Just who in the world is Elise Stefanik? We hear the drumbeat…..Liz Cheney must go…. and now the plan is hatched for her replacement. We keep being told and hearing that she is a favorite of the Tea Party? Really? Which Tea Party? Other than a few hearings where Stefanik supposedly made her bones we know zero about her. I wasn’t overwhelmed. The young new face. Is that what we want in a top leadership position? A Paul Ryan creation? How does one become, in her words, “a big tent conservative?” So let’s take a look. Her voting record turns out to be a whole lot like her “big tent” idea and not so conservative. She hasn’t been in Congress long so this won’t take much time. What caught my eye was her voting record.
Elise Stefanik
Elise Stefanik, GOP conference chair favorite, voted with Trump less than Liz Cheney
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the favorite to replace Rep. Liz Cheney as the House GOP conference chair, voted with former President Donald Trump less than Cheney and has lower voting scores from top conservative organizations.
According to a tool on the FiveThirtyEight website on “Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump,” Cheney, R-Wyo., voted with Trump 92.9% of the time compared to 77.7% for Stefanik, R-N.Y.
The conservative group Heritage Action, meanwhile, gave Cheney a 91% score compared to just 56% for Stefanik during the most recent Congress. And the American Conservative Union, which hosted the extraordinarily pro-Trump Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) earlier this year, gives Cheney a 78% rating compared to just 44% for Stefanik.
First a look when she was first running for Congress May 20, 2014, NY21: Is Elise Stefanik a fresh new voice or a carpetbagger?
Republicans Matt Doheny and Elise Stefanik have been locked in an expensive and sometimes bitter matchup that’s involved accusations of carpetbagging and dishonesty.
Martha Foley’s conversation about Elise Stefanik’s life story, her background, and her political ideas (read more about Stefanik’s political writing here.)
In the years since, Stefanik, now just 29, has worked hard to advance the policies and ideas of other Republican politicians, serving most notably under George W. Bush and Paul Ryan.
But there’s no evidence in the essays readily available online that she was particularly ideological, though she’s now favored by many Tea Party and Conservative activists. When former Democratic Governor Jeanne Shaheen, now the U.S. Senator from New Hampshire, was named to head the Institute of Politics, Stefanik praised the choice. “I think it’s very helpful to attract new women to leadership positions if you have a female director,” Stefanik told a Crimson reporter.
Stefanik also co-authored an essay with Shaheen urging college students, men as well as women, to become more engaged in politics following the Hurricane Katrina disaster. The essay raised pointed questions about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2000, which “decided the outcome of a presidential race”
Stefanik moved to her parents’ seasonal home in Willsboro after leaving Paul Ryan’s 2012 vice presidential campaign. In the months since, she has described herself as a “big tent” conservative, with a center-right political brand. That may do well in the moderate North Country. Democrats and some Conservatives have tried to paint her as more ideological, more of a true “movement” or “tea party” candidate.
But as Stefanik continues to find her own voice on the campaign trail, these writings seem to hint at more centrist, moderate and even bipartisan instincts.
Stefanik is 29 years old, single with no kids. She’s a Harvard graduate and until last year, she spent much of her time in Washington, D.C., where she still owns a part-share in a home.
Her main argument in the campaign so far has been that she’s a really new voice, a younger candidate with fresh ideas, that’s a notion she’s played up in her campaign advertisements.
Why has the GOP supported her so strongly in this race, over Matt Doheny? I mean, she’s a newcomer, he’s been around for years.
A conservative campaign for a bipartisan candidate?
One thing that’s interesting about Stefanik is that over the years she’s shown a much stronger bipartisan streak than you often see in modern Republican politics. Stefanik even co-wrote an article with Shaheen.
Her Street cred:
Trump and many of his allies have rallied around Stefanik to succeed Cheney as chair of the House GOP Conference after the Wyoming Republican made clear she would continue to publicly challenge Trump’s false claims about the election and place blame on him for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
Appearing on Bannon’s show less than a week before Republicans are expected to vote Cheney out, Stefanik sought to cement her place in leadership by giving credence to unfounded theories about election fraud, including in Arizona.
I picked out some of the times she opposed Trump with her votes.
A great place to check out your Congressman or Woman.
Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump
An updating tally of how often every member of the House and the Senate votes with or against the president.
Check our her record at FiveThirtyEight.
Favors Import-Export Bank
Opposed Trump removing the troops from Syria
Voted to overturn Trumps emergency declaration of Border wall fencing
Voted to ban drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico
Voted to block Trump from exiting the Paris Climate Change agreement
Voted to condemn Trump from calling on courts to invalidate Obamacare – Affordable Care Act
Voted yes Overturning President Trump’s emergency declaration for border wall funding (245-182)
voted no Making permanent the individual tax reductions passed in 2017 (220-191)
Voted no Overhauling the tax code (final version) (224-201)
Voted no Delaying implementation of ozone standards (229-199)
Voted no Repeal of a rule requiring energy companies to reduce waste and emissions (221-191)
That is the best of the swamp today.
May 12, 2021 at 8:19 am
In regard to this, it seems that Rep. Chip Roy of Texas seems to think that replacing Cheney with Stefanik might be an exercise in futility:
https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1392191063721496577
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May 10, 2021 at 6:27 am
[…] Beware: The Trojan Horse Elise Stefanik looking to replace Liz Cheney in GOP leadership […]
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May 7, 2021 at 5:49 pm
Have any of y’all read we in the fourth turning? About the middle.
