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House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R) came up short in his bid for national office, but won re-election to his House seat in Wisconsin. It wasn't an especially competitive race, though Ryan's margin of victory -- 12 percentage points -- was the closest of his seven congressional bids.
Yesterday, in his first public interview since Election Day -- and his first broadcast interview with anyone in nearly a month -- Ryan sat down with a local station in his district, sharing his take on what went wrong.
"I think the surprise was some of the turnout, some of the turnout especially in urban areas, which gave President Obama the big margin to win this race," said Ryan to local station WISC-TV in his first post-election interview.... Ryan, though, said that the election was not a referendum on his budget proposals and ideas on reforming entitlement programs.
"I don't think we lost it on those budget issues, especially on Medicare -- we clearly didn't lose it on those issues," he said.
There are a couple of interesting angles to keep in mind. The first is that Ryan isn't really in a position to blame turnout in "urban areas" for the Republicans' national defeat. For one thing, Romney/Ryan lost in swing states like New Hampshire, which have no "urban areas." For another, there really wasn't anything especially surprising about minority turnout, so long as the campaign had a rudimentary understanding of demographics, polls, and recent history.
The second is that Ryan is going to have a tough time selling the idea that issues were irrelevant on Election Day. Indeed, the congressman is running into a falsifiability problem: if his ticket had won, it'd be proof that he's right on the issues, and even after defeat, it's still proof he's right on the issues.
And even putting that aside, NBC's Mark Murray explains today, "For all the talk about how Mitt Romney and the Republicans lost when it came to demographics, the turnout, and the tactics, the exit polls also show that they lost when it came to the issues."
[A]ccording to the exit polls from last week's presidential election, a combined 60% said that tax rates should increase either for everyone or for those making more than $250,000. Just 35% said the tax rates shouldn't increase for anyone.
What's more, 59% said that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
And by a 49%-to-46% margin, voters said that their states should legally recognize same-sex marriage.
Even on comprehensive immigration reform -- a subject that some Republicans (like George W. Bush) once supported, but most no longer do -- 65% said most illegal immigrants should be offered a chance to apply for legal status.
It may make Ryan feel better to believe the issues -- and his party's positions of those issues -- were irrelevant to Democratic successes, but if 2012 taught the right anything, it should be that dubious claims that do little but make conservatives feel better aren't exactly reliable.
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Ryan needs to go look for that lost book of Ayn Rand's- the one that 'splains EVERYTHING!
What does Paul Ryan know about "Urban Areas"? Teaching your little children how to pretend to clean already-clean pots & pans in an empty Soup Kitchen makes him very specifically unqualified to talk like he knows anything about Urban Areas.
What a tool. A man without shame.
It is a shame that both sides roughly agree on debt and deficits being a big scary problem, despite abundant evidence to the contrary. The media (and here I include Rachael, though I love here dearly) does the public a huge disservice by shutting out much of the science of economics in favor of dogma. I do wish somebody smart in the media (like Rachael) would spend a few hours studying Modern Monetary Theory. It would clear away many of the most noxious elements of erroneous conventional wisdom and allow us to replace the stupidity of the current narrative with productive public discourse.
It would seem the fastest way to increase revenues is to get more people back into jobs that pay a living wage....and taxing the rich who would not be disturbed in the least.
The most disturbing thing about this election to me is how many billionaires were so willing to waste millions on weak candidates. It was like saying to the middle class, "Please increase our taxes as we have nothing else to waste our money on and refuse to invest in R&D, American-based startups, or improving the failing power grid and other infrastructure."
There is a mandate to raise taxes on the rich and the Republicans better figure out how they are going to act on it before the Midterms. Democrats have them on the ropes on this one.
Republicans can't talk about deficits and let the richest amongt us not contribute anything toward ending them....after they flaunted their wealth at the middle class during a Great Depression.
They lost Florida and Pennsylvania- 2 states with the highest average age- because of Paul Ryan and his ideas about Medicare and Social Security. Yes, Paul, it was your message.
But they did win the senior vote. Im not so sure they lost on medicare and social security. I think it is much more complex than that.
