Editorial: Miss USA, the Political Pageant
The 2010 Miss USA Crown was narrowly lost last weekend by Miss Oklahoma Morgan Elizabeth Woolard probably because she was asked a question about the Arizona immigration law by a judge named Oscar Nunez.
The 2009 Miss USA Crown was narrowly lost by Carrie Prejean. Many, including me, believe that what cost her the crown was her honest answer to a question on Homosexual Marriage as posed by a homosexual judge Perez Hilton.
I would hope that if people watch this pageant in 2011 and another loaded political question is asked of someone in the finals that they will consider this as strike three and stop their madness. Beauty pageants deserve to be won by the individual who makes the best presentation as judged by independent judges. The judges must not be scoring based upon whether they agree with the contestant on a political issue. Imagine an umpire calling balls and strikes by first insisting that the batter and the pitcher tell him whether they are republican or democrat, conservative or liberal, or what they think about Healthcare or Illegal Immigration. Honesty is what we seek in sporting events from our umpires and referees and beauty pageant contestants deserve the same thing.
Judges, why not ask substantive questions of the contestants. We all tired long ago of the questions that were so broad that they elicited a longing from the contestant for a career that would promote world peace but there is an in between. Why not ask the contestant questions about our history or about our Constitution? Questions should be broadly philisophical and not a gotcha question about a political candidate or issue that is in the news at the time. What is the relevance to sports in America? Was FDR correct by telling Al Landis to continue to play baseball during World War II? The questions can be political but should not be current political questions. Don't force the young woman to take sides on an issue you care deeply about. It isn't fair to her and it should not be a litmus test for who the winner of any contest should be.
The 2009 Miss USA Crown was narrowly lost by Carrie Prejean. Many, including me, believe that what cost her the crown was her honest answer to a question on Homosexual Marriage as posed by a homosexual judge Perez Hilton.
I would hope that if people watch this pageant in 2011 and another loaded political question is asked of someone in the finals that they will consider this as strike three and stop their madness. Beauty pageants deserve to be won by the individual who makes the best presentation as judged by independent judges. The judges must not be scoring based upon whether they agree with the contestant on a political issue. Imagine an umpire calling balls and strikes by first insisting that the batter and the pitcher tell him whether they are republican or democrat, conservative or liberal, or what they think about Healthcare or Illegal Immigration. Honesty is what we seek in sporting events from our umpires and referees and beauty pageant contestants deserve the same thing.
Judges, why not ask substantive questions of the contestants. We all tired long ago of the questions that were so broad that they elicited a longing from the contestant for a career that would promote world peace but there is an in between. Why not ask the contestant questions about our history or about our Constitution? Questions should be broadly philisophical and not a gotcha question about a political candidate or issue that is in the news at the time. What is the relevance to sports in America? Was FDR correct by telling Al Landis to continue to play baseball during World War II? The questions can be political but should not be current political questions. Don't force the young woman to take sides on an issue you care deeply about. It isn't fair to her and it should not be a litmus test for who the winner of any contest should be.
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