Tattle: Carrie Prejean gets thumbs-up from the Donald

OUR NOT-SO-LONG national nightmare is over: Miss California, Carrie Prejean, can keep her title.

(By Howard Gensler) --- Donald Trump descended from a skyscraper yesterday to make his ruling. We still think he should have named Carrie the "Celebrity Apprentice" and Joan Rivers Miss California, but what can you do.It's been a busy week for Trump but once again he used his Solomonic wisdom to do what he does best - get publicity for Donald Trump and properties owned by Donald Trump.

Really, were there a dozen people in America who actually cared about the Miss USA pageant? Are there a half-dozen who can recall who won? In allowing Carrie to retain her crown and simultaneously saying he would love to have Perez Hilton back as a judge, Trump has appealed to both sides in the gay-marriage divide.

"We've reviewed the pictures carefully," Trump said at a packed news conference at Trump Plaza in Manhattan. "We've made a determination that the pictures taken were acceptable. Some were risque, but we are in the 21st century." We're still having beauty pageants, dude. We're fighting over gay marriage. We're at war with fanatics who stone women for going to school. Are we really in the 21st century?

"It's the same answer the president of the United States gave," Trump said of Carrie's response to Perez's gay-marriage query. "It's the same answer many people gave. She gave an honorable answer. She gave an answer from her heart, and I think for that she has to be commended." We're with you, Donald. We have said repeatedly during this ridiculous controversy that Carrie is absolutely entitled to the opinion she stated. It's a beauty contest, for pete's (or Trump's) sake. Carrie was catwalking in high heels, not running for office. She was wearing a sash, not a judge's robe.

Sure we think her higher authority might frown on the nudie shots and the fake boobs, but that's just us - and we frown on neither. So we were 100 percent with The Donald's decision and with Carrie retaining her title and her important runner-up status should anything happen to whoever actually won. But then Carrie had to open her mouth.

"On April 19 on that stage I exercised my freedom of speech, and I was punished for doing so," said Prejean, who described Perez's question as "politically charged" with a "hidden personal agenda." "This should not happen in America."

Take a breath, dear. Perez's question was only "politically charged" because you gave him an answer he didn't want to hear and he made an issue of it. If you want your answer to be respected as coming from your heart, then his question should be respected for coming from his heart.

His "hidden personal agenda"? What's "hidden" about it? He's an out gay man who writes a snarky gossip blog. He believes he should have the right to marry a man. You don't. You both have a "personal agenda" and neither one is hidden.

As for the line "This should not happen in America," to what do you refer? Judges shouldn't ask "politically charged" questions of pageant babes (that's playing into a stereotype) or people shouldn't have "hidden personal agendas" even if they're not hidden?