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The Nation's Pulse
Miss PC-USA
Pageants and politics are an ugly mix.
Yogi Berra is probably the last person to come to mind when discussing beauty pageants. After all, it was said he was the only catcher in baseball who got better looking after he put on his mask and that he was a charter member of baseball’s “all ugly club.” But when it comes to the 2010 Miss U.S.A. pageant Yogi’s words of wisdom are not only apt but they are a thing of beauty.
“It’s déjà vu all over again.”
For a second year in a row politics has reared its ugly head in the Miss U.S.A. Pageant. Actor Oscar Nuñez (best known as a cast member of the NBC show The Office) served as one of the judges in this year’s pageant. He questioned Miss Oklahoma Morgan Elizabeth Woolard about Arizona’s much maligned and misunderstood immigration law.
Specifically, Nuñez specifically asked Woolward, “Do you think this should be mandated by the state or by the federal government?” To which she replied:
I’m a huge believer in states’ rights. I think that’s what’s so wonderful about America. So I think it’s perfectly fine for Arizona to create that law. I’m against illegal immigration but I’m also against racial profiling. So I see both sides of this issue.
Woolward finished runner up to Miss Michigan Rima Fakih.
Could it be Carrie Prejean part deux?
Interestingly, the crowd booed Nuñez for posing the question rather than Woolward for replying to it. In fact, the crowd mostly cheered Woolward’s response. The crowd knew it was a loaded question and didn’t like it one bit. Consider the preamble to Nuñez’s question:
Arizona’s new immigration statute authorizes law enforcement authorities to check the citizenship of anyone they believe may be in the country illegally. Now listen to the question before you boo! Critics say this may amount to racial profiling.
Of course, what Nuñez neglected to mention is that law enforcement can only check an individual’s citizenship status as a result of a “lawful stop, detention or arrest.” Nuñez is perpetrating the myth that authorities in Arizona can arbitrarily, capriciously and wantonly stop people with brown skin and ask them for their identification on the spot.
Nuñez also neglected to mention that one of the critics who have argued the Arizona law may amount to racial profiling is none other than Attorney General Eric Holder. This is the same Eric Holder who admitted before Congress late last week that he has not read the bill, has not been briefed on it and has only glanced at it. If the Attorney General of the United States cannot find the law on the Arizona legislature’s webpage, print it out, and read it while listening to Jimi Hendrix, then why should we expect due diligence from Nuñez?
Unlike Perez Hilton, Nuñez hasn’t gone on YouTube to call Woolward “a dumb b*tch.” One can only hope Woolward will not be on the receiving of the sort of bitter and vitriolic scrutiny that was directed at Carrie Prejean after she told Hilton she believed marriage is between a man and a woman.
Now I don’t have an objection to judges asking pageant contestants questions about the world in which we live. When properly asked such questions give an insight into how well the contestants speak and how well they can think on their feet. Some pageant contestants excel in this area while other pageant contestants do not.
But when judges ask about specific public matters such as gay marriage and illegal immigration one must ask if these questions are being asked to advance their own agendas rather than to advance the progress of the pageant contestants. If anything these questions might very well be asked to stymie the progress of certain pageant contestants. Was Nuñez actually interested in how well Woolward’s answered his question? Or was he looking to weed out someone with a politically incorrect opinion?
When questions like this are asked it gives judges opportunities to play favorites. One must wonder if the selection of Rima Fakih, a Muslim (albeit an apparently secular Muslim), was a political statement on the part of the judges. I don’t deny Fakih is a beautiful woman and might very well be a worthy representative of the Miss U.S.A. pageant. But would any of the judges have dared to ask the Lebanese born Fakih what she thought of Hezbollah?
One can only hope the judges at the 2011 Miss U.S.A. Pageant will refrain from questioning certain contestants as if they were Sarah Palin. But I suspect such restraint will not come to pass. These questions draw attention to the pageant and it would seem that Donald Trump prefers bad publicity than no publicity at all. Yet Trump should know better. Pageants and politics are an ugly mix.
About the Author
Aaron Goldstein writes from Boston, Massachusetts.
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no to obama| 5.18.10 @ 6:59AM
how fitting in this PC society that the blonde gal with the conservative answer looses to a muslim.
How perfectly fitting. (sarcasim)
DAVE KOWALSKI | 5.18.10 @ 10:31AM
MISS MICHIGAN WAS PRETTIER in my humble opinion. I will try to interview her and ask her nifty questions. Judges are judges. Maybe we should have a MISS CONVERVATIVE USA pageant!?
loulou| 5.18.10 @ 11:35AM
Miss OK was beautiful and of course, was set up. For a Muslim, Miss MI isn't too bad but I thought Muslim women were supposed to be covered in a tablecloth with only slits to see through. Is she going to get a punishment?
BTW, check out debbieschlussel.com. She has the full story on Miss MI's backers. Can you say jihadi?
