but that in her family, she was raised to believe marriage was between a man and a woman.

[bluestateguy]

1. Her answer was gibberish that made no sense

She can have whatever view she wants on the issue, but she did not express that view in manner befitting a pageant winner.

[rocktivity]

10. DING DING DING! Bluestateguy, you're our grand prize winner!

Her answer was gibberish...She can have whatever view she wants...but she did not express that view in manner befitting a pageant winner.

She didn't express her view in a manner befitting anyone with a minimum of two functioning brain cells!

x(
rocktivity

[The_Commonist]

18. Watch it here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XMvviFbkf0&feature=related

[sarah FAILIN]

28. I agree

Her answer wasn't clear at all and that was a big part of her problem.
She could have answered the question without offending or alienating anyone and if she did it right, she could have come out with the same basic position.

Personally, I feel like the state should issue any sort of couple a certificate (marriage contract? but the same for everyone ) and allow individual churches to decide if they will perform the service or not. States shouldn't be regulating who can be a family or what churches can choose to do.

[closeupready]

81. That is correct. She is the stereotypical dumb blonde incarnate.

not a winner.

[Javaman]

84. see looks like governor material!!! LOL nt

[JerseygirlCT]

110. I don't know why it always astounds me anew

just how incredibly vapid these contestants are. There's absolutely nothing but lip gloss between their ears.

[AnnieBW]

2. No, stupidity lost it for you

WTF is an "opposite" marriage, anyway?

[PatrynXX]

27. Requires thought. Definately not a spokesperson for straights.

But then again they are choosing Guilliani the cross dresser

[percussivemadness]

45. By using the word "opposite" she demonstrated a deep rooted hatred of the GLBT community

by not being able to "utter" the word "gay"

[PassingFair]

63. She meant male and female when she said "opposite"...

in an attempt to find a word to counter
"same" sex.

She was nervous, stupid, and obviously
lacked critical thinking skills.

But she didn't call gays "opposites".

On Edit:

Here's the quote...

"We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage," said Ms Prejean, in a section of the show that has become a popular clip on YouTube.

"I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman," she continued.

"No offence to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."

[percussivemadness]

87. I stand corrected :)

ty

[TankLV]

95. In effect she's FOR Gay Marriage...!!!

because currently Marriage is for Straight people only, so "opposite" marriage would be GAY MARRIAGE!!!

words DO matter - except when your brain dead, aparently...

[LiberalFighter]

104. Magnetic? Where the female and male repel each other because of reverse polarity?

[LeFleur1]

130. Opposite Marriage Is When....

...one of the bridal couple stands on his/her hands and one of the couple stands on his/her feet.

[Merlot]

3. Sore looser! These people always cry about how their persecuted!

Ya, right, if she would have just given a better answer she would have won.

Keep dreaming, Miss CA. You lost, and it's because you're a looser, not because the judges had a bias toward gay people.

[TroglodyteScholar]

116. Sore loser...how they're persecuted...

</grammar nazi>

[Stephanie]

4. It was never YOUR crown, Ms. Prejean

Get over yourself. It was bigotry, not candor, that made you ugly.

[tomm2thumbs]

5. actually, it was her big chance to profess her view and sway others - and she FAILED

'because I was raised that way' - well that's a thinker

[underpants]

14. Exactly

she is an adult now and she has unquestioningly accepted everything she was "raised" to believe??

I wonder if she goes to bed early on Christmas eve so as not to like...such as.... see the giant elf coming down the chimney

[robinlynne]

25. When I was 5, I wanted to check that stuff out. the Santa stuff. So I hid

and stayed up at night to see if the easter bunny was coming into the livingroom. He did. I turned on the light. There was my father, standing naked, holding the easter basket. It killed the easter bunny forever!

[TheCentepedeShoes]

117. If it were my dad

he would have had his clothes on but would have had a bottle, having left the Easter basket at the bar...being Sat night and all.

