Rude, belligerent, and seemingly ignorant of the impeachment hearing rules as agreed upon beforehand, Rep. Elise Stefanik waded into yesterday's hearing fired-up and ready to play her role as attack dog for the Republicans, as their lone female member. Things didn't start off well for her though, or Devin Nunes, when they attempted to circumvent the rules by giving her Nunes' time in the opening statement. And it didn't get any better throughout the day, as Stefanik, Jim Jordan, and others often interrupted or talked over former ambassador Yovanovitch, or attempted points of order that weren't recognized by Adam Schiff. Basically trying to tell him what the rules of the hearing were when they obviously didn't know them themselves.
Now, all this probably plays well with some equally rude and obnoxious Republican voters, and no doubt Elise Stefanik will raise a lot of money from her theatrics yesterday. But to most normal folks, rude and obnoxious doesn't play well in a formal impeachment hearing. It just looks bad.
All of which benefitted Tedra Cobb, Stefanik's 2018 opponent in NY-21 with a rematch set for 2020. Cobb raised over $250,000 in the last 24 hrs. (Now over $400,000) And her twitter profile went from 3000 followers to over 120,000.
Source: Adirondack Daily Enterprise
Democratic Congressional candidate Tedra Cobb of Canton took to social media Friday evening to tout donations to her campaign in excess of
$100,000(ed. now over $250,000) in the hours following the second hearing in the House impeachment inquiry.Her opponent, Rep. Elise Stefanik of Schuylerville, received national attention during the hearing as she questioned the conduct of panel Chairman Adam B. Shiff, D-Calif., and attempted to ask former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch questions during a period reserved for questioning from Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and his counsel. Nunes had attempted to defer his time to Stefanik.
“The gentlewoman will suspend,” Schiff said, interrupting Stefanik. “You are not recognized.”
“What is the interruption for this time?” Stefanik shot back. “This is the fifth time you have interrupted members of Congress, duly elected members of Congress.”The moment received attention from national media outlets, and Stefanik’s comments were retweeted multiple times by both the official White House Twitter page and President Donald Trump’s. In the hours following the hearing, The Washington Post described the congresswoman as “one of the GOP’s most effective messengers” as House Republicans attempt to undermine a probe led by Democratic members.
Cobb was largely silent on social media during the hearing, issuing a single tweet:
And of her fundraising, she announced this morning:
Apparently aware of the fundraising by her opponent, Stefanik also fired off a tweet calling for donations, with a picture of her standing next to Trump.
If you'd like to donate to Tedra Cobb and give NY-21 a real voice, you can do so here at ActBlue.
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/social1115#
UPDATE: Others are noticing as well.