As many people have been pointing out, Mitt Romney’s talk about the 47 percent was no different from what you hear all the time from Rush Limbaugh and the like. But bear in mind that Romney was talking to the financial super-elite, and gave every appearance of believing what he said. (I’m usually scornful of analyses based on how someone “comes across”, and would never put much weight on it, but the Romney of this video was a lot looser and more articulate than the guy we usually see).

What this strongly suggests is that the Masters of the Universe, and Master Mitt himself, really believe in all this stuff – which is pretty remarkable.

The “lucky ducky” trope is clearly, obviously nonsense; equally obviously, it was originally created in an effort to dupe people who didn’t know better. It was and is what Orwell called “prolefeed”, junk aimed at the ignorant masses (ignorant by design), the people who are ready to believe at a moment’s notice that we’ve always been at war with Eastasia.

In Orwell’s vision, however, the Party – and especially the Inner Party – wasn’t supposed to consume this same tripe. It was supposed to understand the true Party agenda and vision (a boot stomping on a human face forever).

So it actually is a revelation to see Romney and friends obviously swallowing the prolefeed whole. The news here isn’t really about their lack of empathy; it’s about their raw ignorance.