Show ON THE MEDIA From Word B to Word O James Rainey Los Angeles Times host Hall had only a few minutes so she bore down on the scandal Hall pressed earnestly about allegations that her guest had given the worst answer in beauty pageant history She got Carrie Prejean 21 to say exactly how it felt when celebrity Perez Hilton called her the b Then pausing to steel herself the newswoman plunged into important new territory He went on he went wenton on to call you the word c Hall told Miss California pausing again to emphasize the magnitude of the blow your response to that Glory glory to hour 24 cable and to and all the rest of the media horde and the willing subjects who embrace honor and obey the o That's Opportunity And its it's what happens when an attention- attention h hungry gry celebrity and an ambitious pageant queen make beautifully nasty music together This is not to discount the real emotion and conflict over the question that brought pageant judge Hilton and Prejean together Sunday at the Miss USA pageant when he asked about legalizing gay marriage and she answered I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman Its It's just drearily predictable to watch the endless cable blog and newspaper fallout inevitably accompanied by pictures and video sometimes both of Carrie sashaying on stage in her white bikini and to watch as the and the beauty both strain to extend their moment Hilton continues to replay stories related to the showdown on com corn and in many interviews He would like to prove hes he's an important rights gay-rights champion but the self-described self Queen of All Media seems more concerned with ginning up attention and hits for his Web site Serious rights civil-rights activists fighting for equal protection under the law cant can't possibly want this guy fronting their righteous cause If hes he's not hissing that Prejean is a dumb bitch bitch hes he's decorating her picture on his Web site with witha a drawing of a penis Small solace Hilton regularly decorates celebrity pies with phallic scribbles The spiky-haired spiky described his feelings of disgust and anger that Prejean opposes gay marriage but seemed more peeved that she didn't play from the beauty queen handbook Why he suggested didn't Miss California skirt the gay marriage question and answer I should represent all Americans and Im I'm not here to talk about politics In breaking with the pageant code Prejean seems a virtual revolutionary styled Self-styled bad boy Hilton meanwhile enforces the social norm nonn like a sorority house mother Id I'd like to declare Prejean a Bold Leader of Tomorrow if her subsequent appearances hadn't taken on the gamy scent of Smart Marketing Immediately after her up runner-up finish Prejean sounded like the woman wronged the Miss USA crown plucked from her head by one rotten question If I had any other question I know I would have won she told Later she suggested she knew such controversial topics could arise By the time of her appearance Tuesday with Fox host Neil Cavuto the wide-eyed wide blonde had decided the query was a gift from On High I think that I was the one that was blessed enough to get this question said Prejean a Christian college student in San Diego I Iam Iam Iam am so blessed that I was able to speak my mind my thoughts my convictions in front of millions of people No surprise Prejean became an instant hit with Christian conservatives The Alabama House voted a commendation She visited the Grand Ole Opry on Thursday for the Dove Awards Christian and gospel music's biggest night My search engine tells me that Prejean got easily double the news coverage that the campaign manager of Republican Arizona Sen John McCain received when he announced last week that he supported gay marriage Denying two consenting adults the right to form fonn a beautiful commitment to toone toone toone one another denies them two of our most natural rights liberty and the pursuit of happiness Steve Schmidt said in a speech imploring Republicans to reconsider their widespread opposition to gay marriage Those who have been around Schmidt whose sister is a lesbian know he has put considerable thought into his position But the big bald politico never won wona a swimsuit competition And he didn't conduct a televised fight over his beliefs So his statement quickly disappeared into the media maw A Miss USA spokeswoman sounded irritated when called Thursday to ask about their proud runner The flack noted that Prejean has anew anew a anew new publicist whose name she couldn't seem to recall She is not our title titleholder titleholder titleholder holder the PR moll said briskly ending the conversation But Miss California no longer needs Donald Trumps Trump's up trumped-up Miss USA pageant anyway She's her own thinking free-thinking wheeling free-wheeling gal now And she's telling anyone who'll listen Maybe she sees a role model far to the north where another beauty queen reinvented herself I am continuing my modeling career Im I'm not sure how far that is going to lead me Prejean answered when Cavuto asked about her future Maybe get into politics you never know |