[Mari333]

6. hah! if it did,tough shit.nt

[OffWithTheirHeads]

7. Oh gosh, tough shit. Your bigotry cost you the crown

in the Miss Photoshop contest. I'm appalled!...not!

[tomm2thumbs]

8. She's officially been named 'Miss Fox News 2009' now - let's enjoy that

They needed something to chase down that tea party

[underpants]

11. Somebody on Fox&Friends is getting preeeetty nervous

the woman was Miss America at one point

[Doremus]

78. Heh. Gretchen Carlson is madly dying her gray roots as we speak.

[Arkana]

9. No it didn't.

She showed herself to be a horrible, bigoted, intolerant harpy--should someone like that really be Miss USA?

[Psephos]

51. Actually, Perez Hilton said it did on his MSNBC interview

Hilton actually said she was the likely winner until his question.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klT0aSRTuDQ

I don't agree with her answer, and am a full supporter of civil marriage between same-sex partners...but I also don't agree with the idea that a truthful answer to a divisive political question should cause her to forfeit the contest.

Diversity of political opinion is a fundamental marker of intellectual and individual freedom. More than half of the US populace does not support same-sex marriage; her politics can hardly be considered fringe.

I hope there are others on this board who share my belief that promotion of diversity and tolerance extend even to those who don't share all our political convictions. IMO, that's a fundamental principle of the liberal mindset.

[No Elephants]

68. On the TODAY show, Perez Hilton said that her answer showed lack of preparation as

to a question that Ms. California, all contestants, should have been prepared to answer. He did NOT say that it cost her the contest because of the position she took. Don't know what he said on MSNBC, though,

"Opposite marriage?" "No offense to anyone out there?" Not for my country or my family? This is how someone who is smart enough to prepare for this question handles it? Come on.

There's a huge difference between saying her answer cost her the pageant because it was not up to "pageant standard" and saying her answer was brilliantly and diplomatically given, but it cost her the pageant because she did not agree with Perez Hilton on a controversial issue.

[Psephos]

88. perhaps if you follow the link in my post, you could hear it for yourself

Hilton flat out says her answer cost her the pageant. Clearly, if she had taken the opposite view, she would have gotten his vote. I haven't heard of Hilton before, but the guy makes my skin creep.

Monoculture should be avoided in politics as well as in farming, and for the same reasons. Miss California's views are not mine, but no one can say they aren't mainstream - they may even be majority, if you believe the polls. That doesn't make them right or wrong, but she's not a fringe whacko, either. Provided that she expressed herself respectfully, stating her personal beliefs about marriage should not cost her the pageant. That is ideological suppression, no matter how you want to dress it up, and it's just as ugly when we do it as when our political opponents do it.

I'm not defending what she believes, which I disagree with. I am defending the need for more than one point of view, open discussion, and no fear that expressing a political belief will cost one a contest or a career. I thought we finished with that back in the 1950s.

I like to think we actually practice what we preach when it comes to diversity of thought and tolerance of dissent. It's one of the main reasons my politics are liberal.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

91. I support the judges' dissent. Their dissent from having a bigot as the winner.

See? Isn't that all tolerant and stuff?

[Psephos]

99. To answer your question...

No. It is the opposite.

This shit reminds me of the mindset behind Bush DOJ attorney hirings and firings, and the Plame matter. Didn't like it then, don't like it now.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

105. Funny you should mention the 1950s.

Would your "tolerance' be extended to her if she was against interracial marriage?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

108. People like you crack me up.....

You have to do some serious twisting and turning of your logic to equate ANY hirings or firings (not to mention public sector DOJ jobs) with a fucking POPULARITY CONTEST.

She lost. Get over it. No one is coming to anyone's church to make them get gay married. Her bigotry just made her THAT much less popular with the judges - it's 2009 - less and less people will put up with that bullshit.....


....and hopefully someday, maybe someday soon, you will reflect on your "tolerance" of out and out bigotry.

Yeah, yeah, I get it - you don't "share her opinion" so maybe you will feel a little self satisfied in that you weren't protesting funerals or donating to Prop 8 .... but your "tolerance" for bigotry isn't much help either.

