She has remained in the news because the political extremes have crucified her or made her an idol for expressing a moderate opinion on gay marriage; which just happens to be the same opinion that the vast majority of democrat politicians (including Barack Obama) hold.
The feeling I got from watching her CNN interview a while back was that she seemed moderately intelligent and well spoken, and seemed to (mostly) be taking advantage of the situation she found herself in; and was probably accepting interviews because she was being paid to, or was using the exposure to (potentially) boost her profile as a model/actress.