Batman....plotting against Mitt?

tybird

Good old Rush Limbaugh....always good for a few laughs.....

When most comics fans see Bane, they think of a quintessential 1990s supervillain, the super-strong “Man Who Broke the Bat.” But when conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh sees Bane, he thinks of a left-wing conspiracy.

As Warner Bros. makes its final promotional push for The Dark Knight Rises, which features Tom Hardy as Batman’s hulking nemesis, Limbaugh launched into a screed linking the prominence of Bane in entertainment news with the prominence of Bain — that is, the venture-capital company co-founded by Mitt Romney — in the political debate. Oh, don’t act surprised.

“Do you think it is accidental that the name of the really vicious fire-breathing, four-eyed whatever-it-is villain in this movie is named Bane?” The Hollywood Reporter quotes Limbaugh as saying on today’s show. He apparently acknowledged that the development of the Christopher Nolan film predates the current line of attack by President Obama’s reelection campaign, but even the pesky tendency of time to move in a linear fashion — retroactive retirements aside — can’t get in the way of a good conspiracy theory!

“So this evil villain in the new Batman movie is named Bane. And there’s discussion out there as to whether or not this was purposeful and whether or not it will influence voters. It’s going to have a lot of people,” Limbaugh continued. “The audience is going to be huge. A lot of people are going to see the movie. And it’s a lot of brain-dead people, entertainment, the pop-culture crowd, and they’re going to hear Bane in the movie and they’re going to associate Bain. And the thought is that when they’re going to start paying attention to the campaign later in the year, and Obama and the Democrats keep talking about Bain, not Bain Capital but Romney and Bain, that these people will start thinking back to the Batman movies — ‘Oh yeah, I know who that is!’”

Who that is, as most DC Comics readers know, is a character co-created two decades ago by Chuck Dixon, a conservative writer whose political views are probably more in line with Romney’s than Obama’s. The Hollywood Reporter also notes, perhaps unnecessarily, that Bane debuted about a year before Romney launched his unsuccessful 1994 bid to unseat Sen. Ted Kennedy, who ran a series of ads focused on Bain Capital that were credited with contributing to Romney’s loss.

UPDATE: Commenters on Twitter and on Robot 6 both point out that Limbaugh is merely picking up the baton from The Washington Examiner and The Washington Times, which report the Bane/Bain meme actually originated on liberal blogs — although the links there seem largely focused on supposed thematic parallels and photo mash-ups rather than, y’know, some secret plot that would require mind control and a time machine.

After seeing an attempt to link Bane with Bain, Dixon wrote, “I saw it on FB like two hours ago. Ridiculous. Tho’ I got a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach that Rush may pick up on this. And that would be the second time he pegged me and Graham as liberals on his show […] Overgrasping Dems? Hey, if it gets Obama supporters into theaters. Maybe they’ll buy thousands of Bane toys to throw at Romney. It all adds to MY Bane capital. I wonder if the Romney campaign will contact me?”

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/20 ... -and-bain/

norm

good to see rushbo is still on the oxy train...lost his hearing and now whatever is left of his feeble mind

mookeywrench

Someone wanna remind Rush that the way Batman saved Gotham City from the Joker was through that liberal-hated PATRIOT Act.

catefrances

your politicians are waaaay more amusing than ours.

FiveB247x

He's Bat-shit crazy.

brianlux

Damn you pinko Batman! And I'll bet that wimpy Robin is gay. This country is going to hell!

Edit: it occurs to me that Rush really does think this way. People used to talk like this when I was a kid. Sometime I wonder if things really haven't changed that much since the 50's. Weird.

RW81233

Isn't Batman the perfect libertarian? I mean he's a rich kid who got everything handed to him his whole life, but lost his parents early so he feels sad. Instead of using his money to alter a context in which people have so little they feel the need to do bad things he learned how to beat "bad guys" up. Because, you know, they didn't work hard enough for what they were getting. See Rush I can play this game too.

cincybearcat

catefrances wrote:

your politicians are waaaay more amusing than ours.