[Psephos]

121. Bill of Rights says nothing about speech needing Hassin's approval before it deserves tolerance

Typical bullshit. Yada yada yada free speech and liberty...until it involves something you don't like. Then it's time for an authoritarian defenestration of tolerance, and personal insults against anyone who raises a glass to the Bill of Rights.

Slap paint all over that blondie with the bigot brush - it makes you look soooooooooo righteous. Why, it even completely justifies your smugness and your habit of pretending I said something I didn't. You think tolerance = approval. It doesn't. I don't approve of her view. But for a civil person expressing an opinion, I am willing to grit my teeth and tolerate.

I got a laugh froom your business naivete thinking the MUSA pageant is a "fucking popularity contest." And I suppose you think Tiger Woods chases a silly plastic ball around a lawn. Tip of the Day: these are businesses.

Meanwhile, with regard to yourself, you might want to remember the first test of bigotry: no bigot thinks s/he is a bigot. Just like the alcoholic who thinks they don't have a drinking problem.

By the way, what do you think about both Obama and Biden both saying during the campaign they are against gay marriage? What do you think of Hilton calling Prejean both a bitch and a cunt? No problem with that? You think Hilton advanced the general agenda of gay groups toward greater tolerance in our culture?

You gonna blow these questions off?

I would be encouraged to find others on DU supporting the most liberal idea of them all: that we each have a right to civilly express our opinion without fear of financial or political backlash.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

128. LOL .. bill of rights = a bigot should win the beauty contest

Twist and turn.

You are a classic!

Stay classy!!!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

129. LOL (2)

I don't know if you have ever WATCHED golf being played but it involves people competing against each other in a game that requires the players to knock a little ball around a course and sink it in less tries than the other players. It's what we call a game of "skill" that has clearly defined winners based on a clearly defined "score."


A beauty contest, on the other hand, requires the contestants to prance in front of a group of "judges" who "judge" them on how warm and fuzzy the contestant makes them "feel" ..... the contestant who is more "popular" with the "judges" wins. See how that works?

The dingbat's answer made her a little LESS "popular" with the judges.

Breath easy. Commie muslin fascism socialism isn't coming to the USA with this .... excuse me while I laugh ... slight to the bill of rights.

[Name removed]

109. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Peace_Sells]

12. not your crown

It wasn't your crown and it should NEVER be your crown because you are a bigot and do not deserve the title of miss usa.

[underpants]

15. I really like...such as.. like want to quote Perez Hilton but....

She lost, not because she doesn't believe in gay marriage. Miss California lost because she's a dumb --, OK?"
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/ny-ethilt2012674458apr19,0,3248080.story

[countmyvote4real]

13. ugly is as ugly does n/t

[nolabear]

16. OOOOOOooohhh, Like Opposite Day!

So, like, an opposite marriage is like the opposite of marriage, so, like, if marriage is a man and a woman then an opposite marriage is the opposite of that...no, wait...

Such as...

[Trocadero]

17. Well, Rush LImbaugh is looking for wife #4...

[burning rain]

22. Brrrrrr, what a thought!

*

[Tangerine LaBamba]

19. She's 21?

Bullshit.

She's at least 44 years old, with a bad facelift, and I, for one, will be greatly relieved - and able to take off these sunglasses - when this teeth-whitening craze bubbles out.

No 21-year-old female looks like that.

Uh-uh.

No way.

Nope.

Sorry.

No..........................

[freemarketer6]

122. LOL. I was thinking the same thing. There is something not

exactly real about her.

[burning rain]

20. Her bigoted, smug, and dopey answer doesn't go over well,.....

and she complains. Ugh!

[Stellabella]

21. Go Perez Hilton!

No more bigots in prominent positions, please. Well, if Miss USA is a prominent position.

[EFerrari]

23. Good!

[Catch22Dem]

24. New from Mattel - Martyr Barbie

Seriously. Isn't she just a sweet little pre-packaged, corporate, conservative values martyr. Give me a fucking break! That was planned from the word go.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

101. ...

