"Dumb" Miss Utah Is A Lot Smarter Than We Thought

Practically everybody and their brother, and their dog and cat, derided Miss Utah Marissa Powell after she really stumbled and bumbled and acted like a total moron when she was asked a question about equal pay for equal work for women during Sunday's Miss USA pageant.

Miss Utah, Marissa Powell
isn't nearly as dumb as many
of us first thought

The initial consensus was she was dumb as a brick, as she made a very untasty word salad out of what should have been a straightforward answer.

She became an instant viral sensation within hours of her disaster, and she'd go down in history as that dumb woman who couldn't think and chew gum at the same time.

Never mind that we couldn't really tell if she was stupid just from that one botched moment during the pageant.. Maybe she had a brain fart. Or she's just crummy at public speaking. Or she was thinking faster than she could speak, and the result was a train wreck of an answer.

Powell said afterward she was nervous, caught up in the moment and thus could not formulate a coherent answer to the question.

Well, who's laughing now?

I'd hire Powell as a PR consultant in a heartbeat, as over the past couple of days she's done a textbook performance of how to manage a public relations disaster.

She did the obvious, which many PR experts somehow don't understand is the best policy. Powell deployed what seems to be her substantial sense of humor, didn't blame anybody for the snafu, and politely answered any questions celebrity journalists tossed her way.

On the Today Show, host Matt Lauer gave Powell a chance for a do-over. Granted, Powell knew she'd be asked the question again and had plenty of time to find an articulate answer when Lauer asked about the idea that men still make more money than women.

Her answer to Lauer came off as perfectly reasonable, coherent and concise:

"This is not OK...It needs to ber equal pay for equal work It's hard enough already to earn a living, and it shouldn't be harder just because you're a woman."

The best thing Powell did to redeem herself was to appear on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show, where she sang her really, really bad answer to the tune of "My Country Tis of Thee"

Her body language during, and especially after the performance tells me Powell is just fine, and will continue to be fine. She's probably no rocket scientist, but she's sure as hell not dumb enough to be a menace to society.

Watch the YouTube video and see for yourself. And have a laugh along with Powell: