'The dumbest attempt at journalism I've seen in 2020 so far': WaPo firefighter busts GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik for tweeting 'altered photo of Pelosi'

Well, stick a fork in Elise Stefanik. She’s as good as done after this shocking exposé by the Washington Post’s Felicia Sonmez:

Rep. Stefanik tweets altered photo of Pelosi in GOP fundraising appeal https://t.co/xn7NkDaZZQ

— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) January 9, 2020

Rep. Stefanik tweets altered photo of Pelosi in GOP fundraising appeal https://t.co/LKeNB0V0BX

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 9, 2020

More from Sonmez:

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) tweeted a petition and fundraising appeal that included what appeared to be an altered photo of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, drawing a retweet Thursday morning from President Trump.

An “altered photo of Pelosi”? “That appears to have been manipulated”? Wow, this sounds serious, you guys. We’ve gotta see this thing.

OK, here it is. Brace yourselves:

Dems obsessed w/ impeachment but won't send articles to the Senate. Why? It's bc they don't want a trial that will EXPOSE Schiff's illegal COORDINATION with the Whistleblower. SIGN & DONATE to #PressurePelosi to send the articles! https://t.co/g0D2tl9Px3 ?https://t.co/w13xEv1sC9

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 8, 2020

Dear God. That photo has been altered? IMPEACH! Better yet, throw Stefanik into federal prison.

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This is an unbelievably stupid piece https://t.co/oQYhYL6nSg pic.twitter.com/BkLmftqu8a

— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) January 9, 2020

Obviously your average person would look at that tweet and assume that Pelosi has a bright red face and has a constant satanic black cloud around her

— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) January 9, 2020

That doctored photo sure had us fooled!

Flaming liberal here. This is not a big deal at all since politicians always design their opponents to look menacing. You’d fill an entire newspaper with these stories in campaign seasons if you are consistent

— MeatloafForever (@ForeverMeatloaf) January 9, 2020

Seems pretty par for the course.

— Catalyst (@Catalyst_317) January 9, 2020

The MSM used altered photos all the time.

— Loads of Facts (@fleaflicker44) January 9, 2020

Next thing you're going to tell me is that this is not actually a photograph. Big if true pic.twitter.com/99A6Gu7yyf

— Waldo (@AndyWIII) January 9, 2020

So @washingtonpost has this post out slamming @EliseStefanik for sharing an "altered photo" of Pelosi.

Curious, I looked for the egregious photoshop they could be referencing.

I found it.

This is the dumbest attempt at journalism I've seen in 2020 so far. It's been 9 days. pic.twitter.com/dwbvqycZtL

— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) January 9, 2020

Sonmez compares Stefanik’s tweet to the one from GOP Rep. Paul Gosar falsely depicting Barack Obama shaking hands with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The two aren’t even remotely the same. Gosar’s was intended to deceive; Stefanik was just depicting a political opponent in a negative light, something politicians have been doing for ages.

Hi Felicia. Please link me to the Washington Post story concerning this image. Thanks for all your hard work. pic.twitter.com/IR66TzvyhO

— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 9, 2020

These types of images are rather standard in political attack mailings. I can understand a story complaining about them in general, but not one targeting one specific instance of use.

— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) January 9, 2020

Yes it’s so odd how one young female GOP rep is singled out.

— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 9, 2020

No one with half a brain could honestly believe Stefanik was trying to convince people that Nancy Pelosi actually looks like that for some nefarious reason, unless that reason is simply that Stefanik is a Republican.

But it’s not all stupid. Not for Stefanik, anyway:

Thanks @washingtonpost for your article promoting & advertising my donation page urging Pelosi to stop her political games w/ beautiful black & white photography! ?

???? flying in!

Helping me w/ free digital advertising nationwide!#Grateful ? https://t.co/w13xEv1sC9

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 9, 2020

???

Thank you again to @washingtonpost – we’ve had a huge morning of online national fundraising to Pressure Pelosi landing page because of this article!

???? https://t.co/dLPcQw3xWq

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 9, 2020

Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional text and tweets.