:spray:

[JI7]

26. she is a fucking idiot and a bigot

[kiva]

29. A question for the uninformed--

were all of the finalists/contestants asked about same-sex marriage? If so, how did others respond?

[underpants]

32. No it was a one-time question from Perez Hilton to her

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XMvviFbkf0&feature=related

[kiva]

39. Thanks...guess I was hoping that her answer was being

criticized because the other contestants supported it *sigh*.

[ornotna]

34. If it's for the uninformed

would they have the answer? :shrug:

[kiva]

38. I noticed that after I posted...

hoped no one would notice. :blush:

[No Elephants]

69. He asked her because, as Ms. California, a state that just voted on Prop 8, he thought she

would have been smart enough to have anticipated the question and prepared an answer. That fact that she was not smart enough to be prepared OR smart enough to have given a smooth answer off the top of her head cost her, not the position that she took.

[IndianaGreen]

30. Isn't it about time we ditch the sexist and idiotic beauty pageants?

What saith you, DU?

[moggie]

56. I see no need for them

I suppose if consenting adults want to take part in "beauty" pageants, there's no reason to stop them, but there's equally no reason for the rest of us to take any notice. In the 21st century, why is this shit still given wide publicity and taken seriously?

[JI7]

59. i'm not sure they are, haven't ratings gone down in recent years ?

and when they make news it's mostly because some contestant did or said something like the south carolina "maps" response and this one about same sex marriage. and the ones who did something like pose naked.

and now that i think about it , why is posing naked worse than being bigoted ? you can get your crown taken away or disqualifed for posing naked, being pregnant etc. but being a bigot is ok.

[llmart]

119. Agreed....

Can we do away with these idiotic beauty pagents already?

[MissMillie]

103. that works for me

:thumbsup:

[ACTION BASTARD]

115. No. I enjoy watching wave after wave of beautiful women in bikinis and high heels on tv.

Call me crazy, but I just like those kinds of things.

[flvegan]

Choose? She's too stupid to spell Miss USA, nevermind wear the crown.

Bigot. Fuck her.

[Baileyco]

31. GOOD

Finally, consequences for hate and intolerance 

[underpants]

33. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Baileyco]

37. Thank you

God to be here.

[rocktivity]

64. God is to be here? Did he say when?

Welcome to DU!

:hi:
rocktivity

[caraher]

35. She can't complain

She now gets a far-longer 15 minutes of fame because she will be lauded as a martyr by the RW culture warriors. If she'd actually won, she'd have been forgotten entirely already as the winner of an anachronistic, meaningless contest.

Quick, name any of the past 5 "Miss USA" winners... I know I can't!

[MadMaddie]

48. Well Vanessa Williams won but they took her crown...but

wait she went on to be a bigger star than any of the other Miss USA's...funny I can't recall any of their names....

[JI7]

36. the same answer could be given by those opposing interracial marriage

[Blackhatjack]

40. I guess it never occurred to her that Miss NC just beat her fair and square...

I am always amazed by losers who assume that in something as subjective as choosing a winner here that they somehow were entitled to win because they obviously were so much better than the competition.

Miss NC will make a fine Miss USA.

Miss Calif should apologize to Miss NC. Were the tables turned, I am sure Miss Calif would not appreciate those comments made about her by a runnerup.

[TankLV]

97. Kinda sums up the whole repuke party,doesn't it!!!

[pattmarty]

41. No, I saw "your" response and it was definitely the stupidity.

[Iliyah]

42. she will be

on Fake News!

[pattmarty]

62. Yeah, that's a given. As the martyr that should have won but................

.........for the "gay backlash".:sarcasm:

[EvtheBev]

43. Soon to be an 'analyst' on Fox News ...

.. you know the faux blonde with the plunging neckline. Ugliness is sometimes more than skin deep.

[meowomon]

44. Too Bad, so Sad.

How does it feel to be discriminated against little miss Blue eyed perfect blonde straight woman? Not so good, huh? That's how I feel when I can't marry my "not wife" of over 15 years!

