Former Miss California runner-up, Carrie Prejean had her day in court yesterday, though it didn’t turn out quite the way she had hoped. The Beauty Pageant almost Queen was suing the Miss California Pageant officials for a litany of charges including public ridicule, anxiety, depression and loss of sleep stemming from the official’s handling of her career.

Everything was going fine until the defendants started playing an extremely graphic homemade sex tape starring none other than Miss Prejean, herself.

It’s been reported that it only took about fifteen seconds of playing the tape before Prejean decided to drop her lawsuit. If all litigation could only end so quickly.

How fast and far can one star fall.

If you recall (and who can forget with all the coverage the story got) Prejean rose to national attention with her admonishment against gay marriage in her series of pageant questions. She finished runner-up and claimed she lost because she was treated unfairly due to the nature of that question. She later claimed she was warned by officials two months earlier that maybe she should keep her religious beliefs out of her answers, but I guess she had a point she wanted to make. I would have to agree that the question was a bit unfair.

She stated that she believed that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. Her answers quickly started a fire storm and made her the darling of the rightwing. Finally, there was someone of notoriety willing to champion therights religious agenda against gay marriage. A real live beauty queen with a brain! Yay!

Next came the talk show circuit and the tangled mess that that always seems to create. America just couldn’t get enough of Carrie Prejean. The right loved her. The left hated her. American TV loved her. Ratings soared.

Then the boob job story and the semi nude photos came out. Her story just keeps getting better and better. It seems that the Miss California Pageant ponied up for Prejean’s breast enhancement. Free boobs! Yay! I doubt that saline or the tasteful photos set that well with the right, but hey, she was still against gay marriage so they decided to run with it anyway. After all, nobody's perfect and boobs are nice.

Donald Trump (ick), who owns the pageant, took Prejean’s side in the debate, then he didn’t, which just helped keep the story in the public eye. All the while Prejean is playing the victim of the liberal media, though Fox News continued to parade her as a hero for the religious right. Go figure.

A You Tube video claiming “Carrie Prejean, Miss California USA, was denied the Miss USA crown because she stood up for her moral beliefs. In this Fox News segment she defends her Christian faith and responds with dignity, courage and integrity to the vile filth and persecution that has been heaped upon her by celebrity parasite "Perez Hilton" and the rest of the Political Correctness Gestapo.” was recently (yesterday) pulled from the site. Note the words, 'responds with dignity, courage and integrity'. You are free to laugh now.

Funny thing is, is that Perez Hilton, who had asked the big question and was vilified by the right for it, got the last laugh on this one. After all the bashing that Hilton and celebrity entertainment show, TMZ took over this story, it seems TMZ has had possession of the XXX rated homemade tape for months and was waiting for the right time to reveal it (for maximum effect, would be my guess). That time came in yesterday's courtroom. Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark.

Naturally there was a book deal for Prejean announced in July with a launch date slated for mid-November. The title, “Still Standing: The Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate, and Political Attacks” may need a little work. I’ll leave it to you to come up with a new title.

The publisher of the book also claims: "Still Standing proves that she’s more than just a pretty face – she’s a strong woman of admirable religious, political, and moral substance, and she’s one of the leaders in a new movement championing conservative women everywhere." That statement might also need a little polish.

Of course, all of this should have little effect on her career. If anything it will add fuel to it with the way Americans are infatuated with hypocrites and fallen angels. Vivid Entertainment Group, which specializes in adult films, made an offer of a million dollars to Prejean back in May to make a movie for them. Seems she might be a natural. This could only raise her value in the porn market. Practice makes perfect.

I'm curious as to how all the rightwing Prejean backers will spin this and find a way to blame this on everyone but Prejean. I might even turn on Fox News to check it out. With Prejean's looks and attitude, she may end up with her own show over there since credibility isn't a factor in Fox's hiring practices.

And for those of you who don’t remember who actually won the Miss California Pageant, her name is Tami Ferrell from Malibu. How soon we forget those with actual morals.