Just denied an exam. Medicare and BCBS won’t pay.
All appointments for me cancelled last spring, then I had to cancel appointment last August when BIL died in his sleep and we had to travel to NC to see about body and the legal matters.
Yeah, huh, not a death panel decision? It’s just I got all the checks all these years before as recommended, and paid the accounts forty or more years. Seems like clipping a polyp since ’14 exam, if necessary, would be prudent and tactful. I mean, I’m a useful eater. I cut my grass so’s the neighbors don’t complain.
They say apply again if symptoms come up.
Then I bet I’ll hear “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.”
https://imgur.com/a/83RimHt
Been though all 4 previous turnings. Going to get high again. 🙂
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May 7, 2021 at 7:42 pm
So sorry to hear, I know they are cutting more from Medicare.. but wow.
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May 7, 2021 at 7:58 pm
Get your check ups at least by age 75. O said give Grandma a pill. Hope there will be one left for Grandpa.
P.S. No symptoms, still in their face. 🙂
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May 7, 2021 at 2:51 pm
When is her book coming out.
The look on her face tells me she is thrilled she will be set for life if she isn’t already.
She is probably a liberal/democrat in republican clothing. This is the strategy they have been employing a good while now. Shipping liberals into red states as well.
No matter to me, I don’t vote for any politicians anymore. No use for a single one of them. They can all…. you know.
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May 7, 2021 at 2:54 pm
Thats about it and what is Trump thinking? Counting on McCarthy? And she will bring more of her kind to run in sheep’s clothing. We just can’t get ahead ..
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May 7, 2021 at 3:24 pm
Yep. Well, I’d be happy with 4 more years of DJT EO’s with no help from congress outside of tax cuts, just like his first 4.
Given that nothing will be done to effectively deal with election fraud, I can’t imagine how he (or any reasonable facsimile) ends up back in the White House.
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May 7, 2021 at 3:26 pm
Honestly, she looks like one of those dogs who is happily wagging her tail knowing she is going to take a big chunk out of you as soon as your body is in range…
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May 7, 2021 at 3:28 pm
Nice visual Kid…. I will have that for awhile. 🙂
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May 7, 2021 at 10:07 am
The Republican Party is a Progressive party. Conservatives are not welcome come decision time and are only welcome when they send money and votes. Liz Cheney is a classical Wilsonian Progressive. An internationalist, Neo-Con, big government progressive. The fact that most republicans cannot see this is the best evidence I can present to prove the confusion within the ranks of the party. It all boils down to core principles. If you have none anyone can claim to be of your tribe. And this is the case. Corporatism is not a political philosophy consistent with liberty. Nor is any brand of Progressive ideology. But those are the two dominant ideologies found in the leadership class of the party. That is why I have not been a Republican. We libertarians may fight like cats and dogs but we do have fun.
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May 7, 2021 at 10:36 am
All of the above proves your point. The GOP will not give one inch.
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May 7, 2021 at 8:52 am
R-NY … an oxymoron, right?
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May 7, 2021 at 8:57 am
I would say. a kind of “tell.”
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May 7, 2021 at 3:28 pm
Just like R-CA
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May 7, 2021 at 3:29 pm
Hey we have the tranny going to bring it home in CA..
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May 7, 2021 at 3:33 pm
It occurs to me more and more, why is Bruce even called a tranny. Still have all the male equipment, just added some hormones to grow some breasts (assuming but who knows that either) grows the hair long, wears a dress. See, I wouldn’t even call that transexual. It’s a guy playing girl.
Now bradley manning at least gave up his genitalia, I think… That makes him a tranny, but even at that, just a guy that’s had plastic surgery.
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May 7, 2021 at 8:08 am
I heard about the same from my conservative morning drive-time talk show yesterday: that Stefanik had voted against Trump initiatives at about the same rate that Cheney had.
The one thing I don’t get is why Cheney, who is elected from Wyoming, got away with such an abysmal voting record for so long. I understand how the dips in New York might tolerate it, but how can Wyoming live with it?
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May 7, 2021 at 7:38 am
…and the Republican circular firing squad reloads and resumes shooting.
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May 7, 2021 at 7:40 am
Perfectly said….thanks for stopping by,
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May 7, 2021 at 8:19 am
Good thing nobody in the Republican party can hit the broad side of a barn.
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May 7, 2021 at 10:09 am
Ready, fire, aim. From a former PMI. Semper Fi
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May 7, 2021 at 6:40 am
While I may not be familiar with this chick other than what I’m reading here I’m getting the impression the GOP may replace one Cheney with another Cheney. No biggie though since we on the right have come to expect this boorish shoot ourselves in the foot behavior by the GOP; it’s what they do best. Say it ain’t so Moe.
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May 7, 2021 at 6:51 am
As far as voting to support Trump far worse than Liz. A Paul Ryan creation. I don’t know who sold Trump this bill of goods if he indeed is supporting her. I caught her on a couple of hearings… so so…
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May 8, 2021 at 7:10 am
Trump is not God. He’s good, but not infallible.
Jeff Sessions.
Bill Barr.
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May 8, 2021 at 7:15 am
True enough Ed….Some investigation of some of these folks would have saved him and us who support him a lot of pain. He had a good team for the most part at the conclusion of his term.
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