Bill Berkowitz: Move over Joe the Plumber

In what some like to think of as "post-culture war" America, consider the case of Carrie Prejean. Responding to a question about same-sex marriage asked by Perez Hilton, a pageant judge and celebrity gossip uber-blogger, on April 19, during the nationally televised Miss USA pageant -- Prejean said:

"Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised and that's how I think it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you very much."

An overheated Hilton quickly posted a video blog in which he called Ms. Prejean a "dumb bitch." Prejean, obviously disappointed about finishing in second place, maintained -- during a series of talk show appearances -- that it was possible that her failure to win was the result of her stance against same-sex marriage.

The ever-opportunistic Maggie Gallagher, head of the National Organization of Marriage (NOM), creators of the "Gathering Storm" anti-same-sex marriage television advertisement, pointed out that Prejean's "example resonates, especially to many young Americans, because she chose to stand for truth rather than surrender her core values." Gallagher swiftly signed her up as a spokesperson for the NOM's ongoing campaign against same-sex marriage. "Marriage is good," Prejean said at a news conference announcing the ad campaign. "There is something special about unions of husband and wife. Unless we bring men and women together, children will not have mothers and fathers."

Prejean appeared at a San Diego church, where she read from the Bible.

According to Box Turtle Bulletin's Timothy Kincaid, "Prejean attends a church that has strong opinions on the subject of sexuality and marriage. Miles McPherson, a football player turned pastor, was one of the driving forces behind the evangelical support for Proposition 8. In addition to anti-gay rallies at his church, McPherson was a proponent of the notoriously untruthful website for youth, iProtectMarriage.com."

Kincaid reported that Prejean was "being coached and guided by her religious mentor, Miles McPherson," senior pastor of The Rock Church in San Diego. According to The Rock's Web site, McPherson "spent time with Prejean in the critical hours following the pageant." Kincaid noted that "This coaching was further confirmed when Rex Wockner asked if she'd be willing to have coffee with Perez Hilton," and she replied that if she did, she'd "bring Miles" with her.

Fully embodying Andy Warhol's trope about everyone getting their 15 minutes of fame, Prejean appeared to be being cast as the 21st century's answer to Anita Bryant, the beauty queen/orange juice spokesperson who lit up the 1970s with her vitriolic anti-gay campaigns.

Move over Joe the Plumber, here's Carrie the Model. And she's already eaten up a lot more than 15 minutes.

Prejean being criticized by liberals paved the way for a horde of conservatives to get in on the action. People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch pointed out that Prejean was "hailed in just about every right-wing media outlet, including World Magazine, WorldNetDaily, OneNewsNow, and Townhall."

Edgeboston.com reported that "A press release from the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission railed on gays generally for Hilton's question and reportage done by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann." Gary Cass, the CADC's chairman, stated, "By courageously shining the light of God's truth on the marriage issue, now homosexuals and their allies irrationally seek to defame and destroy Carrie Prejean."

The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins said "Prejean's Christian beliefs were no secret to the organization; she quotes a biblical passage in her official bio on the Miss California USA website, citing Philippians 4:13, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,' as a daily source of inspiration."

The American Family Association's Tim Wildmon said that what he "was most impressed with was Miss California's courage, as she knew her answer could very well cost her the opportunity to fulfill her dream to be Miss USA. But she went ahead and expressed her convictions."

A National Review Online piece, "Naked in the Naked Public Square: Carrie Prejean in Carrie Bradshaw's America," by Seth Leibsohn, a fellow of the Claremont Institute and Kathryn Jean Lopez, the editor of National Review Online, argued that the liberal media was unfairly attacking Ms. Prejean.

Then, quicker than you could open a Campbell's soup can, details about Ms. Prejean's life airlifted the country out of its Swine Flu funk:

Prior to game time, Ms. Prejean received breast implants that were paid for by the California Beauty Pagaent committee. Keith Lewis, the co-director of the pageant, told CBS's The Early Show, "We want to put her in the best possible confidence in order to present herself in the best possible light on a national stage."