[No Elephants]

74. I'm so sorry that you cannot do that.

[Catshrink]

46. Watch her team up with Palin

for anti-choice, anti gay rights tour. Birds of a feather.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

47. Well since Joe-the-plumber didn't help Palin,

maby Palin's people will try Miss-Prejean-USA.

[No Elephants]

71. NotJoe the Not Plumber and NotMiss USA help Palin the Not Vice President?

[gauguin57]

49. Silly homophobe pageant queen meets nasty little gossip boy ...

... as facilitated by George Bush's pinheaded cousin Billy.

Jesus. What a freak show.

[Aviation Pro]

50. Boo fucking hoo pretty thing....

...take your non-value added life and go away.

[krabigirl]

52. Yuck. And she looks so plastic. And needs to eat a few cheeseburgers.

Her clavicle scares me.

[Norquist Nemesis]

53. Yeah, and Sarah Palin will be calling you to run on her 2012 ticket

Birds of a feather and all that.

In essence, the girl is claiming that she is a victim. Typical.

[friedgreentomatoes]

54. some freeper beat u to that idea n/t

[and-justice-for-all]

55. Bigotry is not an American value...sorry Queeny.

why is she so confident that she was the winner?? Was the show rigged from the start?

[moggie]

57. But she said "no offence"!

"We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage," said Ms Prejean, in a section of the show that has become a popular clip on YouTube.

"I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman," she continued.

"No offence to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8009359.stm

I love how people think that adding "no offence" excuses anything. "I think you shouldn't have the same rights as me. No offence!"

[No Elephants]

70. She actually used that on the Today Show this morning. "I said NO OFFENSE." As though only

stupid people would take offense after she said "no offense ."

If the contest had left any doubt that she was far too dumb to represent anyone for any reason, she removed it on the Today Show.

[Dappleganger]

86. NO OFFENSE, but she's an idiot.

And so was every single other contestant up on the stage, for that matter.

But I said 'NO OFFENSE' so that makes it ok, ya know!

[TeeYiYi]

89. She was stunningly vacuous on the Today Show...

...Her agent needs to think twice about putting her in situations where she might be required to string two words together.

TYY

[laundry_queen]

90. NO OFFENSE usually means

I'm about to say something offensive, or I have just finished saying something offensive.
Sort of like, "I'm just sayin'"

[moez]

58. She could have just taped her mouth shut

or just played white noise and I would have voted for her...

[No Elephants]

72. You thought she was better than Ms. North Carolina?

[Bluebear]

60. "In my country and in my family..." - - so she owns a country does she?

[No Elephants]

73. Since she is not ok with gays marrying in ANY country, this just shows she cannot

put together a coherent paragraph and should not be representing anything.

[Vinca]

61. I thought it was because she looked like a hooker. nt

[Lucky 13]

65. Sure. The queers cost you the crown...

Keep telling yourself whatever makes you feel better, sweetheart.
:eyes:

[rocktivity]

66. Maybe the Miss USA pageant just feared setting a precdent.

For lack of a better way of putting it, her answer made her sound just like a dumb blonde. Cue the DU "Cry Me A River" String Quartet!

:nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity:
rocktivity

[B3Nut]

67. James Young (Styx) had it right back in 1977

A phony airheads-on-parade fest. No wonder this contestant's a superficial non-thinker...the job is perfectly suited for such.


