CROOKED CRAMER’S CHRONICLES – CONTRADICTING HIMSELF ON TRADE WAR – LYING TO ND – CRAMER (R-SPECIAL INTERESTS)

Welcome to Cramer’s Chronicles where, every Friday, we’ll break down the latest and greatest weekly hits about Cramer’s crooked, self-serving, extreme, and gaffe-prone behavior that puts himself and his partisan politics ahead of North Dakotans.

CRAMER CONTRADICTS HIMSELF ON TRADE WAR TIMELINE. Kevin Cramer is contradicting himself on the trade war timeline—telling one audience that negotiations with China would “take a while,” and telling another that he “expect[s] some quick action.” His political doublespeak is even more egregious when you consider his acknowledgement that markets lost due to this trade war could “be lost for years.” But North Dakotans know why he’s suddenly faking interest: he’s worried about his election chances.

That reminds us: See how much time Cramer has left until his self-imposed September trade war deadline.

CRAMER CONTINUES LYING TO ND. Cramer just can’t seem to tell North Dakotans the truth – lying, distorting, and papering over his record to hide his self-interested, unsavory agenda.

HEADLINE: POLITIFACT: KEVIN CRAMER DISTORTS RECORD ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN.

• “Cramer… touted a clean record without any support for shutdowns… We took a closer look.
• Cramer has cast votes that indirectly resulted in a shutdown.
• We found multiple instances where Cramer indirectly helped to cause a shutdown by voting for bills that defunded Obamacare — these bills had no chance of survival in the Senate or of being signed by then-President Obama. While Cramer’s actions were not direct votes on keeping the government open, they encouraged the 2013 shutdown.
• We rate this statement Mostly False.

FORUM’S ZALESKI: CRAMER’S “FALSE” MEDICARE AD “WORST SPOT SO FAR.”

• The ad’s premise is false. Cramer has always wanted to mess with Medicare—cut benefits, privatize portions of the program, etc. He can’t fudge his record, although he is one of the best fudge masters in Washington, D.C.
• The ad relies on shrewdly ambiguous weasel-words: He will protect benefits for oldies like his mom (and me) and make sure Medicare is there for younger generations, like the kids in the ad. Sounds great. Notice the distinction? The distortion? He is vague about future Medicare for people currently in the workforce (would he gut benefits?), while he preaches to oldsters who are on the program now, who vote, that he’s their Medicare evangelist. It’s not blatant deceit; it’s duplicitous half-truth.

See more:
HEADLINE: PolitiFact: Kevin Cramer distorts Heidi Heitkamp’s record on banking regulations
HEADLINE: Washington Post: N.D. Republican’s Senate campaign ‘fact-checking’ website promotes false claim on CBO estimates
HEADLINE: TPM: Kevin Cramer’s Campaign Images Shot Far From Fargo

PAPERING OVER HIS MEDICARE, SOCIAL SECURITY RECORD. Surprise, surprise: Cramer is trying to paper over his record and fake support for protecting Medicare and Social Security with a toothless resolution that takes no concrete action to protect and strengthen these vital programs. But Cramer can’t erase the dozen times he’s jeopardized these programs, and North Dakotans will see this political stunt for what it truly is: a pathetic attempt to cover up his record of not standing up for North Dakota seniors in favor of his hyper-partisan, put-special-interests-first agenda.

CRAMER (R-SPECIAL INTERESTS). Remember Harold Hamm, the out-of-state billionaire who convinced Cramer to run by promising to help him fundraise? The High Plains Reader has an in-depth look at how Hamm’s money “trails to Cramer branches like tributaries of the Missouri River.” It makes you wonder, if Hamm and his outside special interests are bankrolling Cramer’s campaign, whose interests will Cramer look out for in D.C.?

HIDING CRAMER’S HEALTH CARE AGENDA. Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and the rest of Cramer’s D.C. bosses don’t want voters to know that they’re gunning for another shot at making health care more expensive and less accessible for North Dakotans. One political operative referred to their plans to take away health care from millions as “like fight club. […] First rule is not to talk about it.” Will Cramer finally stand with North Dakotans against this dangerous plan or continue to kowtow to the special interests funding his campaign?

#FBF: CRAMER’S DISRESPECTFUL COMMENTS ABOUT VETS. Cramer once claimed that military service is often “a result of lack of other opportunity or revenue.” And, in case you missed it, Cramer was caught using a stock photo of an “authentic Vietnam veteran” in a campaign web ad, which a local veteran called “outrageous,” saying he “shouldn’t be surprised… Cramer has a long history of using veterans as political props.”

MUST READ – Grand Forks Herald: Heitkamp: Cramer’s support of trade war policies ‘present a threat to North Dakota’.

TWEET OF THE WEEK.

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