Did you just call Rush a politician? I mean he is shady and slimy, etc but he is still no politician.

mikepegg44

RW81233 wrote:

Isn't Batman the perfect libertarian? I mean he's a rich kid who got everything handed to him his whole life, but lost his parents early so he feels sad. Instead of using his money to alter a context in which people have so little they feel the need to do bad things he learned how to beat "bad guys" up. Because, you know, they didn't work hard enough for what they were getting. See Rush I can play this game too.

what does any of that have to do with libertarianism?


Rush is a bit, who needs further proof that he is a character? no rational human being can think up some of the stuff he says...he plays to his audience perfectly...

brianlux

mikepegg44 wrote:

no rational human being can think up some of the stuff he says...he plays to his audience perfectly...

Or is it just that he's a bit like Chauncey Gardiner?

ComeToTX

cincybearcat wrote:

catefrances wrote:

your politicians are waaaay more amusing than ours.

Did you just call Rush a politician? I mean he is shady and slimy, etc but he is still no politician.

he's worse. he shapes the political thought for millions in this country.

cincybearcat

ComeToTX wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

catefrances wrote:

your politicians are waaaay more amusing than ours.

Did you just call Rush a politician? I mean he is shady and slimy, etc but he is still no politician.

he's worse. he shapes the political thought for millions in this country.

No argument from me.

tybird

For those who don't wish to remember it.....the Bane character was also in the earlier Batman movie, "Batman and Robin" featuring George Clooney.....noted liberal....the plot thickens?????

That movie was released in 1997

ComeToTX

tybird wrote:

For those who don't wish to remember it.....the Bane character was also in the earlier Batman movie, "Batman and Robin" featuring George Clooney.....noted liberal....the plot thickens?????

That movie was released in 1997

you're trying to confuse people with facts!

FrankieG

:fp:

That's all i got to say... just, :fp:

Cosmo

Sad reality... there are people who listen to his programs and ACTUALLY BELIEVE it to be true... and ARE GOING TO VOTE BASED UPON THIS.

tybird

Chuck Dixon, Rush Limbaugh, Bane, Bain And The Dark Knight Rises

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/07/18/ ... ght-rises/

The intersection of political controversy and the mainstream comic book scene is rarely uninteresting these days, but this one — which has been building for several days and hit a crescendo today as Rush Limbaugh weighed in — qualifies for its own chapter in the book of you can’t make this stuff up.

Let’s put the pieces of the puzzle together here. Essentially, The Dark Knight Rises is being pulled into the realm of presidential political campaign rhetoric due to the fact that Bane sounds similar to the Bain in Bain Capital, Mitt Romney‘s former investment firm. As the Washington Examiner put it on Monday:

This summer’s much-anticipated Hollywood blockbuster, “The Dark Knight Rises,” is getting an unusual boost from Democrats and other foes of Mitt Romney who are eager to tie the Gotham crushing villain to the GOP presidential candidate. Their angle: the mask-wearing, “Venom” gas breathing bad guy has a name that sounds just like Romney’s former investment firm that President Obama has been blasting as a jobs killer.

“Bane” is the terrorist in the new movie who drives the caped crusader out of semi-retirement in the final Batman movie. Democrats, who believe they have Romney on the ropes over the president’s assault on his leadership at Bain Capital, said the comparisons are too rich to ignore.

“It has been observed that movies can reflect the national mood,” said Democratic advisor and former Clinton aide Christopher Lehane. “Whether it is spelled Bain and being put out by the Obama campaign or Bane and being out by Hollywood, the narratives are similar: a highly intelligent villain with offshore interests and a past both are seeking to cover up who had a powerful father and is set on pillaging society,” he added.