--
You were the apple of the public's eye as you cut the ribbon at the local mall
A mirage for both you and us. How can this be real?
We love your body in that photograph, your home state sure must be proud
The queen of the United States, or have you lost your crown

Well aren't you Miss America
Don't you Miss America
Won't you Miss America
Our love

Well are you really who we think you are
Or does your smile seem to wear you down
Is the girl who you once were screaming to jump out
And the dream that you must live - a disease for which there is no cure
This roller coaster ride you're on won't stop to let you off

Well aren't you Miss America
Don't you Miss America
Won't you Miss America
Our love

Miss America, Miss America, Miss America
Miss America, Miss America, Miss America

Well aren't you Miss America
Don't you Miss America
Won't you Miss America
Our love

Well it's true just take a look - The cover sometimes makes the book
And the judges, do they ever ask to read between your lines
In your cage at the human zoo, they all stop to look at you
Next year, what will you do when you have been forgotten

Well aren't you Miss America
Don't you Miss America
Won't you Miss America
Our love
--
From "The Grand Illusion"...had the vinyl when I was a kid. :D

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

[No Elephants]

75. I thought her features were sharp and she was too orange from her fake tanner. That and

she could not be coherent.

Those things disqualified her from winning the pageant, not her opposition to gay marriage. Her oppositon to gay marriage only shows that she is a bigot, as well as being orange, sharp featured and semi-incoherent.

[moggie]

92. Why do you hate people of colour?

People of orange colour, that is.

[TEmperorHasNoClothes]

76. gay marriage didn't cost her the crown, homophobia did

[Mz Pip]

77. "Opposite marriage"

made me laugh. According to Miss California we have "Gay Marriage" and "Opposite Marriage."

[TankLV]

98. I thought it was "Marriage" (as it is now) and "Opposite Marriage" - which would mean GAY Marriage..

[DS1]

79. Why hasn't "Perez Hilton" been fed to a woodchipper?

[bdamomma]

80. she should of kept her own belief private.

[marshall]

82. Why ask a loaded question like that in a beauty contest?

I don't think a question like that should have been part of the contest.

[Javaman]

83. I love when fundies play the victim.

she's a willful tool that will marry some other tool to pump out several new tools.

[Dappleganger]

85. Mothers, don't let your daughters grow up to be beauty queen zombies

Why is anyone even arguing about this shit?
No person with half a brain would be caught dead in a pageant.

[JonLP24]

127. Some of those women are very smart. Especially Maryline Blackburn

the one that beat Palin in the Miss Alaska pageant. She is an incredibly smart and a Barack Obama supporter.

[Dappleganger]

132. She didn't need to participate in a beauty pageant to prove her intelligence

did she?

Beauty pageants are a farce and should have been done away with back in the '70's.

[geckosfeet]

93. You bet it did dolly. Have a nice life.

[TankLV]

94. Is Palin runing for BEAUTY QUEEN again?!!! I thought she tried it last time and LOST...???!!!

I see a future GOP VP in the making!!!

please run please run please run please run...

[Igel]

96. Hilton could vote as he wanted.

(1) But he should at least ground his answer in principle, not in numbers. It's obvious on the face of things that he's lying as to his reasoning.

(2) In addition, think about it. She drew a distinction: It's great that they can "choose" each other--does that imply that she accepts the idea of gay marriage? Dunno. But privately, it's clear, she thinks it's wrong.

Now, this is a public/private distinction that more than a few people I know make. They don't believe their morality should be imposed in the public sphere. Even if they wouldn't vote to allow gay marriage, they probably wouldn't vote against it.

Now let's look at Hilton's utterance.

'"That's not the kind of woman I want to be Miss USA," he (Perez Hilton)said. "Miss USA should represent all Americans and, with her answer, she instantly alienated millions of gays and lesbians and their friends."'

First, he says that her answer has to represent "all Americans", and he grounds his answer in numbers. How many people believe gay marriage is wrong? How many people are gays/lesbians/etc. or their "friends" (which I'll take to mean "personal friends")? What answer would satisfy both sets of people? Ah: None. So while no answer would represent "all Americans", he thinks there is an answer that does--either by redefining "all," by redefining "American", or by simply not being honest in his criterion.

Moreover, I'd venture a wager that the number of Americans believing gay marriage is wrong is larger than the number of gays/lesbians + friends. In other words, to represent "all Americans" he wants the answer to represent fewer Americans.

As for (2), she seemed to draw the distinction between public and private. That's intolerant--accepting something in public but not accepting it in private. The only proper response is for his private morality to be public policy, and for his preferred public policy to dictate others' private morality.

