GOP Rep Made Series Of Misogynistic Comments On Radio Show

UNITED STATES - MARCH 20: Rep. Jason Lewis, R-Minn., leaves the House Republican Conference meeting in the Capitol on Tuesday, March 20, 2018. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Rep. Jason Lewis (R-MN) had a history of making misogynistic comments on his former radio show, America’s Mr. Right, CNN reported Wednesday.

Lewis hosted the show from 2009 to 2014. CNN’s KFILE team said Former Minnesota GOP deputy chair Michael Brodkorb, who is now a columnist at a local Minnesota news site, tipped off the network to several months-worth of comments by Lewis. Brodkorb covered some of Lewis’ comments in a February 2016 column, CNN noted. The Atlantic also covered some of Lewis’ comments a few months later.

CNN’s review of Lewis’ comments was damning. A spokesperson for Lewis’ campaign told CNN: “This has all been litigated before, and as Congressman Lewis has said time and time again, it was his job to be provocative while on the radio.”

“Well, the thing is, can we call anybody a slut?” Lewis opined in March 2012 after Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke just that. “This is what begs the question. Take this woman out of it, take Rush out of it for a moment,” Lewis said in a March 2012 episode. “Does a woman now have the right to behave — and I know there’s a double standard between the way men chase women and running and running around — you know, I’m not going to get there, but you know what I’m talking about. But it used to be that women were held to a little bit of a higher standard. We required modesty from women. Now, are we beyond those days where a woman can behave as a slut, but you can’t call her a slut?”

“One of the reasons that the Democrats love the quote unquote female issue is because they know women vote more liberally than men do,” Lewis said in August 2012. “Now you could say in a very, very sexist, misogynistic way that, ‘well, that’s because women just don’t understand money. They don’t understand, they’re, they don’t handle finances. They’re guided by emotion, not reason. Why, that’s why they didn’t have the vote for a full century in the country.’ Well, it is true that women cast more votes for Democrats. All I’m saying, I’m not validating the stereotype. I’m married to a woman, for heaven’s sakes, but I will say this: Do not, do not pander and move left to get the female vote.”

He returned to birth control in November 2012, asking rhetorically of women who support public financing of contraception: “You can be bought off for that?”

Read CNN’s full report here.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for spin spin says:

    Kiss this dude good bye. He is in a PVI +2R district in the Twin Cities Suburbs. The good folks of Eagen may be wealthy and fiscally conservative, but they also have wives/daughters that work (or are wives/daughters that work).

    The race was already considered a toss-up, this is a big hit in the wrong district for him to survive.

  2. andrew kaczynski
    :thinking:
    ‏Verified account @KFILE

    During a December 2012 segment on changes in the culture, Republican Congressman Lewis said, “Only we can tell our young women, ‘don’t look like some slut and you won’t get hit on.’”

    What an effing moron.

  3. In other news, dogs bark at strangers, and monkeys fling shit at zoo patrons.

  4. Yes, Jason, it’s true - people often vote for the party that listens to them and supports their issues.

    Jeepers, this guy’s head is shoved so far up his ass, he’s a human klein bottle.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

65 more replies

Participants

Avatar for valgalky23 Avatar for playitagainrowlf Avatar for daveminnj Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for krusher Avatar for doctorbiobrain Avatar for teenlaqueefa Avatar for Lacuna-Synecdoche Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for psyclone Avatar for radgal70 Avatar for minnesconsin Avatar for geofu54 Avatar for mrf Avatar for hornblower Avatar for tena Avatar for jenbieds Avatar for susanintheoc Avatar for feelingthebern Avatar for spin Avatar for maximus Avatar for drtv Avatar for cathill Avatar for rascal_crone

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: