ICYMI: Stenehjem Hit with Health Care Lawsuit

ND Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is facing a legal challenge over his support of a Texas lawsuit that would strip protections for people with pre-existing conditions

(BISMARCK, ND) — This week, a group of concerned North Dakotans served Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem with a lawsuit over his involvement with Texas-based litigation that would strip away protections for people with pre-existing conditions, end the state’s bipartisan Medicaid expansion, and cause lasting damage to the rural health care system.

Not only is Stenehjem throwing support behind this lawsuit, but he has also refused to answer questions from North Dakotans about the litigation. Well, now he will have to defend his actions in court.

Grand Fork Herald: Group files suit to take N.D. out of Obamacare case

A group of North Dakotans have filed a lawsuit against North Dakota’s attorney general, requesting he withdraw the state from a suit that, if successful, will deem the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem joined 19 other states in February when, representing North Dakota, he signed onto a Texas effort seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act. The suit against Stenehjem, filed by Bismarck attorney Thomas Dickson and signed by five petitioners, argues the attorneys in the Texas case don’t have the authority to represent North Dakotans.

“The North Dakota Supreme Court has consistently held that individuals may not bring litigation on behalf of the state of North Dakota unless they are the attorney general or one of his appointees,” Dickson wrote. “By allowing individuals to purport to act on behalf of the State of North Dakota without appointing them, Respondent Stenehjem has failed to comply with perhaps the most important duty of his office, to appear for and represent the State of North Dakota.”

Nor, Dickson wrote, does Stenehjem have the authority to practice in Texas.

“Wayne Stenehjem is not admitted to practice in the state of Texas or before the Northern District of Texas,” said Dickson.

In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Dickson said Stenehjem “sold” North Dakota to Texas.

“The Texas litigation is asking to throw out the entire Affordable Care Act,” Dickson continued.

“That means people with pre-existing conditions will no longer be protected.”

Stenehjem’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Petitioners include Dr. Eric Johnson, a Grand Forks physician who signed on to the suit, he said, to confirm the medical information lawyers used was accurate.

“But I’m not a lawyer, I’m not the one filing this writ,” Johnson said Wednesday.

Johnson said he signed on the suit as “private citizen” who believes the goal should be to “keep what’s working and fix what’s not.”

“I think we need to do what we can to preserve guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions,” Johnson said. “And I think that we need to do everything we can to preserve that part of the law.”

In addition to treating patients with pre-existing conditions, Johnson said he has his own, Type 1 diabetes.

“Before the Affordable Care Act, you could have your insurance dropped for a pre-existing condition,” Johnson said. “And that was always my fear, that, if for some reason or another I was unable to work, I would lose my coverage for my pre-existing conditions.”

A second Grand Forks petitioner obtained insurance coverage through an Affordable Care Act provision enacted in 2013, according to the suit. Other petitioners include a Burleigh County physician, a Burleigh County mother caring for a minor with pre-existing conditions and a 20-year-old resident of Ward County benefiting from a provision that allows him to stay on his parents’ insurance plan.

“I could’ve had a hundred petitioners on this case,” Dickson said, “but I ran out of time. It was just too much paperwork. But seriously, there’s a lot of interest and it’s all on our side.”

Dickson said his petition is in front of a judge now, and he’s waiting for a hearing.

CROOKED CRAMER’S CHRONICLES – NEW DIGITAL AD: “REPRESENTATIVE” – CRAMER IS NORTH DAKOTA’S OWN TODD AKIN – 100 DAYS OF NO SOYBEAN ORDERS

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 DISMISSES SEXUAL ASSAULT AS “ABSURD,” QUESTIONS IF THEY ARE EVEN “DISQUALIFYING.” Cramer’s true character was revealed this week with his belittling, dismissive, and insensitive comments regarding sexual assault. Rather than editorializing, we’ll let you read – and watch – them for yourself:

