Thread: Okay, It's Time To Get To The Bottom of Miss Piggy

Alicia Machado Is 2016’s Sandra Fluke, A Democratic Public Relations Scam

Democrats and the media work together seamlessly to push the idea that innocent, random young women are victimized by mean old Republican men.

By Mollie Hemingway
September 29, 2016

In February 2012, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing about how an Obamacare mandate would harm religious liberty. These religious liberty concerns have been upheld at the Supreme Court all the way down, but were dismissed as illegitimate by Democratic leaders and their many allies in the media.

Democrats on the committee wanted to have a Georgetown Law student testify in favor of forcing religious groups that provide student health plans to violate their consciences if they don’t sponsor abortifacients and birth control. She wasn’t seated, and Democrats walked out in dramatic protest, later holding an event to hear her speak about how evil her Catholic university was for not violating Catholic teaching.

Sandra Fluke became the centerpiece of the Democrats’ “War on Women” messaging that they pounded throughout the year. The media completely ate it up, hook, line, and sinker. Within minutes, she was put on every major network and cable outlet. The media ran with stories about how women weren’t allowed to testify at the hearing, even though two female college administrators — Dr. Allison Dabbs Garrett, the senior vice-president for academic affairs at Oklahoma Christian University, and Dr. Laura Champion, medical director of Calvin College Health Services — testified. The facts were no barrier to the headlines, which included CBS’ “Dems decry all-male House panel on WH contraception rule” and CNN’s “Angry lawmakers challenge lineup at hearing: ‘Where are the women?'”

A Lexis-Nexis search shows that the media ran too many stories in 2012 for the search to filter (more than 3,000) but a cursory search shows the Washington Post ran a whopping 139 stories on Sandra Fluke that year and CNN had 146 pieces dealing with Fluke. MSNBC (94), New York Times (63), Associated Press (49), NBC (23), Los Angeles Times (13), ABC (13), and CBS (11) also played their role in advancing this story.

The Fluke media blitz was managed by powerhouse public relations firm SKDKnickerbocker, and it continued throughout the year. The Washington Post‘s “health policy” reporter Sarah Kliff wrote more than 80 stories about her, the Komen foundation’s attempts to stop funding Planned Parenthood, and failed Senate candidate Todd Akin (and none on Philly abortionist and serial murderer Kermit Gosnell). Fluke’s media coverage far outweighed actual public interest in her, culminating with Time naming her a finalist for their “person of the year.”

One of the interesting things about the public relations blitz to make Sandra Fluke a household name in order to advance a key Democratic campaign theme was how everyone complying with the public relations blitz pretended it was organic. Very few journalists admitted they were running a story pre-packaged by the country’s most Democrat-aligned public relations firm, the firm that was also behind Planned Parenthood’s wildly successful destruction campaign against the Komen Foundation (as described here). Instead, they all pretended that a fresh-faced little law student just happened to find herself in the middle of a media maelstrom. The media’s talking points matched those of the Obama administration-staffed public relations firm down from start to finish.

An innocent, random young woman was victimized by mean old Republican men. Sound familiar? It should.

We’re in the middle of the exact same phenomenon with Alicia Machado, the former Miss Universe Donald Trump allegedly called “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping.” This time, they’re even cutting out the public relations firm middle men.

Hillary Clinton made Machado the centerpiece of a line of attack against Donald Trump during Monday night’s debate:

CLINTON: And one of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest. He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them. And he called this woman ‘Miss Piggy.’ Then he called her ‘Miss Housekeeping,’ because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name.

CLINTON: Her name is Alicia Machado.

CLINTON: And she has become a U.S. citizen, and you can bet she’s going to vote this November.

Almost immediately media outlets ran fully researched front-page and top-of-the-newscast stories quarterbacking this major Hillary Clinton campaign theme to prominence. That means they were already ready to go, more or less. There was no daylight between actual Hillary Clinton campaign talking points and the stories that ran on front pages across the land. Here’s a typical example of media cooperation that neglects to note the means by which the campaign is accomplishing its goals:

The backstory to this hugely important news story is provided by CNN in a 1997 report:

NEW YORK (CNN) — When Alicia Machado of Venezuela was named Miss Universe nine months ago, no one could accuse her of being the size of the universe. But as her universe expanded, so did she, putting on nearly 60 pounds.

