In the clip at left, Prejean stumbles through an interview with Van Susteren, who seems to have made it her mission to profile (and defend) controversial right-wing female beauty queens. Earlier in the day, Prejean gave a press conference on behalf of the National Organization for Marriage and unveiled her new ad for NOW, which will be airing in several states. Currently, the only way to watch online is to head to the organization's website, as gossip blogger Perez Hilton has forced the ad to be removed from YouTube.

Prejean said she was calling in to promote traditional marriage, but when Van Susteren asked her about civil unions she said, as transcribed by U.S. News and World Report:

You know what, Greta? I don't have the answers to everything. I'm not running for political office. I don't have the answers to everything, you know, in the world out there.

But I think that there should be rights for people, you know, especially in California. I think that people that are homosexual should have some rights, you know, hospital rights, and things like that.

Rights for hospitals and things like that - generous! Then, when Van Susteren proceeded to ask Prejean about gay adoption, the beauty queen seemed to think the anchor was trying trick her and scolded:

Greta, I am focusing on marriage right now, not adoption, not civil unions, just traditional marriage, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to promote that.

At the press conference earlier in the day (clip below, via Pandagon) Prejean didn't fare much better. She explained that she is passionate about her cause because "marriage is good" and "unless we bring men and women together children will not have mothers and fathers." Then, during the question and answer segment of her press conference, following a reporter's question as to whether Prejean will be going into politics she laughed and said, "I think that is a silly question." AT this point, we're just relieved that Prejean finds the idea of her starting a political career is as silly as we do.

NOM Launches "No Offense" Religious Liberty Ad Campaign! [NOM]
Why Carrie Prejean May Not Be An Effective Spokeswoman for the Anti-Gay-Marriage Cause [U.S. News and World Report]
Miss California On Presser: If We Don't Save Marriage Kids Won't Have Moms And Dads [Pandagon]

Earlier: Perez Hilton Forces NOM Off YouTube
Both The Beauty And The Blogger Make Beastly Representatives

MEGAN: How many conventions have you been to, and how are this year's different?

GRETA: I was at both in 2004 and in 2000, and I honestly can't remember if I went in 1996 — with all due respect, they all start to blur together for me with the big tent and the lights and the media section, the security. I've been around the block. These are different substantively — my experience has been that there's usually an obvious candidate coming into the conventions, an incumbent or whatever. But this time we have Senator McCain and Senator Obama, two people that most people a year ago would not have predicted would be the nominees. So that's different. And for the first time in twenty-four years there's a woman on the ticket. So that makes a difference. The thing that I'm not wild about is that the conventions are so scripted, we could almost put a camera up and talk about these back in the studio. Because of the level of security now, and increasingly over the years, we aren't really interviewing anyone on site. This isn't new gathering anymore, it's news management breaking any news. So I look around a see the expense, how much money the media how to lay out to cover these things and I wonder if I was running the operations if I would do it.

MEGAN: With Sarah Palin's nomination, it's been kind of a whirlwind of personal speculation about her and everyone's coming out on a different side about whether or not we "should" be talking about her family. How do you see that from a news perspective?

GRETA: Well, every time we have something new, a trailblazer, we tend to come out like scientists with our little microscopes. I think this is one of those times. It used to be that seeing a woman running for Congress it was a new thing and everyone ran around examining them. But now it's fairly commonplace except for on the the ticket. So when it's a woman running for Senate of Congress, it's kind of like, big whoop, we've seen it a million times. But the first one, the trailblazer, always gets dissected like a frog in the lab. Whether it's fair, I don't know. The issues she raises, the fact that she has number of children and a dual role, I think most women in this country would say that women have doing that for a long time, working and having children.

MEGAN: Some people have been comparing the way Hillary Clinton was treated in the primary, the sexism there, with how Sarah Palin has been treated. Do you see some kind of comparison there?

GRETA: I think it's different. Do I think there's sexism in media? Yes, I will tell you that. They are two completely different roles, so I don't know if you can compare the two. But, like, if a guy wears tight leather pants, we don't write about it. For a woman, we might write about the issues but there will always be a paragraph about what she was wearing.

MEGAN: Do you think the clothing discussion is a fair discussion to have and we're just not doing it with men? Or that it's not really a valid discussion?

GRETA: I think you will see the blue tie, red tie discussion but, regardless, the level of scrutiny will always be more on a woman.

MEGAN: Do you see that as a person in the media?

GRETA: I think Katie Couric is a good example. Now, I don't know Katie, I've met her maybe twice. She has the highest job in media, her and Charles Gibson and Brian Williams. And you know how she got that job? She earned it, the old fashioned way. She was an intern at CNN. But the level of scrutiny she got when she took that job, it just wasn't comparable to the level that either of the two men got. Whether you like Katie Couric or not, she's got 30 years of experience and she earned it and she just got hammered by the media. And the women were just as involved with hammering her as men. It's horrible, it's unbelievable.