CNN: GOP Senate nominee: Kavanaugh accusation ‘absurd’ because they were drunk and assault attempt ‘never went anywhere’
TPM: Top GOP Senate Nominee: Kavanaugh Accusations ‘Absurd’ Because ‘They Were Teenagers,’ Assault ‘Never Went Anywhere’
VIDEO: Cramer: “My Point Was That There Was No Type Of Intercourse Or Anything Like That”
VIDEO: Cramer: “Even If It Is All True, Does It Disqualify Him?”
CNN: GOP Senate candidate on Kavanaugh accuser: ‘I mean, how many 15-year-olds handle a lot of alcohol?’
The Hill: Cramer questions if allegations should disqualify Kavanaugh ‘even if it’s all true’
Politico: Cramer questions whether Kavanaugh assault allegation is disqualifying — even if true
NBC News: ‘Even if it’s all true’: GOP Senate candidate questions if Kavanaugh allegations disqualify him
MSNBC: GOP’s Cramer lands in a ditch, finds a shovel, digs deeper
NDxPlains: Cramer Struggles to Clarify Comments

NEW DIGITAL AD: “REPRESENTATIVE.” Yesterday the ND Dem-NPL launched a new digital ad, “Representative,” that highlights Cramer’s long record of derogatory and offensive comments towards and about women from belittling sexual assault and questioning whether it’s even “disqualifying” to mocking their physical appearance. Cramer’s belittling and insulting of women may be representative of his character, but they aren’t representative of North Dakota. The ad, which is backed by a five-figure buy and will appear on various digital platforms, was first reported by Roll Call.

WATCH “REPRESENTATIVE”

NORTH DAKOTA’S OWN TODD AKIN. Remember when Republicans actively searched for another candidate to run because they were worried about Cramer’s “Akin-like tendencies?” This week’s comments proved their fears were spot on.

100 DAYS OF NO SOYBEAN ORDERS. Cramer’s blind loyalty to the administration is hurting North Dakota farmers. Even though he created a self-imposed deadline of September for when he’d become “concerned” enough about the trade war to take a stand, Cramer has kept up his support for these detrimental policies. As one farmer put it, “Do you really think these countries will come back to us (to buy U.S. ag products) with open arms? […] We’re not spanking China with these tariffs. We’re not spanking any of these countries. We’re only spanking ourselves.”

CRAMER PAPERING OVER RECORD ON NATIVE AMERICAN. Now that it’s an election year, Cramer is rushing to paper over his record on Native American issues, putting his name on a new provision in VAWA that allows tribes to prosecute offenders for threatened domestic violence against children and law enforcement on reservations. But, as ThinkProgress points out, “his own record would also seem to contradict his support for this legislation. In 2013, he opposed the tribal provisions in the bill as “inadvertently placing in jeopardy future convictions under the act” because they could violate constitutional due process.”

#FBF: CRAMER GETS THREE PINOCCHIOS FOR FALSE HEALTH CARE CLAIM. Remember when Cramer received three Pinocchios for his false claim that the Republican House bill prevented price discrimination against folks with pre-existing conditions. North Dakotans sure do.

TWEET OF THE WEEK.

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NEW AD: “Representative” Details Cramer’s Long History of Insulting Comments Towards Women

(BISMARCK, ND) – As first reported in Roll Call, yesterday the ND Dem-NPL launched a new digital ad, “Representative,” which highlights Congressman Cramer’s long record of making derogatory and offensive comments towards and about women. While Cramer’s comments belittling sexual assault have garnered recent news, Cramer has a history of such statements. In “Representative,” North Dakota women react to comments made by Cramer and make it clear that his remarks don’t represent them. As one woman in the video states, Cramer “doesn’t treat everyone the same.”

The ad is backed by a dedicated five-figure digital buy and will run on Facebook and various digital platforms.

WATCH “REPRESENTATIVE”

“Congressman Cramer’s remarks belittling and insulting women are representative of his character, but they aren’t representative of North Dakota,” said Courtney Rice, Press Secretary for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL. “In November, folks across North Dakota will make one thing clear: Kevin Cramer doesn’t represent them.”

Background:

On Sexual Assault
Washington Post: GOP Rep. Cramer questions whether accusation against Kavanaugh should disqualify him, even if true
CNN: GOP Senate nominee: Kavanaugh accusation ‘absurd’ because they were drunk and assault attempt ‘never went anywhere’

On Women’s Appearances
Grand Forks Herald: Kevin Cramer: Women wearing ‘bad-looking white pantsuits’ have a ‘disease’

On Voting the Party Line
USA Today: GOP candidate for Senate compares opposing Trump agenda to cheating on wife 

On Defending a Convicted ‘Peeping Tom’
The Forum: McFeely: Cramer calls window-peeping Gardner ‘a very good man’
Mike Jacobs, Grand Forks Herald: “[Cramer] rushed to Gardner’s defense, calling him a good man and suggesting that he could be a candidate in another election some other time.” 

On Defending former Alabama Senate Candidate and Alleged Sexual Predator
Mike McFeely, The Forum: “Cramer downplayed Moore’s alleged sexual pursuit of teenagers as being ‘40 years past.’”

On Violent Remarks at Tribal Council Meeting on Domestic Violence
The Forum: Cramer Accused of Tirade at American Indian Meeting
Last Real Indians: North Dakota Congressman Kevin Cramer Verbally Attacks Native Victim’s Assistance Program Director at State Meeting, Threatens to [W]ring Spirit Lake Tribal Council’s Necks

On Senator Heitkamp
Washington Post: ‘It’s obscene’: GOP candidate seethes as Trump embraces Democratic senator
“‘I do think there’s a little difference in that she’s a woman,’ Cramer said. ‘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.’

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“With Kevin Cramer, North Dakota has its own Todd Akin”

(BISMARCK, ND) – Kevin Cramer continues to make headlines with his insensitive comments on sexual assault.

WDAY: With Kevin Cramer, North Dakota has its own Todd Akin
By Mike McFeely

  • It took six years, but North Dakota finally has its own Todd Akin. Um … congratulations?
  • Akin was a Missouri Republican who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012 and had a good chance to win. That is, until he tried to mansplain his views on why he opposed abortion even in the case of rape. He said doctors told him women rarely get pregnant when they’re raped and anyway, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
  • Akin was skewered. Republicans were embarrassed. He lost. The voters spoke: Rape is rape. Todd, meet Kevin. That would be Kevin Cramer, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from North Dakota. Cramer is locked in a tight race against incumbent Heidi Heitkamp, and he believes undying support for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will win him votes.
  • Kevin has spent the past several days saying that even if Kavanaugh did sexually assault the woman who made the first accusation against him, meh, what’s the big deal? […] And, in a coup de grace to his empathy to women, Cramer implied that a good girl wouldn’t have been at the party where she says Kavanaugh assaulted her.
  • Cramer’s first Akin-like moment came on a radio show last week when he called the accusation “absurd” because, “These are teenagers who evidently were drunk, according to her own statement. Again, it was supposedly an attempt or something that never went anywhere.”
  • On Berg’s show, Cramer dismissed the accusation because “there was no type of intercourse or anything like that.” Naive man, Kevin. He’s blissfully unaware of attempted rape or other types of sexual assault. Sexual assault in Cramer’s world, apparently, must be done by a sober adult male who penetrates a sober adult female with his penis. If those involved are teenagers or drinking or the assault doesn’t include intercourse, that doesn’t count.
  • Kevin, meet Todd.

See more:

CNN: GOP Senate candidate on Kavanaugh accuser: ‘I mean, how many 15-year-olds handle a lot of alcohol?’

MSNBC: GOP’s Cramer lands in a ditch, finds a shovel, digs deeper

  • As for the bigger picture, let’s not forget Cramer’s rhetorical history. As we discussedyesterday, it’s a record that includes making derogatory comments about Democratic women’s attire and an unfortunate defense of Alabama’s Roy Moore.
  • In April 2017, CNN quoted a Senate GOP campaign veteran who saidat the time, “On paper, it looks like he could win, but he also appears to have a few Akin-like tendencies that make a lot of people nervous.”
  • A year and a half later, perhaps those concerns were well grounded?

NDxPlains: Cramer Struggles to Clarify Comments

  • Rather than apologizing for his lack of empathy for the alleged victim and others like her, Cramer has more than doubled down. Instead, he blamed others for diminishing the seriousness of the allegations. Given the chance to say he perhaps misspoke and acknowledge – at the very least- that he could see how his word choice created an uproar, he blamed media for using his exact words directly in spoken form.
  • Though Cramer’s latest remarks are the most jaw-dropping, they aren’t out of character. In 2013, he made headlines for his comments at the Spirit Lake Reservation regarding the recently reauthorized Violence Against Women Act. Last year, he said “there is a disease associated” with women members of Congress wearing white suites. Months later, he called a female TV talk show host a “snob.” This pattern demonstrates why he is struggling to clarify his comments because he may have meant what he said in the first place.

