This morning, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) bitterly complained about his party’s absolute shellacking during the recent midterm elections, railing against the state of California’s “bizarre” voting system.
Grousing at the string of stinging defeats his party has endured over the past few weeks, including a stunning reversal in California’s 21st district which saw Republican Rep. David Valadao’s 7-point lead and presumptive victory slip away into a razor-thin victory for Democratic challenger TJ Cox, Ryan took aim at the Golden State in a whiny statement that dabbled in Trumpian voter fraud conspiracy:
“When you have candidates who win the absentee ballot vote and then lose three weeks later because of provisionals, that’s really bizarre. I just think that’s a very, very strange outcome.”
Of course, the truth is that there’s nothing “strange” or “bizarre” about what happened in California. “Perhaps it is because he’s not used to states that are making it easier for people to vote” chided Mariel Garza at the Los Angeles Times.
What’s so befuddling to Ryan is the sight of a democracy in function, where voters and their needs are accommodated with mail-in, absentee, and provisional ballots, and where special care is taken to ensure that every vote is counted and that every vote means something, no matter who you are.
Rep. Ted Lieu of California’s 33rd took to Twitter this afternoon to roast Ryan for his frustrations — and dropped the mic on the disgraced right-wing extremist:
Hey Paul Ryan: In California, we don't arbitrarily stop counting votes.
You raised taxes on millions of Californians, sabotaged health care & hated on immigrants. What did you think was going to happen? Don't blame CA voters, blame yourself.
Have a nice retirement @SpeakerRyan https://t.co/G9u61YUEvv
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) November 29, 2018
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Paul.
