Pray For Carrie Prejean!!

I mean it! Pray for the girl!

Whether Carrie Prejean made a sex tape or not should not be public anti-Christian fodder. She did what she did, presented herself as a more virtuous woman, scored some publicity and even scored a book deal based on one slip of righteous arrogance.

BFD.

The problem with the Prejean story is that she was immediately lassoed by a bunch of stalwart Christofascists and made into a cause celebre that should never have been let loose in the first place. Once she was corralled, groomed and prepped for publicity, she was too dazzled by the attention to come clean about her past. Her book, Still Standing, is a monument to martyrdom which never mentions the video tape. It was obviously cobbled together post haste (who amongst us could write an autobiography while juggling appearances at conventions, and "summits," while giving radio, TV and print interviews?) and it's doubtful that she even read the final galleys for approval.

From the inside flap:

Here at last is Carrie’s own story—the full story—about what actually happened. In Still Standing, you’ll learn:

• The behind-the-scenes truth of how and why Carrie’s own pageant directors joined forces with the vicious smear campaign against her
• The intimidation that kept many of Carrie’s supporters quiet
• How Donald Trump defended her—only to back down under pressure from the pageant directors
• Why liberals target conservative women for special persecution
• How political correctness is becoming a clear and present danger to free speech

Carrie Prejean endured the hellish nightmare that the liberal media can inflict on anyone who disagrees with their agenda, but her faith, courage, and conviction have made her a role model for how we can stare down the bullies of political correctness and reclaim our God-given rights to freedom of speech, thought, and conscience.

And the book most often requested with the advance purchase of Still Standing? You guessed it: Sarah Palin's Going Rogue. And since Carrie's book is (technically) not out until four days from today, well, let's just say that Amazon better start discounting it - and FAST! Wonder what Sarah Palin's response will be to the whole thing?

It was the AOL celebrity website TMZ that supplied the scandalous tape. It had been in possession of it for months, but...

From TMZ:

The video the lawyer showed Carrie is extremely graphic and has never been released publicly. We know that, because TMZ obtained the video months ago but decided not to post it because it was so racy. Let's just say, Carrie has a promising solo career.

We're told it took about 15 seconds for Carrie to jettison her demand and essentially walk away with nothing. As we first reported, the Pageant is paying around $100,000 to her lawyers and publicist -- a fraction of her bills. She pockets nothing in the settlement.

The Pageant originally asked for all book royalties as well, but they wouldn't have gotten much from a book that went immediately into the bargain book bin. So in the end of this pitiful saga, everybody loses: the Miss USA Pageant, Prejean and her publisher, the right wing Regnery Publishing. But the Christofascist wingnuts will come out unscathed (at least in their own minds) while Prejean's defenders (whoever is left) will rasp a weak cry of "vicious liberal media attacking a poor, vulnerable young woman who just wanted to be popular."

Some articles in the following weeks may tell us the impression of the public, but they may not point out the true villain of the piece: the Christian Right who coddled and prepped her, wooed and trained her. Prejean's saintly posturing was a fraud created by them. One wonders how she managed to say what she said to the Take Back America crowd with a straight face: "I knew that although I lost the crown, God had a bigger crown for me in heaven."

Somehow, Prejean's plight reminded me of the scheming but clueless Lena Lamont character portrayed so brilliantly by Jean Hagen in the movie, Singing In The Rain: think of Carrie Prejean as Lena Lamont and her diction coach as Phyllis Schlafly.

Sorry, Carrie, but you may not be Still Standing after this is all over. In fact, all that will be left: the laughter.

I'll pray for you.