Tara Connor was Miss USA in 2006 and the focus of yet another double standard scandal. She was 20 and out partying and being a bad girl, apparently, right? As I listened to different opinions over a cup of coffee or in line at stores over the days following the outbreak of her "scandal", I heard the majority say how awful she was and how as a role model she should be dethroned. So I thought about it.
Certainly what she did was wrong and illegal; underage drinking when the legal age is 21. Certainly I’m not turned on at all by hearing about her antics with another girl who and let’s just get the record straight on this…is 18. While she was Miss Teen, she was not 13 or 14 or 15, she was 18. As for the drugs? That’s so not cool but was it really the end of the world?
But…
to make her be the only person in the spotlight to adhere to these strict rules? That’s so not cool, either.
President Bush’s cocaine use in ’72 and drunk driving charge in ’76 are seen as youthful indiscretions. Hmmm, wasn’t he 30 at the time? And he went on to run our country. As did Clinton and Barack Obama, who admitted to smoking pot and who’s friends said he did even more back in high school in Hawaii.
So, let’s string her up, right? But wait, didn’t Mel Gibson get a second and third chance after Anti-Semitic remarks? Didn’t President Clinton get to keep his position?
Seems to me the one thing overlooked in all this is she never lied. Those I mentioned? Hmmm. And while I never watch The Apprentice and don’t care one way or the other for Trump, I have to say, I actually had a bit of respect for him in this situation. Miss Congeniality aside, beauty pageants are every bit as cutthroat as other celebrity and high-powered politics. Stage mothers throwing their little girls in a ring trying to relive life through their daughters.
So what do I think? I think if the highest power in the free world can be held by someone despite "youthful indiscretions" then let’s stop throwing stones at a young girl. Donald Trump said he sees her as a great comeback kid. There are those who’ve done far worse. Miss USA 2006 went into drug rehab. She took responsibility for her actions. She deserved the second chance she got in this mom’s opinion.