Indeed, the reigning Miss Universe learned the hard way that an extra 15 or 20 pounds can gain you a ton of publicity. But now she’s determined to shed at least 15 pounds, though the loss of her Miss Universe crown is no longer an issue.

‘Some people when they have pressure eat too much. Like me. Like Alicia,’ said Donald Trump, the executive producer of the Miss Universe Pageant.

Since winning the crown, the former Miss Venezuela went from 118 pounds to — well — a number that kept growing like the size of the fish that got away.

There were calls to take away her crown but the pageant encouraged her instead to get her weight down. Trump’s supposedly horrific remarks were made in the context of a generally jovial atmosphere. CNN’s report ended with Trump telling a “rowdy pool of reporters” that “A lot of you folks have weight problems. I hate to tell you.”

She was Miss Universe. She put on “nearly 60 pounds,” according to CNN. Trump, who chaired the pageant or whatever, made many remarks about it. Some people think this is an issue of more relevance than, oh I don’t know, Hillary Clinton’s Syria policy. The rest just know it’s far easier and more entertaining to run the “War on Women” playbook that was so successful for the Democrats and their wholly controlled mainstream media establishment.

The New York Times‘ Michael Barbaro and Meghan Twohey published a breathless piece headlined “Shamed and Angry: Alicia Machado, a Miss Universe Mocked by Donald Trump.”

“Good Morning America” bought the Clinton spin hook, line and sinker. “Donald Trump hasn’t changed since fat-shaming me in 1996, Alicia Machado says.”

A check of Lexis-Nexis on Thursday morning, less than 72 hours after Clinton unveiled her campaign message, showed that CNN transcripts had 46 mentions of Machado, CNN.com another 27, and CNN Wire with another 23. The New York Times has already run 11 stories around Machado, the Associated Press as many as 17, the Los Angeles Times with five, the Washington Post with five, and more in the Chicago Tribune, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” the San Francisco Chronicle, the Arizona Republic, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Boston Globe, CBS News, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and even smaller papers such as the Tulare Advance-Register.

It was immediate and it was everywhere. That’s not a coincidence. That’s coordination.

The Intercept’s Lee Fang provided some helpful facts showing how the media and the Clinton campaign work together seamlessly to force narratives helpful to the Clinton campaign:

It’s interesting that Frank Thorp V, the “Producer & Off-Air Reporter covering 2016 at @NBCNews” is fully aware that this story is being generated as a public relations campaign by the Clinton campaign, and is tweeting about it regularly:

It’s certainly fine and good to use things candidates say as hooks for stories. But the media should do it evenly, and not by being beholden to whichever public relations firm has the most employees embedded, if you know what I mean, with members of the Clinton campaign.

Trump made reference to something in the debate related to temperament that I saw no stories built around.

TRUMP: Wait. The AFL-CIO the other day, behind the blue screen, I don’t know who you were talking to, Secretary Clinton, but you were totally out of control. I said, there’s a person with a temperament that’s got a problem.

He was referring to this clip of Hillary Clinton that he would like the media to pay attention to.

But when Clinton talks about Machado, and runs conference calls for the media with her, and sets up photo shoots with her, and whatnot, everyone just complies and forgets to mention they’re taking marching orders from the campaign.

How else to explain how everyone chose the same angle as the Clinton campaign asked them to? Media outlets could have noted that they themselves were calling Machado a fatty-boombaladdy at the exact same time Trump made his remarks. They could have noted that beauty pageant winners are generally judged by their … how do you say it … BEAUTY. Or they could have chosen entirely different angles.

