This video will go viral if it hasn’t already. Natalie Morales asks about releasing more tax returns and Ann Romney almost jumps out of her seat and attacks the reporter. She is clearly angry, but I don’t think this is the most important thing:
What comes across most clearly is Ann Romney’s sense of entitlement. She’s rich! She’s above suspicion! Her husband is above suspicion because she says so!
Sometimes I’m glad that I’m not rich or powerful. If I were, I would have to work really hard to not be a total dick. You just don’t come upon many rich people who think they are lucky to be rich. It is because they are smart (a gift) and hard working (a gift) and moral (a gift if it’s true). Mitt Romney deserves his quarter billion dollars! This is because he is 1000 times as smart and 1000 times as hard working and 1000 times as moral as the average American. He must be because he has 1000 times as much money. (We think.)
What is most pernicious about Ayn Rand’s philosophy is not that it is wrong; the most pernicious thing is that it tells those people who are the biggest dicks that they aren’t dicks. Only a sociopath would tell the schoolyard bully that the only thing wrong with him is that he isn’t beating up enough kids.
Ann Romney looks like she is at the end of her rope. She is the one who asks the questions, not the one who answers them!