It were better had he said, "I thought she was a bigot: She didn't meet my ethic standard, which mean politically supporting, in explicit terms, gay marriage in public life and in her private values system," and not tried his bogus justification for his vote.

It would have been best had he not asked the question, or if he had asked it of all of them. Why it should have been an obvious question strikes me as a bit strange--is that the topic of all-consuming importance, the end-all and be-all of political discourse? If so, it's very strait thinking.

[Psephos]

100. good post n/t

[damntexdem]

102. I just don't understand it -- how could sheer idiocy keep contestents from winning beauty contests?

I saw the replay of the question and answer; and I would have thought that her display of true mindlessness would have clinched the crown for her.

;-)

[KamaAina]

106. Quick! Call the Waaahmbulance! Dial Whine-One-One!!

[VaYallaDawg]

107. Just watch her progress ... Faux News is probably waiting in the wings with her contract.

[JerseygirlCT]

111. Yup, there you go. Blame it on "the gay" as

Rachel calls it.

What a cheap shot, from an incredibly stupid young woman.

[Johnboi70]

112. Perhaps it did?

I think her answer should have cost her the title, it was pretty offensive. If you take what she said and substitute "black," "interracial," "Asian" or "Hispanic" for "same sex," then the offensiveness is pretty clear.

[Sequoia]

113. She lost to Miss North Carolina?

I've never seen Miss NC get that close. Yeah !!!

[IndianaGreen]

120. Miss North Carolina gave a solid answer to a question about bailouts

Miss California flubbed her answer. It wasn't the answer itself, it was that Miss North Carolina was better in the Q&A.

[Sequoia]

133. I was born in NC and always wanted to see a gal from there win.

[cboy4]

114. I'm not surprised she answered that way. There are a lot

of freepers in San Diego County.

I just feel bad her dream of winning didn't come true.

Not.

[LynneSin]

118. You know, in my family I was raised that marriage was between and man and a woman but....

as we got older we learn to think for ourselves and become more educated about Homosexuality. I grew up in rural redneck Pennsylvania and homosexuality was probably one of the last groups I learned to understand drop my phobic attitude (was was never Fred Phelp's anti-gay but a typical american who was taught it was "Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" mentality).

It took me to working with homosexuals to realize that my way of thinking was not correct. I'd appreciate her saying that if she went on to say that she had a chance to meet Gays & Lesbians and they helped to to understand that way of thinking was a bit outdated.

BTW, my father is no longer alive but I would think he would accept it. My mother is a bit on the fence but knowing that there is a relative out there that is gay (he's not out of the closet but I've read his blog so that's how I found out), I'm getting her to understand that it just is what it is and we are not ones to judge.

[Raine]

123. Most people were raised that way

and it's no excuse for remaining ignorant and intolerant. x(

[riverdeep]

124. And here's another take,

who gives a shit what a beauty contestant thinks about anything? Why does it even matter? If she had answered in the affirmative would anything have happened? The only reason they ask questions in the first place is so they can deflect criticism that it's only a parade of T&A- which, of course, is all it is.

Our society seems almost constitutionally incapable of discussing significant issues without the method of delivery being extreme superficiality. Let's talk around actual data, not anecdotal nonsense:

Support for gay marriage, however, is strongly generational. In a CBS news poll conducted last month, 64 percent of voters aged 18-45 supported either gay marriage or civil unions, but only 45 percent of voters aged 65 and up did. Civil unions have already achieved the support of an outright majority of Americans, and as those older voters are replaced by younger ones, the smart money is that gay marriage will reach majority status too at some point in the 2010's.

-Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/04/gay-marriage-by-numbers.html

[aceofspades]

125. What percentage of Americans oppose gay marriage?

I haven't seen many polls on the issue recently.

[marshall]

126. A perfect quote from the Star Trek pilot is applicable here:

"Wrong thinking is punishable.
Right thinking will be as quickly rewarded.
You will find it an effective combination."

Remember that next time!

[hedgehog]

131. Good.