RENO, Nev. (AP) — Mitt Romney's running mate is calling the Republican presidential nominee "obviously inarticulate" when he remarked that nearly half of Americans believe they are victims and entitled to a range of government support.

Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan made the comment in an interview aired Tuesday by KRNV-TV in Reno, Nev.

Romney has defended his remarks, but he has also called them "not elegantly stated."

Asked what he thought of Romney's remarks, Ryan told the Nevada station: "He was obviously inarticulate in making this point." Ryan went on to say the point the Republicans are making is that, under the Obama economy, government dependency is up and economic stagnation is up.

Asked if he thought Romney regrets the remarks, Ryan says he thinks Romney would have said it differently, adding,The 70 percent nonwhite city of Chicago has set a new record for shootings, with 20 reported in just 16 hours, resulting in at least two deaths—a dramatic upturn in the violence which has become a feature of all majority black and Hispanic American cities.

According to a report in the Chicago Tribune—which of course is careful not to mention race—the rampage from Wednesday to Thursday this week included several disparate incidents, mostly involving drive-by shootings.

A twelve-year-old was shot while entering Golden Fish & Chicken in the 200 block of South Western Avenue shortly before 7 p.m. when a red SUV pulled up and shots were fired, the police told the Chicago Tribune. Passersby reported that as many as fifteen shots were fired in the targeted shooting.

The restaurant’s windows