Nevada Controller Candidate Apparently Also Running For Worst Person In The World

I read the following press release from the Nevada Democratic Party,

Las Vegas, NV – Ah, Nevada Republicans. You never cease to amaze us in your ability to “out-stupid” each other. Last week, in an op-ed in the Elko-Daily Free Press, Republican nominee for Nevada Controller, Ron Knecht, blamed programs to help sexual assault victims for the rise in the cost of college tuition. No, we’re not making this up – he actually said that.

To be clear: this was not a gaffe or simply a case of misspeaking. The Republican nominee for State Controller proactively wrote an op-ed in a newspaper criticizing programs that help rape victims. He even said colleges should fight new federal guidelines to help victims of sexual assault. (Seriously, who says this?)

“Another week, another outrageous and flat-out boneheaded comment by a Nevada Republican” said Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Zach Hudson. “Ron Knecht’s comments highlight how completely clueless Republicans are when it comes to women’s health. Helping victims of sexual assault isn’t ‘federal overreach,’ and it certainly isn’t to blame for an increase in college tuition -- it's the right thing to do. Knecht needs to come out of the stone age and apologize to Nevada women for this ignorant, irresponsible, and out-of-touch op-ed."

I thought, "No...there has to be more to this story. That's too politically stupid and ridiculous." It turns out there's less. Can there be less to a story like that? I'm not sure I'm making sense because I am actually in shock after reading Ron Knecht's Op-Ed. Don't be deceived Knecht doesn't just mention sexual assault prevention as one campus program that could be cut to save money. His entire crux is "cut sexual assault prevention!" He repeatedly refers to new Department of Education mandates to reduce campus assualt as "nonsense" and complains that attempts to hold campus rapists accountable are an

"expensive, cumbersome, confusing and time-consuming process, and would give plaintiffs and defendants the right to bring in their own outside advisers, including lawyers. But campuses would be under time pressure to speed the proceedings along and make them transparent, even as the new regulations make achieving those goals difficult or impossible."

He is equally disdainful of assault prevention programs lamenting that,

"colleges will become nannies to their students and employees, being required to train them on preventing sexual misconduct, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking. Further, they will have to compile and publish statistics on all such incidents, while also assuring greater confidentiality protections for plaintiffs."

How do people this misguided even get through life let alone run for higher office? Don't the empathy police come and grab them and make them listen to a recording of their own stupid until they become self-aware? I have read a lot of articles about morally bankrupt politicians saying outrageous things about rape, but I am actually stunned by how tone deaf this is. How is this not already all over the Internet?

I'm going to take a shower and curl up in the fetal position.