With his bid for U.S. Senate floundering, outspoken Houston area congressman Steve Stockman was caught red-handed this week after posting a fake picture of Republican rival John Cornyn standing with president Barack Obama.

Stockman — a local Tea Party favorite who claims his staunchly-conservative opponent is too liberal — featured the poorly-doctored image on his new Cornyn Loves Obamacare website, which accuses the Texas senator of an "intimate, cozy relationship" with the Affordable Care Act.

The site encourages readers to support Stockman's campaign . . . with a Bitcoin donation.

Stockman has missed 17 consecutive House votes in the last two weeks.

Stockman's Photoshop team reworked a rather infamous 2009 image of Obama with then Florida governor Charlie Crist, whose head has been replaced with Cornyn's.

The doctored photo was removed several hours after Politico's Burgess Everett exposed it on Twitter.

January has been a rough month for Stockman, who has missed 17 consecutive House votes in the last two weeks. According to the Associated Press, the congressman reports only $32,000 in available cash for his senate run with owed $163,000 in debts. Cornyn's campaign fund is approaching $7 million.