For example, Hillary Clinton’s kill shot was to say that Machado had become a U.S. citizen recently and would be voting for her. A less compliant media might have noted or emphasized that the Mexican attorney general’s office said Machado was romantically involved and had a daughter with a notorious drug lord, Jose Gerardo Alvarez Vazquez, also known as “El Indio.” Or that a Venezuelan judge said Machado threatened “to ruin my career as a judge and … kill me,” after he indicted her then-boyfriend for murder. Or that the Associated Press reported allegations that she drove the getaway car, even though there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.

But these angles run counter to another media/Clinton campaign theme of discrediting the idea that immigrants to this country, under our current policies, are anything other than perfect people. (You may see a second version of it this week in how the media emphasize or downplay the immigration status, voting habits, and murder spree-ness, of this guy.)

Yes, CNN did ask Machado if she threatened to kill a judge. She replied, oddly, “What matters is my self-esteem.”

The media might have the same response to why they’re playing cabana boy to the Clinton campaign. They’re not interested in reporting the news so much as feeding their self-perception of righteousness. A journalistic establishment that was less entertainment, less pseudo-event, less undistilled public relations coup would serve us well right about now.

http://thefederalist.com/2016/09/29/...elations-scam/

In 2005, Machado was engaged to baseball star Bobby Abreu. During their engagement she was on the Spanish reality show La Granja where she was filmed on camera having sex with another member of the show. Shortly after the video surfaced Abreu ended their engagement.[2][3]

On June 25, 2008, Machado gave birth to her daughter, Dinorah Valentina. She issued a statement that the father of Dinorah was her best friend Mexican businessman Rafael Hernandez Linares after Mexican news sources, quoting the Attorney General, reported that the father was Gerardo Alvarez-Vazquez, a drug lord.[4]

From my wikipedia source posted earlier in this thread, before it was scrubbed. How could her daughter have been born in the United States as she claims in the following article from NBC News?

ANALYSIS
Politics
Sep 30 2016, 3:07 pm ET
Analysis: Trump's Alicia Machado Tweet-Storm Points to Deeper Problems

by Benjy Sarlin
[Trump doubles down on Alicia Machado comments]
Trump doubles down on Alicia Machado comments 9:08

Donald Trump, always at least knee deep in the fever swamps, is now drowning in them.

Still reeling from Monday's widely panned debate performance, the Republican nominee has found refuge in a fringe media environment where his victory is assured, his setbacks are the result of shadowy plots, and his critics are humiliated by sordid revelations.

On Friday, he let loose with an early morning Twitter outburst against former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, escalating a feud with her that began at the debate over his past criticism of her weight — criticism he repeated on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?" Trump tweeted.

Machado responded on social media herself, accusing Trump of "trying to revive defamation and false accusations about my life" and adding that she became a citizen "because my daughter was born here and I wanted to exercise all my rights, among them, voting."

Set aside for a moment the politics of a candidate already losing women and Latino voters by large margins then smearing a Venezuela-born actress over her sexual ethics and questioning her citizenship. (Yes, that again.) Set aside the hypocrisy of Trump — who once called venereal disease "my personal Vietnam" and has a long history of crude rhetoric and adulterous behavior — questioning Machado's personal life. Even set aside the questions Trump's behavior raises about his impulse control, which has become a central line of attack for his opponent Hillary Clinton.

Instead, let's consider the voices to which Trump is listening.

The alleged Machado "sex tape" Trump cited appeared to be a hoax widely promoted in fringe pro-Trump outlets like Infowars. Other sites like Drudge Report have spread grainy stills of a love scene from a reality show Machado starred in. Radio host Rush Limbaugh called Machado "the porn-star Miss Piggy" this week. And Trump, desperate for encouragement after his debate, is huffing these sycophantic fumes like never before.

This is nothing new. Trump has a long history of championing conspiracy theories that target his opponents and turning to wacky supportive sources to confirm them — from birtherism to falsely tying Sen. Ted Cruz's family to the JFK assassination.

Since the debate, though, his tendency to cocoon himself in an alternate reality of fawning commentary has both worsened and infected the rest of his campaign, creating a political crisis less than two weeks from the second presidential debate.
"Since the debate, though, his tendency to cocoon himself in an alternate reality of fawning commentary has both worsened and infected the rest of his campaign."

