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Rush Limbaugh creates political debate over Bane in 'Dark Knight'
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Rush Limbaugh sees a liberal conspiracy in the fact that Bane, the villain in "The Dark Knight Rises" (played by Tom Hardy), has a name that sounds the same as Bain Capital, the company whose record Democrats have used to attack Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. -
Tom Hardy as Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises."
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Radio commentator Rush Limbaugh set off a firestorm last week when he took a swipe at "The Dark Knight Rises" and its main villain, Bane -- a name which he said Democrats were relating to Bain Capital, the company whose record has been used by Democrats to attack Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
"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?" Mr. Limbaugh asked, even while admitting that the movie has been in the works for years before its Friday release date.
However, he did not mention that Bane first appeared in DC Comics' "Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1" in 1993, nor did he say that the character has been seen on film previously, played by the late pro wrestler Robert Swenson in 1997's "Batman & Robin."
Yet Mr. Limbaugh went on: "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. [The movie's] going to have a lot of people. 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!' "
The Washington Post reported that Mr. Limbaugh clarified his earlier statement on Wednesday. "More people are concerned about whatever I might have said or didn't say about a Batman villain than they are about their own jobs," the Post quoted Mr. Limbaugh as saying.
The radio talker denied implying that filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his writer-brother Jonathan Nolan were in any way in cahoots with the Obama 2012 campaign, The Associated Press said. Mr. Limbaugh said the point was: "Batman is Romney. The good guy is Romney."
Perhaps because he has not seen the movie he was commenting on, he did not point out that fictional character Batman also is fictional billionaire Bruce Wayne (yes, we "entertainment, pop culture" types know the difference) and SPOILER ALERT! how Wayne's business acumen is portrayed in "The Dark Knight Rises." It is Catwoman who gives voice to the 99 percenters when she says, "You're all going to wonder how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."
Perhaps Mr. Limbaugh should be worried about her.
First Published July 22, 2012 12:00 am
