This afternoon, Mr. Hinderaker wonders aloud “how could I have been so wrong?”

That’s a step in the right direction, I guess. I mean, at least he is now beginning to realize that only a tiny fraction of the American population sees the world through the same myopic Coke-bottle-bottom lenses he employs — hinders himself with, actually.

What is comical is his explanation for why he was wrong about it being a pretty sure victory for Mr. Romney. Read it (in the original German!) here, or see it excerpted below:

. . .With over 100 million Americans receiving federal welfare benefits. . . .

I am afraid the problem in this year’s race is economic self-interest: we are perilously close to the point where 50% of our population cares more about the money it gets (or expects to get) from government than about the well-being of the nation as a whole. Throw in a few confused students, pro-abortion fanatics, etc., and you have a Democratic majority. . . .

Or — rather than “the money it gets“, Mr. Hinderaker — could it be that more than 50 percent of Americans don’t think it right that the one percent (like Messrs. Romney and Hinderaker) vote themselves vast tax cuts, while increasing the tax bills of many many millions of people not making even $75,000 a year?

Nah — its because they want a hand out, according to Mr. Hinderaker. He is right, insofar as someone wants a hand-out — but it is Mr. Romney and Mr. Hinderaker who want it — for themselves — to the exclusion of the lower middle classes.

Now let’s tackle his claim that 100 million Americans are getting welfare. That is wrong — by a factor of two. In September 2009, around 4 million Americans were served by a state cash-assistance or welfare program, more than 37 million received federal food stamps and about 9.1 million received unemployment benefits. It is clear that many many of these figures contain significant overlap. Any given family below the poverty line often gets both state and federal aid, and unemployment benefits. But, if treated as exclusive numbers, there would be a total of 50.1 million Americans who received federal aid in September 2009. That number had come down to below 43 million in 2011, according to the US Census Bureau. Mr. Hinderaker’s claim of 100 million on Welfare is preposterous. [See this — for tax detail in above graphics and narrative.]

So — there’s Mr. Hinderaker’s “Whopper of the Day” — to boot!