- As American as Apple Pie, applauds David Knowles at True/Slant: "Fakih sold her Ford to compete in the Miss Michigan beauty pageant, and after winning on Sunday said wanted to go out for pizza. How American can you get?"
- Broke Barriers in Her Community, writes Niraj Warikoo at the Detroit Free Press: "As an Arab American, Fakih's story contains the tensions and hopes of a metro Detroit community that has been in the spotlight during the last decade as it battles stereotypes from without and within. Given the community's cultural conservatism, some Arab Americans -- in particular, Muslims -- aren't keen on seeing their daughters and sisters participate in beauty pageants that feature public displays of the body."
- Has a Bizarre Understanding of the Pill, jabs Michelle Malkin reacting to her
responses in the interview portion of the pageant: "She argued that
contraceptives should be covered by health insurers because they are
'expensive' — and then said you could get them for 'free' from your
OB/GYN’s office." Here's the clip:
- An Affirmative Action Beauty Contest? A few far-right blogs latched onto a post by Debbie Schlussel, a controversial and often vehement critic of Islam. She attributed the decision to politically correct pandering and made other unconfirmed allegations. The notion was rebuffed by a number of other bloggers, including prominent legal scholar Jonathan Turley. "It is a sad commentary on our contemporary politics that an Arab-American cannot simply win such a pageant without unleashing such a torrent of hateful conspiracy theories." Adam Serwer at the American Prospect adds: "These people aren't worried about terrorism -- they're offended by the idea of Muslims being integrated into the most mundane and banal aspects of American society."
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John Hudson



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