Ryan: Obama's win because of "urban" voters, not a rejection of my policies

[Lief 🗽]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/13/paul-ryan-obama-won-because-of-urban-turnout

“We were surprised with the outcome,” the Wisconsin Republican told WISC-TV’s Jessica Arp. “We knew this was going to be a close race. We thought we had a very good chance of winning it. I think that the surprise was some of the turnout, some of the turnout especially in urban areas, which definitely gave President Obama the big margin to win this race.”

“There’s always an Electoral College strategy to winning these things, and you know what states you need to win to get to 270 electoral votes. When we watched Virginia and Ohio coming in, those as tight as they were, and looking like we were going to lose them, that’s when it became clear we weren’t going to win.”

...

“I don’t think we lost it on those budget issues, especially on Medicare,” the former nominee explained. “We clearly didn’t lose it on those issues. I think what people want us to do is tackle the country’s problems, and what I got out of this is they don’t want only Republican ideas or only Democratic ideas, they want us to come together for common ground and to work this out.”

Although exit polls showed that six in ten voters wanted tax rates to be raised, Ryan said he didn’t believe that was what Americans really voted for.

“I don’t know if I agree with that because we have divided government,” he remarked. “They also voted for House Republicans to maintain their majority, which took a very clear stand against that.”

[Speed of Sound]

Looks like they read exit polls as well as they read other polls.

[opebo]

Everything they say is so encouraging!

But, you do have to wonder if the delusionals will remain in the drivers seat all the way till 2016.

[Edu]

Actually, didn't the democrats win the House vote? It seems to me people wanted complete democratic control but that awful gerrymander deprived them of that.

[sg0508]

If he comes out with the line of, "we knew it was pretty much over and it was going to be a longshot", his political career will end in a hurry.  You can't say something like that.  It's political suicide.  Believe me, the GOP knew it wasn't looking good the last week. 

[Averroës Nix]

To his credit, Ryan wanted to hold events in major cities and talk about how Republican policies could address issues like poverty. The Romney campaign shut him down.

[Likely Voter]

I dont know if I am reading too much into it but hearing Ryan and OReilly and others I get this sense that they feel they really 'won' because they won with white voters (and they are lamenting that those other votes count just as much)

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

To his credit, Ryan wanted to hold events in major cities and talk about how Republican policies could address issues like poverty. The Romney campaign shut him down.

They were right for once.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Isn't 'urban' sometimes used to mean 'black'?

[Hash]

To his credit, Ryan wanted to hold events in major cities and talk about how Republican policies could address issues like poverty. The Romney campaign shut him down.

They were right for once.

"We don't talk to poor people, Paul. Only to people with yachts"

[Speed of Sound]

Isn't 'urban' sometimes used to mean 'black'?

'Urban' here is entirely used to mean 'black', especially if we're talking about Ryan talking about poverty, etc.

[Vosem]

Isn't 'urban' sometimes used to mean 'black'?

No. It's common to attempt to tar someone with racism by making a smooth translation, "urban" = "black", but that isn't really the case. 'Urban' is used to mean 'city dweller'. For instance, when I lived in Brooklyn, I was urban, but today I live in Westlake, OH, which is not urban. So, I was urban, but I am no longer urban. See?

Obama's win was because of urban voters, that's literally true. If cities had not voted, Romney would've won. Ryan also chooses to interpret the result as not being a rejection of his policies, but having occurred for other reasons. Nowhere does the article mention the two are connected (Ryan never says 'the election was not a rejection of my policies because Obama only won because of urban voters'. He merely says the two are both true; one is indisputable and the other is a purely ideological point).

[pbrower2a]

That sounds like a slight variation on the "Real America" of Sarah Palin. Republicans make a huge mistake by demonizing urban America -- which now increasingly includes Suburbia as it takes on urban characteristics. The great urban areas have the high-cost infrastructure and high-cost public services. A four-lane freeway that exists in rural areas so that it can connect Louisville and Cleveland is superfluous for local needs... but it is wholly inadequate in Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, or Cleveland. Small towns can pay teachers and cops badly by big-city standards because of a lack of alternatives... but in a great city teachers have the ideal skill set for selling big-ticket objects and cops have to be paid well enough so that they don't become de facto parts of the payroll of criminal gangs. Want good roads, good teachers, and honest cops? You have to pay for those if you live in a city.

