Minnesota Republican state Sen. Dave Osmek on Tuesday defended comments he made last week to advocate for Jason Lewis’ Senate bid.
Speaking about the campaign on a podcast last Thursday, Osmek predicted that Lewis will “chop” Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) “into little pieces.”
“I believe I was clear that I do not speak for the campaign,” Osmek told TPM by email Tuesday. “These were my opinions. And I assume people understand that ‘chopping into pieces’ is a figure of speech.”
Though he has been identified as a Lewis campaign adviser in various reports, he said that he has “no responsibilities or position with the campaign.”
“Jason is incredibly well versed in many issues and will certainly show Smith for what she is,” he continued. “I am amused by the ‘case of vapors’ that liberals are having, considering the vile language used by DFLers against me and what they have said about my family,” a reference to the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party.
The Lewis and Smith campaigns did not immediately return requests for comment.
On the podcast, called “Up and At ‘Em,” Osmek also called Lewis a “bare knuckle brawler” whose campaign would have him “beatin’ the crap out of Tina Smith,” an “empty-headed pile of nothing.”
Lewis has his own rich history of offensive statements, including a lamentation that it’s no longer acceptable to call women “sluts” on his radio show in 2012.
“It used to be that women were held to a little bit of a higher standard,” he said then. “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?”
He has also mocked women for expressing trauma after unwanted sexual contact like grabbing or kissing, proclaiming: “Come on! She wasn’t raped.”
In a more lighthearted episode, Lewis also once filmed himself canvassing voters — outside of his district.
Listen to Osmek’s comments about Smith here.
h/t City Pages.
Hell, anything short of murder and those sluts should just man up and walk it off.
/s
I am constantly surprised that these Neanderthals go out of their way to advocate for the most visibly-harsh aspects of patriarchy.
It’s not enough to ensure women are economically dependent upon men. They want to make damn sure that any man can slut-shame any woman in the vilest way possible.
Maybe we should start holding men to some kind of standard.
If someone ever rapes this guy, I hope we’re all present to see him recant this garbage.
He thinks he’s channeling a Norseman ancestor, ya, a Viking.
I suppose that’s your friend in the wood chipper?
Ignore Osmek - he’s just a bedbug.
Dave Osmek (R-Rich Idiots) is an opportunistic butt-kisser, and Jason Lewis is a former AM Hate-Radio Shock-Jock so what do you expect?
Osmek represents District 33a in the Minnesota Senate, which is the far-western suburbs of the Twin-Cities including the western shore of the very wealthy Lake Minnetonka communities and their further west hobby-farms, and also the heavily Evangelical Blue-Collar Western ex-urbs.
ALL of the Republican State Senators in the Minnesota Senate have seen how much publicity their colleagues have gotta attacking Rep. IIhan Omar (D-MN), so they are all jumping on the anti-Islam bandwagon to get their 15-min. of media fame.
Consider the source and move along, nothing to see here.
Why this is even on TPM is a mystery to me.