"Miss America--You've Come a Long Way..."

but I'm sure I'd best not call you 'baby'!

 Did anyone else watch the pageant last Saturday?
Or maybe I should say, will anyone admit to
watching?

Well, it was impressive!

The production was slick, gorgeous, just about perfection!
It was condensed to a strict 90 minutes, so
there were no fillers and no wasted time.

The contestants were beautiful, well spoken, 

intelligent, and talented.

Well...talented except for maybe the winner!

**There were opera singers**

**There was a marvelous pianist**

**A former American Idol finalist**

**Excellent dancers**

And then there was the winner...

doing the cup song.

 A pretty but pretty laid back version of the cup song.

She said she was hoping to encourage and 

make happy all the 9-year-olds that would be watching.

"Uh...but what about the judges?

I thought they were older than that!"

Here's a shot of her parents after she performed.

Her mom is holding her own red cup, 

and her dad is saying, "Look at me, all you suckers

who paid for dance, voice, and piano lessons.  

Not only did I get out for a red cup, I didn't

even have to buy fancy shoes!"

(I hope you can see--she's barefoot.)

Now if you're into the Miss America thing at all,

you are probably saying,

"Well, there's a lot more to it than just the talent."

That's true. but...

Talent is supposed to be more important than

anything else--35%.
(Interview 25%, Swimwear 15%, Evening Wear 20%,
and the onstage question 5%.)

Speaking of the questions...

The ones from these judges to these finalists
sent shock waves through media world.

I certainly question the judgment of the judges!!!

The finalists were given a whopping 
TWENTY (20!) SECONDS 
to answer the hardest questions imaginable.
I must say I thought much more of the
contestants and their answers
than I did of the judges and their questions.

Kathy Ireland asked one poor contestant:

"We were all rocked by the video of football star

Ray Rice punching his wife Janay.

She's standing by him.

As a woman, what do you think of her decision?

I wish the contestant had said:

"What I think is that your decision to ask that

question is totally inappropriate!"

Instead, she answered as well as possible.

This one is even worse:

Brigadier General Ann McDonald asked,

"The savagery of the ISIS threat to our security

was demonstrated by the gruesome videos of

two journalists and an aid worker being beheaded.

What should our country's response be?"

Whaaat?  Ridiculous!

We should make her President, not Miss America,

if she has the answer to that!

It reminds me of the days when the joke was that

every girl's platform was "world peace."

The judges might as well have asked,

"Now Miss XYZ, exactly how do you plan to bring about

world peace if you become Miss America?"

Yeah, this pageant's come a long way since 

sweet old Bert Parks sang 

There she is, Miss America, 

and the judges asked the contestants
questions like, 

"If you were an animal, what would you be?"