The Future's So Bright, She's Gotta Wear a Sash [UPDATE]

I can't claim to take beauty pageants all that seriously (well, at least as seriously as the Iowa Straw Poll ... but then again, that's just another beauty contest with bribery allowed). But apparently, things are looking so up for Texas Democrats, we're getting PR everywhere:

A 26-year-old entrepreneur from Texas was named Miss USA on Friday, besting 50 other beauty queens for the coveted crown.

Crystle Stewart, of Missouri City, Texas, runs a party-planning and motivational speaking company, and models professionally. She says she wants to dedicate her life to international philanthropy.

....

Stewart was headed for the publicity circuit. She said she was eager to travel and spread her message of self-improvement to young women. She noted she was one of only a handful of black woman crowned Miss USA in the pageant's 57-year history.

"I think the United States is coming together," she said, citing the historic presidential candidacies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. She declined to name her preference.

"I don't know, we'll see. Fundamentally, I'm a Democrat," she said.

Sounds like she's been by the kool-aid stand, but hey ... good pub for Texas Democrats is good pub.

Back to my reasons for not taking beauty contests seriously, though:

The panel of judges for Friday's pageant included Heather Mills, model and former wife of Paul McCartney; comedian Rob Schneider; Olympic gold-medal swimmer Amanda Beard; and Christian Siriano, winner of Bravo's fashion reality series, "Project Runway."

Rob Schneider and a reality show contestant. How embarrassing for the reality show contestant!

Meanwhile, Fox News skips the partisan angle. Instead, they pick the approach that sells as news on their network:

The pageant tried to showed off its edge, featuring a grinding live rock performance by the band Finger Eleven, music from Rihanna, and contestants in barely there black bikinis and faux-fur coats.

UPDATE: Ignacio Sanchez @ Houstonist points out an angle that even I missed ... MissUSA is a Coog!