A picture of Ms. Prejean, modeling lingerie half-naked, was posted on the Internet. After the first image was published, Prejean defended herself by saying, "I am a Christian, and I am a model ... Models pose for pictures, including lingerie and swimwear photos." Shortly after she denied that there were any more pictures, a second shot appeared on the site TheDirty.com. According to The Daily News, "Nik Richie, publisher of TheDirty.com, has indicated there are more to come."

Court papers from her parents divorce, dug up by TMZ.com, revealed that messy allegations about homosexuality abounded.

With the possibility of having her Miss California USA title stripped from her for keeping the photos a secret -- failure to disclose semi-nude photos is grounds for disqualification from the contest -- Ms. Prejean, and/or her NOM handlers were clearly in need of a strong dose of damage control.

Ross to the rescue

That's where Larry Ross comes in. In late April, U.S. News & World Report's Dan Gilgoff reported that Prejean had hired the Carrollton, Texas-based A Larry Ross Communications, "one of the country's premier Christian PR firms." What at first must have seemed like a public relations firm's equivalent of a walk in the park -- handle the media requests, manage the message, harness the opportunities -- has turned into a full blown image recovery action.

Over the years, Ross' public relations company has represented a host of top-shelf clients Christian conservatives, including the Rev. Billy Graham, Pastor Rick Warren of Lake Forest, California's Saddleback Church, Texas's African-American mega-church Pastor T.D. Jakes, and the controversial Pastor Rod Parsley, the head of Ohio's Center for Moral Clarity.

Ross' firm has worked with the Promise Keepers, the once powerful international men's ministry that is currently immersed in another round of re-organization, such projects as the selling of the "Left Behind" film based on the popular series of apocalyptic novels of the same name by veteran religious right activist Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, "The Prince of Egypt," and actor/director Mel Gibson's blockbuster, "The Passion of the Christ."

In April 2006, Ross told The New York Times Magazine that "Moses stood there on top of a cliff, and as long as he held up his arms, the children of Israel won. Well, after a while he got tired, so there were two men that came and held up Moses' arms so they could win the battle. That's my job -- to hold up the arms of the man of God, like Billy Graham or Rick Warren, in the media." And now, Ms Prejean has joined that illustrious group.

In 1981, Ross began working with Billy Graham, becoming a pioneer in the new world of Christian PR, when he founded A Larry Ross Communications 13 years later. According to its Web site, the company "is a full-service media and public relations agency [aimed at] ... 'restor[ing] faith in media,' provid[ing] 'value-added P.R. that defines values' and giv[ing] Christian messages relevance and meaning in mainstream media."

The Web site also points out that it "continue[s] to provide all domestic and international media support for evangelist Billy Graham ... . [and] has also provided consultation and ongoing representation for many of the world's most influential Christian leaders, churches, ministries and media.

"In recent years, this has expanded to specialized expertise in the 'Faith and Family' film genre, helping some of Hollywood's biggest studios as well as Christian entertainment companies market theatrical and video-release films and television projects that tell good stories with a purpose."

A few years back, when a tape of anti-Semitic remarks that Graham had made to then President Richard Nixon became public, Ross helped Graham skate through that crisis. He also made sure that Graham's name was never associated with the televangelist scandals of the 1980s involving Jim Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye, the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart, and a host of other lesser-known preachers.

These days in addition to working with Prejean, Billy Graham and Pastor Rick Warren and his collaboration with The Reader's Digest association, Ross Communications recently issued a press release on behalf of Brian "Head" Welch, the former lead guitarist for the Grammy Award-winning, controversial rock band Korn, who will be performing with his new band on May 19 at The Door in Deep Ellum "in a concert sponsored by Dallas-based I am Second, a multimedia campaign that features Welch's gripping transformation from junkie rockstar to devoted Christian, father and musician."

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION

Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement and a frequent writer for Z Magazine, Religion Dispatches and other online publications. He documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the American Right from a progressive perspective.

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