I also agree that the sting of rejections never goes away.
I think that for a lot of guys, the rejections genuinely don't bother them. I can understand the mindset where it wouldn't, or shouldn't. Numbers game and all. It just so happens for me, I don't like it.
Not surprised to hear that David Deangelo is the source of the smirking. Apparently he's helped a lot of guys, but I could never quite embrace him. I mean, an occasional c0cky/funny comment can be amusing. But to build an entire personality on it, or to build an entire dating strategy on it? Sounds like madness to me. Besides, if I was around someone like that for eight hours a day, I'd most likely want to punch them in the mouth.
Then he named one of his dating products "C0cky Comedy". I've said before that PUAs have the worst terminology of any field I can think of, and that title fits right in.