Last Thursday, the Washington Post took Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik to task for posting what it called an “altered” photo of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Twitter. The image, the paper noted, was bundled in a petition and fundraising appeal, adding, “The tweet marks the second time this week that a House Republican has tweeted a photo that appears to have been manipulated.”
Here’s the tweet:
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
In this age of photoshop, there is a yawning chasm between “doctored” images, which change a person’s appearance in some notable way — by, for example, extending the nose to suggest the individual is a liar — and artistically rendered ones. Consider the companion images below, both of Rep. Ilhan Omar. The image on the left has been filtered using one of the tools available in a graphics program. The image on the right is the same photo in its original untouched state.
The Post’s quibble with the Pelosi image is, thus, not that the photo has been altered to exaggerate the speaker’s features — it has not — but that it disapproves of the message that accompanies it.
Wherein lies the rub. No alarms went off at the Washington Post when a Democratic congresswoman committed the same offense as Stefanik, and on multiple occasions. In those cases, the tweets contained politicized photos of Donald Trump. The congresswoman’s name? Nancy Pelosi. Have a look:
We would be delinquent in our duties if we failed to #DefendOurDemocracy and Constitution.
This is about patriotism. This is about the future of our country. pic.twitter.com/O1EVzBkdk8
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) December 10, 2019
We take an oath to defend our Constitution – not the president.
If Republicans in Washington don’t #DefendOurDemocracy by holding him accountable – they need to go, right along with him! pic.twitter.com/21PW3VJgX0
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) December 5, 2019
He endangered our national security. He betrayed his oath of office by undermining our elections. And he abused his power.
The devastating testimony corroborated evidence of bribery. No one is above the law. pic.twitter.com/TjBRINfNnY
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) November 16, 2019
So why is it mean-spirited when a Republican posts a filtered photo of Nancy Pelosi along with a message the left-leaning paper disapproves of, but it’s OK for a Democrat to do the same with a photograph of Donald Trump? You’d have to ask the paper’s publisher, Fred Ryan, for an answer to that question.
(h/t Daily Caller News Foundation)