In recent days, Trump has accused plotters of rigging his microphone to undermine his debate performance. He's accused Google of "suppressing the bad news about Hillary Clinton," a debunked story that originated on a Russian propaganda site. And he's obsessively pushed non-scientific fan surveys at sites like Breitbart to prove he won the debate, which his campaign insists are more reliable than rigorously conducted polls showing he lost the debate by a wide margin.

At the same time, Trump stopped doing press conferences two months ago and has largely confined himself to interviews with friendly conservative outlets, which further insulates from outside views. Even then, he seems unable to help himself: His post-debate rants about Machado's weight this week came during easygoing interviews with Fox News hosts.

Meanwhile, campaign aides are left gently pleading with Trump via the press to come in from the cold and begin to acknowledge the damage he's done.

Dr. Ben Carson, a prominent supporter, told MSNBC on Friday Trump was following Clinton down a "rat hole" by attacking Machado over and over again.

"You know it's going to be so much better when he begins to focus on the real issues," he said.

Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told the hosts of The View on Thursday that she had reprimanded Trump for his language toward women even as she defended his behavior toward Machado. Campaign sources complained to NBC News this week that Trump did not adequately prepare for the first debate and suffered a "disaster" as a result.

Trump, well aware of the campaign within his campaign to force him back to a more conventional message, lashed out against the press on Friday.

"Remember, don't believe 'sources said' by the VERY dishonest media," he tweeted. "If they don't name the sources, the sources don't exist."

There's no small amount of irony here. As mentioned earlier, Trump regularly makes outlandish claims based on unnamed or nonexistent citations — whether it's the "extremely credible source" who told him Obama's birth certificate was forged, or his false claim that TV footage exists showing "thousands and thousands" of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the 9/11 terror attacks. He even defended tweeting fake crime statistics spread by white supremacists to smear blacks, telling Fox's Bill O'Reilly the source — Twitter user @SeanSean252 — was "supposedly an expert."

In the meantime, while Trump listens to fans tell him his misogynist attacks on Machado are on the verge of breaking through and winning him the election, the Clinton campaign seems all too eager to continue the conversation.

"What kind of man stays up all night to smear a woman with lies and conspiracy theories?" Clinton tweeted on Friday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016...deeper-n657466

________________________

So we have Crooked Hillary and the Corrupt Media claiming erroneously that Trump is tweeting about Miss Universe at 3 am, when the 3 am tweet was about not believing "sources said" in response to false media rumors claiming "sources within the campaign said Trump's children weren't happy with Conway and Bannon."

His tweets about Machado started about 5:14 am, probably after his normal get up time. He only sleeps about 4 hours a night and as I've been watching his tweets, he signs off with his last tweet around 11 pm to midnight. Maybe he woke up to go to the bathroom at 3 am and had a thought about the "sources" rumors and wanted to address it before it got lost in the business of the next day. When he awoke at 5 and is having some coffee or whatever he does in the early morning, he decides to review the news on Machado and finds out about all the bad things she's done along with raising the very legitimate question about this mysterious citizenship she claims she has, and tweets that out to start the day. It all makes perfect sense to most people. It obviously wouldn't make sense to Hillary and members of the Media who don't wake up early. Most active working Americans are up and at it between 5 and 6 am, many are up at 4 am.

Apparently getting up early to be at work is something Machado and Hillary don't know anything about.

Someone in positions of authority need to investigate this citizenship issue of Machado and the claim that her daughter was born in the United States, because based on the personal life of Machado in wiki before it was scrubbed, neither should have occurred under US immigration law.

Machado responded on social media herself, accusing Trump of "trying to revive defamation and false accusations about my life" and adding that she became a citizen "because my daughter was born here and I wanted to exercise all my rights, among them, voting."

A foreign national that has produced an anchor baby fathered by a Mexican Cartel drug lord and this gives this woman the right to vote.

What else is wrong with this picture? Does she get medicaid?

It's just unbelievable.