I think they lost the Baby Boomers age 55 and younger because of Ryan's threat to their retirement security. Never understood why the GOP was willing to write off so many voters and scare the rest.
I've seen a little data to suggest that actually, turnout on the east coast was somewhat depressed, compared to 2008, and I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that Sandy had somehting to do with this...Less access to polls, less turnout.
Since these are primarily blue states, it made little difference overall. NY, DE, MD, VA, MA, CT, etc. I would suggest, however, that Obama's margin of the popular vote would have been even greater had it not been for the storm.
Also, look at NC. Inland is conservative, and the coast is liberal. Vote totals are down from 2008. I haven't looked county by county, but I'd bet that had it not bbeen for Sandy, Obama would have carried that, also.
Worth looking into for sure. Thanks for pointing out the depressed vote numbers on the coast. I wondered why NC was the hold out among the swing states. Those Obama votes among moderates may not have been that firm to begin so when the hurricane hit they found a convenient excuse for not going to the polls to cast them?
I'm so sick and tired of Ryan. Maybe there is a spot for him in the Catholic Church as head of the inquisitorial team, or he could sell indulgences to the gullible, hear confessions so he can feel better about himself, and be a general dog's body to the Pope! Whatever, just stay out of politics!
Hateful, offensive, and really unnecessary dude.
Not any more offensive that trying to redefine incest and rape as consensual sex.
Shouldn't we come out and say that these remarks are frankly racist?
Rep. Ryan contrasts "los[ing] on . . . issues" with losing because of "turnout . . . in urban areas." Implicit in that contrast is the proposition that "urban" voters turn out for reasons other than "issues."
In other words, Ryan is repeating the mantra of John Sununu: He's saying there's a Colin Powell lurking behind every door in Cleveland.
It's not entirely true. It was the combination of the urban vote and a jump in suburban vote that did Romney/Ryan in. That suburban vote is just going to escalate in the future. The middle class feels threatened by the GOP and can't trust anything they say...because they lie to us and themselves.
If the Gop & Conservatives can learn one thing from the election it should be this, Lying is bad, Lying to yourself is worse, Believing that lie is Disastrous.
Obviously, they can't.
The operative world here is "can" and we know they won't.
Just when I thought we could return to rational conversation -- Ryan shows up!
Yes, you lost on your policies.
Yes, you lost on voter turnout.
Yes, you lost.
And continue to loose it as you wander in denial ...
And, please keep right on wandering in that denial for 2014 and 2016!
He lives in the K Street culture of which he found his lobbyist wife and still believes everything she tells him as if it's not a bribe.
Let them live in their dream world...makes it easier for the rest of us.....and we need to keep being vigilant...and involved!!
Magical thinking.
A psychiatric definition. It fits most republicans.
Those seniors in FL throwing walkers at him wasn't a sign of trouble? Suburban areas going heavily for ObamaCare covering contraceptives? Baby Boomers age 55 and younger clearly not wanting to lose their retirement security?
Young graduates overwhelminglynot accepting part time work with no benefits as the Republican economic wet dream? The middle class squarely behind the idea of the rich paying down the deficit and sharing a bigger (or at least a portion of) the tax burden?
How does Ryan figure any of those real numbers which were cast as votes somehow doesn't reject his budget? Ryan was rejected on everything except possibly support by Evangelicals for his legitimate rape stance.
He can take his tax cuts for the rich and stove them.
Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.
I think they thought they had suppressed enough votes to give them a win. That's what I think.
Paul Ryan now says that the all the issues discussed in the election campaign are not relevant to the outcome or to what the people voted for. That is a remarkable statement and he should be eligible for and Academe Award, Best Actor in an non supporting role.
Paul Ryan bores me anymore.
So Paul Ryan maintains his budget spreadsheet is still watertight as he swims to shore because his (much easier) poll spreadsheet was, shall we say, full of leaks?
. . . Meanwhile at the GOP headquarters: "I thought we told those black people and latino's not to vote?!"
Why was this Idiot reelected He clearly doesn't get it . Has anyone thought about doing an Ancestry background on him The Donald and Mitt ? I'm sure like everyone else in America there will surely be a minority in their background. Especially in the case of Mitt Romney's family. That would kill the birther issue.