MEGAN: Do you feel like you've been subjected to some of that as well?

GRETA: I think I pretty much dodged that bullet.

MEGAN: Do you think that's because of the kind of topics you cover?

GRETA: I think it's that... I have no idea. It's an issue for every single woman in the media. I'm sure you get it, everyone gets it, I just think maybe I get a little less of it.

MEGAN: Do you have any idea how you innoculated yourself?

GRETA: I have another career. I have a whole other career, and a career that I liked. I liked practicing law. I liked teaching law. And I'd be happy going back to that. I don't have to do this job. Not caring is very empowering. I like this job. I'm very lucky that I have another one that I like to. Another woman, a single woman, especially one with kids at home? She's in a very different position than I am because she needs that job, especially if she doesn't have anything to fall back on. Having something to fall back on is always a good idea.

• Cudmudgeonly uncle-anchor Jack Cafferty has disappointed millions of women everywhere by saying, "Viagra is used to treat a medical condition, erectile dysfunction. Birth control is a lifestyle choice," when discussing John McCain's little birth control gaffe. Jack, sweetie, birth control pills do treat medical conditions and there's a good economic argument (pregnancy is expensive) for covering them. Erectile dysfunction, however, is God's way of telling you to keep it in your pants, old man. [Crooks & Liars]
• John McCain has proved a disappointment to the Secret Service by letting slip details of Barack Obama's highly secret-for-his-own-safety trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. Man, he really will do anything to keep playing his commercial about how Obama's never been. [Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic]

• By the way, McCain also doesn't know if Obama is a Socialist or not. I don't know that John McCain doesn't drink Cindy's drug-filled urine as a sedative, either. What don't you know? [HuffPo]
• The full list of Starbucks closures is now available. Caffeinated Washingtonians rejoice: Only one in D.C.! [HuffPo]
• Harold Ford got booed at Netroots Nation because he used to work at Fox News, but not because he used to date Julia Allison. [HuffPo]
• The German government has decided to let Obama speak — at the Victory Column, not the Brandenburg Gate because the Bushies kinda asked them not to. Wankers. [HuffPo]
• Scott Peterson has a blog. I think we can finally call this blogging trend over; no one's ever going to believe we're normal people now. [CNN]
• Greta Van Susteren, like, totally swears that she knows someone who knows someone whose anti-Obama copy was watered down at CNN, not that it ever happened to her and she's totally got journalistic freedom (if not freedom from the plastic surgery requirement) at Fox News and is she up for a new contract soon or something? [Fishbowl NY]

Shepard Smith: Was she on something?

Greta: Yeah, I have some speculations, but I have a law degree not a medical degree.

Shepard Smith: Speculate!

Greta: What was painfully obvious is that there is something not quite right. She is a sick woman. I have no idea what the problem is, but certainly, someone needs to take a look at her. She sort of has a tick and shakes. We were stunned by how troubled and sick and she looked. She needs medical attention. I don't know what it is but I hope the judge can arrange that in jail for her. She turned around several times and mouthed 'I love you' to her mother. Look, you know, it's so easy to be cavalier about this, but when you're in the courtroom and you see what's going on in these people's lives and recognize that this is serious and she has a medical condition...

...There is something going on with her. She needs to get a good medical diagnosis. She shakes, she twitches, she quivers. There's something wrong with her.

Shepard Smith: Was she on something?

Greta: Yeah, I have some speculations, but I have a law degree not a medical degree.

Shepard Smith: Speculate!

Greta: I won't do that. I can make an observation like a lay person and say that she's sick. There's something wrong with her. If she showed up on my doorstep like this, the first thing I would do is take her to a doctor...

Shepard Smith: When she's screaming, and I'm reading this from the wire, "Mom, it's not right. Mom!" I mean, all of this looks funny quite frankly on paper but you're saying it felt sick.

Greta: I can understand how it seems funny, but if you were sitting in the courtroom it was very different. This woman is obviously very pained by this process, and that's part of the punishment, but when we saw her twitch and shake and quiver, it wasn't out of sadness. It appears to be a medical problem. The judge said the county was equipped to handle it.

Shepard: From what I've seen of her on TV and what I know about her and her show and her little dog, do you think this is spoiled bratitis?

Greta: From what I've seen, I'm more suspicious that it's drug related. That's my wild guess. That's what it appears like. If you have ever seen people on drugs, that's what her behavior is consistent with. That doesn't mean that's what it is. Even if she has a drug problem, it needs to be addressed, because that's a medical condition.
"Sick Woman" Fox News