(BISMARCK, ND) – As first reported by CNN and TPM, Kevin Cramer spent the weekend belittling victims of sexual assault, arguing that a sexual assault allegation was “absurd” because it “never went anywhere.” But rather than apologizing for his insensitive remarks, Cramer doubled down, reminding Republicans once again why they didn’t want him to run in the first place – and drawing comparisons to failed Senate candidate Todd Akin’s infamous ‘legitimate rape’ comments.

TPM: Cramer Looks To Clarify Controversial Comments On Kavanaugh Accusation
By Cameron Joseph

A day after making calling the allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh “even more absurd” than the ones Anita Hill made a generation ago against Clarence Thomas, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) is seeking to clean up his remarks — without walking away from his view that the allegations are “absurd.”
Cramer, a top Senate candidate facing Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), doesn’t exactly back away from the thrust of remarks made Friday on a local radio show that Ford’s accusations against Kavanaugh are “absurd.”
His Friday comments, surfaced by TPMand CNN, triggered an immediate firestorm in the political world.
They risk damaging Cramer’s campaign even in the deep red state.

HPR: ‘NEVER WENT ANYWHERE’
By C.S. Hagen

Time after time, Congressman Kevin Cramer makes light of sexual misconduct allegations and of provisions in law protecting women against violence. Repeatedly, he has mocked women who do not toe the conservative line, and has threatened violence against Native women.
In addition to his comments on Friday, Cramer has repeatedly mocked women during his tenure. In March 2017, Cramer slammed “poorly dressed” Democratic women who wore “bad-looking white pantsuits” in solidarity with failed Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Earlier this year Cramer praised Will Gardner, the Peeping Tom running for Secretary of State as “a very good man,” and a gentleman, even after evidence came forward that he was caught prowling outside a women’s dormitory at North Dakota State University with his pants unzipped, shirt undone, and belt left in his car in 2006. Defending Gardner, Cramer continued his defense of Gardner by saying he had been redeemed, and that the evidence against him shouldn’t be a “compelling case” not to vote for him.
In June this year, shortly after Cramer announced he was vacating his seat in the U.S. Congress for the U.S. Senate, said President Donald Trump was treating Heitkamp kindly because she was a woman. “I do think there’s a little difference in that she’s a woman,” Cramer told the Washington Post. That’s probably part of it, that she’s a, you know, a female. He doesn’t want to be that aggressive, maybe. I don’t know.”
Cramer, who accepted the endorsement of the Public Advocate of the United States on May 20, labeled an extremist hate group peddling in conspiracy theories, and has never disavowed the endorsement of the state’s Nationalist Socialist Movement unit leader, attacked and threatened Native women during a meeting over the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013.

Mother Jones: GOP Senate Candidate Calls Kavanaugh Allegation “Absurd” Because the Assault “Never Went Anywhere”
By Madison Pauly

Republican Senate candidate Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh were “absurd,” dismissing the claim because it involved teenagers who had been drinking and only attempted—not completed—rape.
It’s far from the first time Cramer […] has demeaned women.
This week, when Heitkamp accused him of stealing creditfor overturning a 40-year ban on exporting crude oil, he called her response a “hissy fit,” NBC reported. Last year, he described women who wore white in honor of suffragettes to one of President Donald Trump’s first addresses as being “poorly dressed” and looking “silly,” according to NPR. And over the summer, he explained Trump’s apparent friendliness toward Heitkamp—a conservative Democrat who has voted with Trump’s position more than 55 percent of the time—by claiming Trump wouldn’t want to be aggressive toward a woman. “She’s a, you know, a female,” he told the Washington Post. “He doesn’t want to be that aggressive, maybe.”
When CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski asked him to clarify his statement, Cramer doubled down, saying that Ford’s accusation was “more absurd” than Hill’s: “Absent significant evidence being brought forth immediately, I feel Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation process should proceed.”

Forum News Service: Cramer: Allegations against Kavanaugh are ‘absurd’
By John Hageman

North Dakota Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer dismissed sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh as “absurd” Friday, Sept. 21.
In a radio interview with Jarrod Thomas of KNOX, Cramer said Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against Kavanaugh are “even more absurd” than those Anita Hill leveled against now-Justice Clarence Thomas during his confirmation process “because these people were teenagers when this supposed alleged incident took place” instead of a supervisor-subordinate relationship. “These are teenagers who evidently were drunk, according to her own statement,” Cramer said. “Again, it was supposedly an attempt or something that never went anywhere.”
In a statement issued by his campaign Saturday, Cramer said he meant to compare Hill’s accusations from 1991 to Ford’s. “The point of my answer was that the current allegations were even more absurd,” Cramer’s statement said. “At the time, there was a sense of legitimacy to what Anita Hill was saying, but it is hard not to be skeptical considering the timing and history of the allegation Brett Kavanaugh is facing.”

Associated Press: North Dakota Senate candidate: Kavanaugh allegation ‘absurd’

Washington Examiner: GOP Senate nominee: Accusation against Kavanaugh ‘absurd’ because they were drunk teenagers

HuffPost: Congressman Discounts Kavanaugh’s ‘Supposed’ Assault That Didn’t Go ‘Anywhere’

Daily Beast: GOP Candidate: Ford’s Allegation Against Kavanaugh is ‘Absurd’ Because They Were Drunk Teens

The Hill: Heitkamp knocks GOP challenger for ‘disturbing’ comments on Kavanaugh allegations

Daily Kos: Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s Republican challenger opines on Kavanaugh and shoots himself in the foot

Meet the Press:

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