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 5.18.10 @ 7:33AM
Donald Trump has a lot to be admired for. His choice of judges at these pageants isn't one of those features.
JoeJazz2000| 5.19.10 @ 11:01AM
Name one.
Louis Jenkins| 5.18.10 @ 8:19AM
A Mulsim woman winning the Trump's beauty pageant is like a fish outta water. Didn't see it, don't care to watch it. It's just another trumphed up mis-mash of garbage. But, it kinda reeks of PC. How could a Mulsim female compete?
jd| 5.18.10 @ 8:24AM
I'm surprised the PC-chosen pageant winner wasn't wearing a burka instead of a crown. Funny that a Muslim from Dearborn (my actual hometown btw) isn't being attacked by the mulim community for wearing skimpy clothing. I know from firsthand experience that Muslims in the city of Dearborn who frequent public swimming pools are allowed to wear their burkas instead of wearing bathing suits. You can imagine the uproar from the rest of the community when the city caved in to Muslim demands and allowed an exception to their rule of bathing suits only. I'm proud of Miss Oklahoma and the response she gave. To me, SHE is the winner.
Lakegirl| 5.18.10 @ 8:53AM
I used to enjoy watching Miss USA. I believe that Donald Trump has made it a trashy affair. No wonder some women feel that pageants are "using young women." I, also, wonder what the Muslins think of one of theirs parading around with almost no clothes on?! Stoning, anyone?
NavyBrat | 5.18.10 @ 8:57AM
The fatwah on this chick has already been issued. Bet on it.
loulou| 5.18.10 @ 11:37AM
Nah, this chick is well connected with the jihadi community. She is serving their purposes. I learned this from debbieschlussel.com
NavyBrat | 5.18.10 @ 12:09PM
What a shame. She IS smok'n hot. Well, we've had Tokyo Rose, Axis Sally, & Hanoi Jane. Now we have Beruit Betty.
Sandra| 5.18.10 @ 9:09AM
Rima Fakih is as much a practitioner of Islam as Danny Thomas, Jamie Farr, or Kahlil Gibran.
It wasn’t until the 1980s that the population of Muslims was on par with the population of Christians within the Arab-American communities, such as Dearborn Michigan.
Do not mistake that every ethnic "Arab" is a Muslim.
What a wonderful Maronite young woman. Maybe a bit ditzy, or not focused during the questions (but then again, what 20 years really are). But definitely not Muslim either.
Happy| 5.18.10 @ 10:06AM
Sandra, the intellectuals and geniuses on this web site all knew that. They were just testing us. ;)
loulouy| 5.18.10 @ 11:38AM
Sandra, you need to do your homework. What makes you think she's DEFINITELY not a Muslim?
jd| 5.18.10 @ 12:09PM
Sandra, pleeeze. The press refers her as a Muslim not a Maronite. Considering the hotbed of radicalism (yes, I can equate some Muslims and Islam with radicalism) that the Dearborn Muslim community really is (did you see the thousands celebrating in the streets after 9-1-1? I did. Miss USA may be a reflection of a "secular Muslim" (quite the oxymoron!) but combining my knowledge of the Muslim community in Dearborn -- of which she is a part -- and the known political biases of the "judges" on the panel, I would definitely say that the naming of this Miss USA was 100% political.
Charles Martel| 5.18.10 @ 2:12PM
Kahlil Gibran was a Maronite. Danny Thomas was a Roman Catholic. Jamie Farr is an Antiochian Orthodox Christian. Both the Maronite and the Antiochian Orthodox churches are in full communion with Rome.
Rima Fakih is a Shi'ite Mohammedan, albeit one with a pole dancing video to her credit.
There, if that doesn't constitute outreach to the worldwide community of God-cursed Mohammedans, I don't know what does.
+++
StanJ| 5.18.10 @ 10:25AM
What the heck is a "secular Muslim"?
Radegunda| 5.18.10 @ 12:04PM
Somebody born into a Muslim family and therefore obliged to remain Muslim in perpetuity. Being a non-observant Muslim-by-birth is less dangerous than declaring oneself no longer Muslim.
JS| 5.18.10 @ 1:22PM
You actually find secular muslims in the former Yugoslavia region. They have rejected wahabi islam and peacefully coexist with Christians and Jews. As far as I can tell with the research and reading I've done they have no desire to be wahabists.
Remember islam is a political phylosophy masquerading as a religion.
Charles Martel| 5.18.10 @ 2:24PM
Peaceful coexistence... except for such as the 13th SS "Scimitar" Division.
And if you believe that the Bosniaks are immune to Wahhabism, you are embracing a delusion.
+++
Anthony| 5.18.10 @ 10:30AM
Two things I don't get; Hollywood jerks acting as judges of any kind, and sports writers, (the most useless vocation in the universe) selecting Hall of Fame members in baseball.
