Daniel Pipes is grumbling that yet another Muslim has won a beauty pageant--whathappened to the cherished ideal of meritocracy in beauty pageants?--but he probably doesn't realize that yet another conservative has won a beauty pageant. Rimah Fakih of Dearborn, Michigan is, in addition to bring Arab American, a member of the "Free Enterprise Group" at UM-Dearborn. Meanwhile, National Review today has video of Miss Oklahoma endorsing Arizona's immigration laws.
Other examples? Miss California Carrie Prejean was a forceful critic of gay marriage. Miss America runner-up Anita Bryant became a viciously anti-gay activist. And, of course, Sarah Palin is a beauty pageant veteran:
I could speculate as to what makes beauty pageant contestants so reactionary, but I will await the serious study this topic deserves.