The Hill: Cramer questions if allegations should disqualify Kavanaugh ‘even if it’s all true’

Politico: Cramer questions whether Kavanaugh assault allegation is disqualifying — even if true

NBC News: ‘Even if it’s all true’: GOP Senate candidate questions if Kavanaugh allegations disqualify him

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Cramer Papering Over His Record on Native American, Women Issues

(BISMARCK, ND) – Once again, Kevin Cramer is attempting to paper over his disastrous record on Native American issues and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Now that it’s an election year, Cramer is rushing to put his name on a new provision in VAWA that allows tribes to prosecute offenders for threatened domestic violence against children and law enforcement on reservations. The original 2013 tribal provision allowed tribal courts to prosecute non-Indian defendants accused of violence against American Indian women.

But back in 2013 when the tribal provision was first included in VAWA, Cramer had a completely different attitude. He bitterly complained about the provision he now seeks to expand, calling it unconstitutional, and said he would feel unsafe as a non-Native man going onto a reservation. Apparently that wasn’t offensive enough to show his displeasure with the provision. At one tribal council meeting, Cramer grew violent and allegedly said he would like to “wring the tribal councils’ necks and slam them against the wall” as he addressed a domestic violence survivor.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

ThinkProgress: Republican congressman dismisses Kavanaugh claims while pushing for tougher anti-abuse laws
By Josh Israel

  • Kevin Cramer (R-ND), his party’s nominee against incumbent Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, made national headlines on Friday when he dismissed the first set of allegations of attempted rape against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as “absurd.”  His reasoning: the parties involved were drunk teens and the alleged sexual assault was “supposedly an attempt or something that never went anywhere.”
  • But just one daybefore his suggestion that attempted attacks wouldn’t be disqualifying for a Supreme Court justice, he signed on as co-sponsor of a bill to make it easier for Native American tribes to prosecute threats of domestic abuse in their tribal court systems.
  • While his comments about the accusation against Kavanaugh of attempted sexual would seem to contradict his support for legislation protecting minors from attempted abuse, his own record would also seem to contradict his support for this legislation. In 2013, he opposedthe tribal provisions in the bill as “inadvertently placing in jeopardy future convictions under the act” because they could violate constitutional due process.
  • Weeks after that February 2013 vote, Cramer reportedly threatened members of the Spirit Lake Tribal Council with physical violence over tribal handling of child protection, saying that he wanted to “[w]ring the Tribal Council’s neck and slam them against the wall.” Cramer later apologized for his “tone and rhetoric, better suited for active debate in Congress rather than in addressing the protectors of our most vulnerable citizens.”

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ND GOP Candidates Silent on Cramer’s Only “An Attempt” Defense

While Cramer brushes off serious sexual assault allegations, the party’s down-ballot candidates choose party loyalty over supporting survivors

(BISMARCK, ND) — As Kevin Cramer continues his tailspin by tripling down on his comments regarding sexual assault, his colleagues in the ND GOP have closed ranks around him. Cramer initially downplayed the assault, calling it “absurd” and saying it “never went anywhere.” Now, Cramer has gone even further, questioning whether Kavanaugh should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court, even if [the alleged assault] is all true.”

Our question to the rest of the ND GOP candidates: When are you going to stand up for the women of North Dakota?

“The last few days have spoken volumes about the character of the ND GOP’s candidates,” said Courtney Rice, Press Secretary for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL. “Instead of distancing themselves from Kevin Cramer’s insensitive and vicious remarks, the rest of the ticket has closed ranks and endorsed his anti-woman worldview with their silence. Survivors of sexual assault deserve to be heard without being immediately smeared and having their stories called ‘absurd.’ North Dakota’s women should have an ally in state government, but so far, the ND GOP – from the Governor to executive office holders to legislative leadership and candidates – has decided political loyalty is more important than doing the right thing.”