Neither are qualified to judge anything.
Stan Redmond| 5.18.10 @ 10:49AM
Let's just turn it in to a full blown PC interview. Here are some questions.
"Can you explain what makes Barak Obama so awesome?"
"Please explain which is your favorite Barak Obama policy and what makes it so awesome"
"If you had to choose between destroying a puppy orphanage to drill for oil or giving food to the homeless which would you do"
"We all know George Bush is the worst president in history. If you had to choose the worst policy would it be lying about WMDs or causing hurricane Katrina."
"Please explain how Barak Obama's awesomeness is improving the lives of disadvantaged minority school children."
"Do you support the republican policy of throwing grannies out of retirement communities stealing their wheelchairs?"
"Do you support the democrat policy of saving kittens, puppies, and orphans from the republican war machine?"
"Do you identify yourself with the excretable and disgusting Fred Phelps or the wonderful and tolerant Nancy Pelosi?"
"On a scale of 1 to 10 why would you rate Obama's awesomeness at infinity?"
Majito| 5.18.10 @ 11:33AM
That Nuñez es un pendejo of the biggest magnitude...i was so glad to hear the boos as soon as he mentioned law and arizona. what a clown and then on top of it he lies about it...i guess he got his talking points from the us ag holder...i would have loved the OK queen to have said something like '...if you have read the law closely, you know that a) need to comit an infraction first and b) racial profiling is illegal" which clearly this punk just like jorge ramos and the rest of the news team at univision (don't forget the opportunistic bozo rivera at fnc) have not read...maybe their reading skills are lacking or are too busy to read the law
Charles Martel| 5.18.10 @ 2:27PM
Eric Holder, Janet Incompetano, and the rest of the clown college at the White House are waaay too busy disparaging the Arizona law as unconstitutional to be bothered reading it.
+++
abncp| 5.18.10 @ 1:13PM
Nunez is just another entertainment airhead trying to make himself look good with the Hollywood left crowd that controls that industry.What is getting to be annoying however is that he is also another Hispanic American, who should know better, following the same old ethnic line that seems to be manditory for any Hispanic talking to the media on this subject. Please could we hear from some Hispanic Americans who refuse to let their ethnicity overcome their common sense.
gsr| 5.18.10 @ 5:09PM
The Miss USA, formerly Miss Michigan is from here in my hometown Dearborn, Michigan.
She is a muslim, although, apparently doesn’t wear the traditional hijab and related clothing. Furthermore, she and her family are immigrants from Lebanon. She grew up in Queens, New York and only recently moved to Dearborn a few years ago.
Isn’t it great to have a Miss USA, who for all practical purposes really isn’t a Michigander, much less an American? Kind of like a president who isn’t an….yadda, yadda, yadda.
WAKE UP| 5.18.10 @ 5:57PM
Islam and hypocrisy are synonymous. And so too are beauty pageants. They go together like peaches and cream.
As Norman Mailer said years ago, "America is entertaining itself to death" Even he couldn't have realised what that would really mean in the future - but we know today.
GW| 5.18.10 @ 6:42PM
I don't know why the pageant tries to inject politics into the event, but the question wasn't unfair. Nunez said "*critics* say this amounts to racial profiling" which is a true statement. Critics of the law, albeit incorrectly, think the law will lead to racial profiling. The fact a Muslim woman won doesn't bother me either. She's a hottie, and the sandrats who come here and try to keep their Sharia could use a hot woman to show other Muslim women what they can do if they liberalize and modernize their ideology.
Marc Jeric| 5.18.10 @ 6:55PM
So our Abu Hussein al-Nairobi has gotten his Miss USA on board. I stopped watching that creep Trump - he will do anything to increase his audience, even choosing that foul-mouthed liar Joan Rivers as the Apprentice winner. He selects "judges" from the Hollywood cotterie of rich left-wingers full of intellectual pretensions.
Petronius| 5.18.10 @ 7:30PM
15 minutes...
WAKE UP| 5.18.10 @ 10:05PM
GW: "I don't know why the pageant tries to inject politics into the event"Well, GW, when you actually find the energy to answer that, maybe you'll see why the rest of your comment is a waste of time.
Tony in Central PA| 5.19.10 @ 12:06PM
Apparently, there are some stripper pole pictures of the current Miss USA from 2007 that are circulating. She is clothed, although rather scantily from the waist down. The Pageant officials are OK with this. Now if she had answered any of the questions like a conservative, I'm sure this would have already cost her the crown.
Miss USA also identifies herself as both Catholic and Muslim. I guess it was the Catholic part wrapped around the stripper pole.
As a Catholic, I wasn't aware that among the 16 different rites within the Church there was also a Muslim rite. Who knew ?
dki| 7.1.10 @ 3:44AM
beijing massage
Veronica | 10.3.10 @ 1:27AM
she is a beautiful muslim woman :)