In a preview of what might happen to a certain other darling of the GOP, the Daily Beast writes that Carrie Prejean may soon be dropped as a poster girl of the conservative right.
Despite being runner up in the Miss USA pageant, Prejean was unquestionably the pageant's big winner—her exchange with Perez Hilton (who asked her whether she supported gay marriage, made national news) and her loss quickly developed into a victim narrative. Immediately after the event, Hilton went on YouTube and called Prejean a “dumb bitch.”
Overnight, Prejean became a right wing phenomenon. In addition to appearing at a press conference for the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), a family values organization that’s opposed to same-sex marriage, she also recorded robocalls for the group. NOM also created an ad showcasing Prejean, which ran for months on NOM’s website.
Prejean then appeared on FOX to speak on the issue of “traditional marriage,” even though she wasn’t prepared for the most basic questions. “My thought on civil unions?” she stammered on air. “You know what, Greta? I don’t have the answers to everything. I’m not running for political office. I don’t have the answers to everything, you know, in the world out there.” (Note from the Daily Dude: shades of Sarah Palin?)
Over the next few months, the people from Miss Universe tried all sorts of things to neutralize the Prejean situation and allow everyone involved to save some face. But Prejean would have none of it, upping the ante at every opportunity. In the end, Miss California USA was forced to take away her title when Prejean became more interested in being the face of the conservative movement than fulfilling her official duties. NOM wasted no time putting out a statement on her behalf: “Hollywood hates Carrie. First they abuse her, then they try to get her to recant, then they threw mud, and now they are doing what they wanted to do from day one: Get rid of Carrie.”
Days before news of the first sex tape hit last week, Prejean was out promoting her new memoir on Larry King Live. King asked her why she’d agreed to drop her lawsuit against Miss USA. (Several sources close to the settlement say the existence of sex tapes played a role). Prejean called the question “inappropriate” so he went to a caller, at which point the former beauty queen pulled off her mike and threatened to walk off the show. The reason, she later said, was that King and her representatives had an agreement not to go to callers. This strategy played well with the Republican base—blame the media—but it doesn’t appear to be true. Both a spokesperson for the show and well-placed sources say there was no such agreement in place.
Within a few days of the sex tapes making headlines, reports came that Prejean had been wiped completely from NOM’s website. None of the puffy press releases could be found, and the ad they produced was also gone. "Seven million Californians voted for Prop 8. I have no doubt that quite a few of them are people who committed sexual sins of various kinds,” a NOM spokesman said publicly-- adding, “Carrie has never worked for the National Organization for Marriage.”
No surprise, actually-- with her transition to amateur pornographer, Prejean had become radioactive—the latest in a string of right-wing casting choices that looked smart at the onset, then went awry when it turned out the new mascot for the evangelical base wasn’t qualified (or ready) for the part she’d been asked to play.
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