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QUICK CLIP: Cramer Questions Whether Sexual Assault Is Disqualifying

(BISMARCK, ND) – Last night, Kevin Cramer tripled down on his insensitive comments regarding sexual assault. WATCH below:

Cramer: They Were Young And Drunk

BERG: So at that point, had you seen her actual statement?

CRAMER: Yeah.

BERG: It never said she was drunk in it.

CRAMER: Well she admits she’s a 15-year old that had been drinking at a party that- I mean, how many 15-year-olds handle a lot of alcohol, you know, 36 years ago? When it wasn’t that common, by the way, Chris. 36 years ago it wasn’t that common for 15-year-olds to be at booze parties.

Cramer: “My Point Is That There Was No Type Of Intercourse Or Anything Like That”

BERG: But to be fair, you say, and I quote, ‘Nothing evidently happened in it all, in it at all, even by her own accusation.’ But in her own statement, she says, ‘Kavanaugh was on top of me. He was laughing. He pushed me into the room.’ She tried to- She doesn’t say it here, but Kavanaugh’s hand was over her mouth. He was trying to undress her. I think most people would say something definitely happened.

CRAMER: Right. That I get. My point was is that there was no type of intercourse or anything like that. That was my point, that nothing happened in terms of a sexual event beyond obviously the attempt.

Cramer: “Even If It Is All True, Does It Disqualify Him?”

CRAMER: But, what of 36 years of a record where there’s nothing like that again, but instead there’s a record of a perfect gentleman, of an intellect, of a stellar judge, a guy who’s, you know, been in front of, what, he’s had 300 cases in front of him and hasn’t had a misstep. Even if it is all true, does it disqualify him? It certainly means that he did something really bad 36 years ago, but does it disqualify him from the Supreme Court?

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Last Week Revealed Cramer’s True Character

(BISMARCK, ND) – From misleading North Dakotans about their health care to taking credit for one of Senator Heitkamp’s key accomplishments to horrible comments regarding sexual assault, last week showed Kevin Cramer’s true character.

🤥MONDAY – The president announced new tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese imports and, once again, Kevin Cramer didn’t stand up to the administration and for North Dakota interests. That’s because Cramer has promised to stand with the president 100 percent of the time, even when it’s bad for our state.

🤥TUESDAY – China retaliates with tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods. Cramer still doesn’t stand up to the administration’s reckless trade war.

🤥WEDNESDAY – Cramer gets THREE PINOCCHIOS for his false claim that the Republican House bill prevented price discrimination against folks with pre-existing conditions.

🤥THURSDAY – The Washington Post takes down Cramer’s claim that he is responsible for lifting the crude oil export ban: “Lifting the ban, however, is an accomplishment for which many lawmakers in both parties give Heitkamp credit.”

🤥FRIDAY – NBC also looks into Cramer’s claim on the crude oil export ban – a key accomplishment of Senator Heitkamp’s – and finds that Cramer “overstated how much he did.”

🤥MORE FRIDAY – Cramer calls recent sexual assault allegations “absurd” because the attempted assault “never went anywhere.”

🤥SATURDAY – Cramer doubles down on his insensitive comments regarding sexual assault.

🤥SUNDAY – Cramer solidifies his stance as the Todd Akin of the 2018 cycle.

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Cramer’s Weekend of Chaos

(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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BREAKING: Cramer Calls Sexual Assault Accusation “Absurd” Because They “Never Went Anywhere”

(Bismarck, ND) – Kevin Cramer’s never-ending ability to stick his foot in his mouth with unbelievably offensive comments and lack of empathy rears its ugly head again. These comments make clear, Kevin Cramer just doesn’t get it.

Reminder: Republicans actively searched for another candidate to run because they were worried about Cramer’s “Akin-like tendencies.” Today’s comments prove their fears were spot on.