On Tuesday, Rush Limbaugh gave his opinion on the matter on his radio show. According to the Business Insider, he said in part:

This movie, the audience is gonna be huge. A lot of people are gonna see the movie, and it’s a lot of brain-dead people, entertainment, the pop culture crowd, and they’re gonna hear Bane in the movie and they’re gonna associate Bain. The thought is that when they start paying attention to the campaign later in the year, and Obama and the Democrats keep talking about Bain, Romney and Bain, that these people will think back to the Batman movie, “Oh, yeah, I know who that is.” (laughing) There are some people who think it’ll work. Others think you’re really underestimating the American people to think that will work.

But wait. As many comic fans will already know, not only did Bane first appear nearly two decades ago (Vengeance of Bane #1, 1993), created by Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan, but Dixon himself is one of the comic book industry’s best-known political conservatives. During the Dixonverse messageboard thread on the matter, he noted of the Bane/Bain comparisons the day before Limbaugh’s segment aired:

I saw it on FB like two hours ago.

Ridiculous.

Tho’ I got a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach that Rush may pick up on this.

And hat would be the second time he pegged me and Graham as liberals on his show.

Later adding:

Overgrasping Dems?

It all adds to MY Bane capital.

I wonder if the Romeny campaign will contact me?

And also told comicbook.com:

Bane was created by me and Graham Nolan and we are lifelong conservatives and as far from left-wing mouthpieces as you are likely to find in comics.

Dixon later notes that he has already participated in one political talk show on the matter, The Schnitt List. Audio from Tuesday’s show which includes Dixon can be downloaded here.

RW81233

mikepegg44 wrote:

RW81233 wrote:

Isn't Batman the perfect libertarian? I mean he's a rich kid who got everything handed to him his whole life, but lost his parents early so he feels sad. Instead of using his money to alter a context in which people have so little they feel the need to do bad things he learned how to beat "bad guys" up. Because, you know, they didn't work hard enough for what they were getting. See Rush I can play this game too.

what does any of that have to do with libertarianism?


Rush is a bit, who needs further proof that he is a character? no rational human being can think up some of the stuff he says...he plays to his audience perfectly...

It was more of a joke, I just realized how much I hate who Batman is as a person. Seriously Bruce Wayne has so much money he can spend billions building this death tank, a squirrel suit and a thingy that pulls him into a low flying jet, get access to everyone's information at one time, meanwhile the monorail collapses and he doesn't fix it, the city is in dire conditions but he doesn't give his money back to help it get better. No instead he plays with his stupid ass toys and plays fight the bad guy. What an asshole.

mikepegg44

RW81233 wrote:

mikepegg44 wrote:

RW81233 wrote:

Isn't Batman the perfect libertarian? I mean he's a rich kid who got everything handed to him his whole life, but lost his parents early so he feels sad. Instead of using his money to alter a context in which people have so little they feel the need to do bad things he learned how to beat "bad guys" up. Because, you know, they didn't work hard enough for what they were getting. See Rush I can play this game too.

what does any of that have to do with libertarianism?


Rush is a bit, who needs further proof that he is a character? no rational human being can think up some of the stuff he says...he plays to his audience perfectly...

It was more of a joke, I just realized how much I hate who Batman is as a person. Seriously Bruce Wayne has so much money he can spend billions building this death tank, a squirrel suit and a thingy that pulls him into a low flying jet, get access to everyone's information at one time, meanwhile the monorail collapses and he doesn't fix it, the city is in dire conditions but he doesn't give his money back to help it get better. No instead he plays with his stupid ass toys and plays fight the bad guy. What an asshole.

All in how you look at it I suppose...he fights those that exploit the poor and make them live in fear...while the many Wayne charities takes the other side of things...
Don't know a lot about the batman universe at all, but I see it as more of a defender of those that cannot defend themselves...

I was going to say, libertarian, no way...I believe the wayne's (his parents at least) were staunch liberals

Prince Of Dorkness

Meh.

At least I learned that Chuck DIxon isn't nearly as cool as I thought he was.

Jason P

I caught the beginning of Rush's show today. He was bemused that his comment on Batman has generated more attention, comments, and anger than anything he has said in years.