Somewhere in the mix of modeling a swimsuit and an evening gown at last night's Miss USA competition, Miss Alabama gave her take on the National Security Agency's controversial surveillance program.
When asked about the NSA's recently outed data mining operation, Miss Alabama (aka Mary Margaret McCord) responded in a manner likely to give privacy advocates nightmares. After weighing the apparent tradeoff between privacy and safety, McCord lept headfirst into the arms of the NSA.
"Government tracking of phone records has been in the news lately," asked judge Wendie Malick. "Is this an invasion of privacy, or necessary to keep our country safe? Why or why not?"
To which Miss Alabama replied:
I think the society that we live in today it's sad that, if we go to the movies or to the airport or even to the mall, that we have to worry about our safety. So I would rather someone track my telephone messages and feel safe wherever I go than feel they're encroaching on my privacy.
Writes CNET's Chris Matyszczyk in response to McCord's comment, "Sadness is something that occurs only too often in our difficult world. Especially when all we want is a little freedom to be less sad."
In her defense, Miss Alabama did offer a complete answer (unlike Miss Utah's now-infamous answer about income inequality), and hey -- she still came in second.
WATCH Miss Alabama's response, above.