The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

No, Miss Universe Can’t Be 170 Pounds

Posted on | September 28, 2016 | 2 Comments

 

It should not be necessary to explain why a beauty queen is obliged to maintain her physique at or near her pageant-winning form during her yearlong tenure as the reigning Miss Whatever. She wins a local beauty contest, which qualifies her to compete at higher levels, on up to a national title and, perhaps, eventually to become Miss Universe. To be acclaimed the most beautiful woman in the world is a high honor, and those who wear the crown must uphold the prestige of that title.

Only in the Through the Looking Glass world of 21st-century feminism — and amid a presidential campaign where the media are Hillary Clinton’s propaganda squad — would former Miss Universe Alicia Machado’s claims of victimhood make it into the New York Times:

For 20 years, Alicia Machado has lived with the agony of what Donald J. Trump did to her after she won the Miss Universe title: shame her, over and over, for gaining weight.
Private scolding was apparently insufficient. Mr. Trump, who was an executive producer of the pageant, insisted on accompanying Ms. Machado, then a teenager, to a gym, where dozens of reporters and cameramen watched as she exercised.
Mr. Trump, in his trademark suit and tie, posed for photographs beside her as she burned calories in front of members of the news media. “This is somebody who likes to eat,” Mr. Trump said from inside the gym.
On Monday night, Hillary Clinton turned Ms. Machado’s pain into a potent political weapon on the biggest stage. . . .

Question: When did it become the job of the media to amplify, and give credibility to, the Democrat Party’s campaign themes?

Let us make no mistake about why the New York Times devoted 600 words to this story: To help Hillary Clinton win the election. This “news story” is in fact an unregulated contribution-in-kind to the Clinton campaign, written to reinforce the Democrat’s message. And what is that message? Well, apparently, the message was that Trump should have ignored the fact that the former Miss Valenzuela — who weighed 116 pounds when she won the Miss Universe title in 1996 — reportedly ballooned to almost 170 pounds within months of winning the crown. How much weight Ms. Machado gained is a subject of dispute, as she claimed at the time it was only 19 pounds. Trump discussed the controversy in a 1997 broadcast of the Howard Stern radio show:

Stern introduces the topic by saying, “The Miss Universe, it turns out, the woman who won last year, blows up to a fat pig. I mean, like obese.”
Trump can be heard chuckling in the background as Stern recapped the events.
“You whipped this fat slob into shape,” Stern continued. “I don’t know how you did it. I see all these diet plans, everything else. God bless you. You whipped her into shape, and you held the whole pageant together. Congratulations.”
“Well, that was an amazing one,” Trump responded. “She went from 118 to almost 170.”
“And you got her right down again to 118, didn’t you?,” asked Stern.
“Well, she’s going to be there,” replied Trump. “She’s probably 145 or something.”
Trump and Stern said Machado looked beautiful when she won. “Right,” said Trump. “She gained about 55 pounds in a period of nine months. She was like an eating machine.”
“What does a girl eat in less than a year to gain [55 pounds]?” Stern asked.
“I think she ate a lot of everything,” answered Trump.

Let me say this: I have never liked Howard Stern, a man who became a leading agent of cultural degradation in the 1990s, treating porn performers as legitimate celebrities. Calling a woman a “fat pig” is certainly not the worst thing Stern ever said, but this was “shock jock” radio in New York in the late 1990s, and Trump was just doing that circus as part of the usual publicity stuff he did as a businessman.

Ah, but now Trump is not just a New York businessman, and the Clinton campaign team (which includes the New York Times) is promoting Ms. Machado as a victim of “fat-shaming” and misogyny:

Ms. Machado, in a series of interviews this year with The Times, recalled the experience and its long-term effect on her life for an article about how Mr. Trump treats women. . . .
“Over the past 20 years,” Ms. Machado said, “I’ve gone to a lot of psychologists to combat this.”

Don’t cry for me, Miss Valenzuela! This bizarre idea, that a beauty pageant contestant’s weight problems are a political issue, shows how far the media is willing to go in its servile loyalty to the Democrat Party. Whatever Team Clinton decides is an “issue,” the media feels obliged to convince us really is an issue, no matter how silly and trivial it may be.

UPDATE: Huge hat-tip to Kathy Shaidle for pointing out Steve Sailer’s column on Ms. Machado, which includes a 1998 Associated Press item:

VENEZUELAN BEAUTY QUEEN ACCUSED
Associated Press
Jan. 23, 1998 6:39 PM ET
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The Venezuelan beauty queen who made headlines two years ago for putting on weight after being crowned Miss Universe is back in the news.
A lawyer for a man who was shot outside a church in November said Friday that Alicia Machado, 21, was seen driving the car in which her boyfriend sped away from the scene of the shooting. Francisco Sbert Mousko suffered brain damage when two bullets punctured his skull outside a church where his dead wife was being eulogized.
Sbert’s family said the alleged gunman, Sbert’s brother-in-law Juan Rodriguez Reggeti, had accused Sbert of driving his sister to commit suicide.
“Our accusations against Alicia Machado are based on coinciding testimony from witnesses, who place her in the vehicle in which Juan Rodriguez fled the scene,” said Omar Arenas Candelo, one of three attorneys who presented the allegations to a criminal court late Thursday.

Steve Sailer details a lengthy list of scandals Ms. Machado has been involved in over the years. She’s a typical Democrat, I guess.




 


Comments

2 Responses to “No, Miss Universe Can’t Be 170 Pounds”

  1. Huma’s Daddy Outta the Basement | Regular Right Guy
    September 28th, 2016 @ 2:38 pm

    […] No, Miss Universe Can’t Be 170 Pounds […]

  2. Miss Universe’s Reality TV Sex Scandal : The Other McCain
    September 29th, 2016 @ 8:41 am

    […] Clinton’s reference to Alicia Machado in Monday’s debate (“No, Miss Universe Can’t Be 170 Pounds”) drew attention to the Venezuelan beauty queen’s sordid past, e.g., the time she wrecked her […]