CNN: GOP Senate nominee: Kavanaugh accusation ‘absurd’ because they were drunk and assault attempt ‘never went anywhere’
By Andrew Kaczynski and Christopher Massie

  • North Dakota GOP Senate nominee Kevin Cramer said on Friday that the accusation against Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh was “even more absurd” than Anita Hill’s accusation against Clarence Thomas because Kavanaugh and his accuser were drunk teenagers when the alleged incident occurred.
  • “If to the degree there was any legitimacy to Anita Hill’s claims, and she tried and didn’t prevail — Clarence Thomas did and America did — this case is even more absurd because these people were teenagers when this supposed alleged incident took place,” Cramer said on the Jarrod Thomas Showon 1310 KNOX, a local North Dakota radio station. “Teenagers. Not a boss-supervisor-subordinate situation, as the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill situation was claimed to be. These are teenagers who evidently were drunk, according to her own statement. They were drunk. Nothing evidently happened in it all, even by her own accusation. Again, it was supposedly an attempt or something that never went anywhere.”
  • A campaign spokesman for Cramer, who is running for US Senate against Democratic incumbent Heidi Heitkamp, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
  • “You just can’t expect to defame a guy who’s got a stellar record and a stellar, nearly perfect reputation, near as I can tell, character-wise, and be able to be the last word,” the Senate nominee and congressman said.
  • Cramer went on to say that if the allegations are true it is a “tragedy” for Ford that her accusation is being used by Democrats as a “political weapon.”
  • [Cramer continued,] “It’s going to get very difficult to get good people to do these jobs if this is going to be the standard if you have to have a perfect record in junior high and high school.”

TPM: Top GOP Senate Nominee: Kavanaugh Accusations ‘Absurd’ Because ‘They Were Teenagers,’ Assault ‘Never Went Anywhere’
By Cameron Joseph

  • Kevin Cramer (R-ND), the GOP Senate nominee, said Friday that giving credence to allegations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a young woman when they were teenagers is “absurd.”
  • Cramer sounded off on professor Christine Blasey Ford’s claim that Brett Kavanaugh drunkenly sexually assaulted her when she was 15 and he was 17 during a radio interview, describing them as “even more absurd” than Anita Hill’s accusations that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her because of Kavanaugh’s age at the time and because it was “an attempt or something that never went anywhere.”
  • Cramer’s comments could hurt him as he seeks to defeat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) this fall.
  • Setting everything else he said aside, Cramer’s description of Blasey Ford’s accusations are factually incorrect. She toldthe Washington Post last Sunday that Kavanaugh and his friend who was in the room with them were “stumbling drunk” but that she and the others at the party had one beer apiece.

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CROOKED CRAMER’S CHRONICLES – CRAMER’S WEEK OF LIES – THREE PINOCCHIOS – CRAMER TAKING CREDIT FOR HEIDI’S WORK

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’S WEEK OF LIES. It wouldn’t be a day that ends in ‘Y’ if Cramer wasn’t caught stretching the truth about the issues or papering over his record to mislead North Dakotans before Election Day.

THREE PINOCCHIOS FOR HEALTH CARE CLAIM ON PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS. Cramer’s false claim that the Republican House bill prevented price discrimination against folks with pre-existing conditions was highlighted in the Washington Post and published by the Forum:

  • [The GOP’s pledge on preexisting conditions] may look great on paper, but the reality is that it is not a sustainable pledge.
  • Thus Cramer goes too far to claim that in the AHCA, there are “safeguards to make sure that there’s not price discrimination as a result of preexisting conditions.” […] He earns Three Pinocchios.

CRAMER AD CLAIMS HE LED CRUDE OIL BAN REPEAL, BUT OTHER LAWMAKERS CREDIT HEITKAMP. Both NBC News and Washington Post highlighted Senator Heitkamp’s leading role in helping to lift the crude oil export ban – and Cramer’s attempt to take credit for her accomplishment.

NBC News:

  • North Dakota Democrat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp went out on limb three years ago to convince skeptical members of her party to support legislation that lifted 40-year ban on exporting crude oil from the United States to countries around the world.
  • Heitkamp […] first called for the repeal of the ban on crude oil exports in August 2014. She wrote a standalone repeal bill and began trying to sell the issue to her fellow Democrats throughout 2015, pitching it as an economic boon and a source of good jobs while lobbying the White House on the issue.
  • She worked with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to push the issue, and started putting the oil industry in the same room with unlikely supporters like Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, to talk a repeal out.
  • Heitkamp turned “no” votes into “yes” votes in the Senate, and by many accounts, was crucial to getting the bill across the finish line and signed by the White House.

