Actually, "they" chose LaToya. Simon flat out told her a couple of times she deserved to win. Fat lot of good it did.
We can disagree on who is better (I think it's Fantasia, but wish Diana well and won't be upset if she wins as evidently some will if Fantasia does) but Fantasia deserves to be up there.
Ack! They are doing the replay of clips from the songs at the end of the show now. It really underscores who is better, IMO.
You're wrong about the judges picking LaToya. They gushed consistently over Fantasia, constantly told her what a mega-star she was going to be (even after she had finished in the bottom three on three different occasions), etc. The night LaToya was voted off, they gushed over Fantasia and did what they could to break LaToya's spirit. I played back their comments several times. And they never told LaToya she deserved to win; Simon did say one time that Fantasia and LaToya were in their own league, but he and both the others treated Fantasia like the de facto winner since week one, exactly like they did with Ruben last year.
They've pushed Fantasia EVERY week since the beginning, and the praise for her always dwarfed everyone else, no matter how stunning a performance the others gave.
MM