Such is one of the divides between rural and urban America. A century-old house in a small town might be one of the finest buildings in town and well taken care of. In a giant city it is probably a slum subdivided into apartments similar in size to prison cells.  In a city one needs to take a pooper-scooper along if one walks the dog. Deep in farm country? Nobody will ever know where your dog defecates.

The Republicans miss something that Barack Obama has caught onto: that Suburbia is becoming legitimately urban in its problems, including decaying infrastructure. Note well that the post-WWII suburban sprawl is approaching 70. Think of what is happening to all those once-new sewers and streets built to last a lifetime. The lifetimes of the people who first bought into that suburban sprawl are mostly no longer living. 

[LastVoter]

I dont know if I am reading too much into it but hearing Ryan and OReilly and others I get this sense that they feel they really 'won' because they won with white voters (and they are lamenting that those other votes count just as much)

You are starting to get it!

[All Along The Watchtower]

Rural America is dying, and I say that with no feelings of thankfulness.

[Devils30]

Ryan was just stating facts here, I don't think he was implying fraud in urban areas or anything. "Urban" areas always provide winning margins for Dems in a presidential race.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Isn't 'urban' sometimes used to mean 'black'?

'Urban' here is entirely used to mean 'black', especially if we're talking about Ryan talking about poverty, etc.

Or maybe he just meant you know, that turnout in urban areas helped Obama when he said that  turnout in urban areas helped Obama.  There were long lines in these areas, and you can look at a map and see how they voted.

It's also worth noting that a majority of voters in the exit polls wanted taxes to be raised, and a majority also didn't, depending on which of two differently worded questions you look at from those exit polls.

[TJ in Oregon]

Romney/Ryan didn't do very well among urban voters of any race.

[anvi]

So, Ryan is saying that his ticket did lose because of urban voters but did not lose because the majority of people disagreed with his ticket's platform.  Does he think urban voters--which is to say, the majority of voters, hence the Romney-Ryan loss--just voted for no reason?  Their only "reason" for picking Obama was that they are "urban?" 

 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

but today I live in Westlake, OH, which is not urban.

I've never heard of this place before, so I look it up. Clearly urban.

[Averroës Nix]

So, Ryan is saying that his ticket did lose because of urban voters but did not lose because the majority of people disagreed with his ticket's platform.  Does he think urban voters--which is to say, the majority of voters, hence the Romney-Ryan loss--just voted for no reason?  Their only "reason" for picking Obama was that they are "urban?" 

Perhaps - and this is the most charitable way one can possible read Ryan's comments - he's faulting the Romney campaign for conceding the urban vote to the Democrats without ever trying to reach them?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I dont know if I am reading too much into it but hearing Ryan and OReilly and others I get this sense that they feel they really 'won' because they won with white voters (and they are lamenting that those other votes count just as much)

Well, your vote in LA or Brooklyn is certainly worth less than your vote in rural white areas in Iowa.

[anvi]

Both Romney and Ryan visited a lot of urban areas during the campaign, so I don't think it makes sense to say they didn't try to win the urban vote.  I wasn't trying to give a charitable reading of Ryan's comments.  I think they either ludicrous, as they assume that urban voters just vote for no reason, or, as Al is suggesting, that "urban" is not very subtle code. 

[Vosem]

but today I live in Westlake, OH, which is not urban.

I've never heard of this place before, so I look it up. Clearly urban.

I assume you're being sarcastic, but in case you're not, Wikipedia defines us as an "affluent suburb".

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Let's be sure we're looking at Ryan's actual words here, rather than the creative reformulation from the link and thread title. Ryan said he was surprised at urban turnout, and that his House budget and not wanting to raise tax rates were not the reason he and Romney were defeated.  This is from 3 different statements over the course of a six minute interview.