Washington Post:

  • Lifting the ban, however, is an accomplishment for which many lawmakers in both parties give Heitkamp credit.
  • Without Heitkamp, “I don’t know that it would have happened,” said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) in 2015, according to Bloomberg Government. Sen. Lisa Murkowksi (R-Alaska) added that Heitkamp was “just dogged in her efforts to help educate her party.”

MORE TARIFFS ANNOUNCED, SOYBEANS NOT SELLING, BUT CRAMER IS ABSENT. On Monday, the president further escalated the trade war, announcing tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports and prompting the Chinese to retaliate. There haven’t been orders for soybeans from the Pacific Northwest for over 13 weeks, but Cramer still hasn’t become “concerned” enough to do anything. In fact, he’s still maintaining that “the trade issues [are] to the benefit of North Dakotans and North Dakota farmers.” Anything to increase his political capital, we guess.

Reminder: It’s been more than 20 days since Cramer missed his self-imposed deadline for when he’d become “concerned” enough to stand with North Dakotans against the trade war. But all we’ve seen from him is paying lip service to the president.

MORE ON CRAMER’S HEALTH CARE AGENDA. Cramer’s dangerous health care agenda was back in the spotlight this week after being called out for his false claim on preventing price discriminations against folks with pre-existing conditions. Besides lying to North Dakotans about their care, Cramer voted FIVE times to repeal the current health care law without a replacement and actively supports a reckless lawsuit – both of which would get rid of patient protection laws that prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to folks with pre-existing conditions or charging them more for their care.

TWEET OF THE WEEK.

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North Dakota in “Eye of Trade Storm”

(BISMARCK, ND) – Kevin Cramer is “betting the farm on the president,” choosing to stand with the president 100 percent of the time even as “[t]he trade dispute continues to drive soybean prices lower, as China’s retaliatory tariffs hurt orders for soybeans.” Just this week, “soybean prices fell to a decade-low” – a result of the growing trade war – but Cramer is still kowtowing to the president and putting his political capital first.

Reuters: Grains-Soybean Prices Edge Down, Linger Near Decade-Low

Fence Post: Brazil soybean exports to China soar

Markets Insider: Soybeans plunge to near their lowest level in a decade

  • “Soybean prices fell to a decade-low on Tuesday after data pointed to a quickly advancing US harvest and as the Trump administration escalated trade tensions with the China, the largest destination for American exports of the legume.”

Farm Bureau News: As Harvest Marches On, Tariff Pain to Follow

  • “[T]he feeling that the worst is yet to come hangs over producers. The consensus is that the impact of lower prices and weak demand from some key foreign customers will be most widespread as the combines roll and harvest 2018 gets underway.”

Bloomberg: Soy Boom State Finds Itself in Eye of Trade Storm

  • North Dakota — home to the fourth-smallest U.S. population — is suddenly finding itself at the center of the escalating trade war between the world’s largest economies.
  • Positioned closer to western U.S. ports than most areas of the soy belt, farmers [in North Dakota] were in a unique position to capitalize on China’s skyrocketing demand for the oilseed that’s used to make animal feed and cooking oil. Now that the crop has been caught in the crossfire of the U.S.-China trade spat, that demand is disappearing.
  • “It’s been built up, built up, built up — and now, it’s like the faucet has been turned off,” said Nancy Johnson of the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association.
  • With export elevators in Portland not posting bids, or purchase offers, through February, the state’s basis — the spread between Chicago futures and local cash prices — has “crashed” to a discount of almost $2 in some areas, he said. That’s about double the discount this time last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
  • The pain of lower prices is especially acute in export-dependent areas like North Dakota.
  • Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat from North Dakota, criticized the trade war in a Sept. 17 tweet, saying it’s left the state’s “farmers without any soybean orders from China” and pointed growers to a North Dakota State University presentation warning them to be prepared to store beans until mid-summer 2019.
  • As harvest starts near Berthold Farmers Elevator’s two locations in northwest North Dakota, the company will only be accepting soybeans that were previously contracted for delivery, said General Manager Dan Mostad. The elevator also won’t run storage programs for farmers, which let them deliver crops that are priced later in the season. “Those options aren’t available now because of the risk associated with price,” he said. “It’s really been not a fun problem to deal with for the whole soybean supply chain. It’s uncharted waters.”

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