A while back, radio gasbag Rush Limbaugh was cited as a Weasel of the Week for his haranguing of a college student who took a stand on contraception. It should've been inevitable, then, that Limbaugh would put his foot in his mouth again, but this time collecting a Dunce Cap for his lame remarks.
On Tuesday, Limbaugh went on the air and condemned the new movie, "The Dark Knight Rises", as an attack on Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, all because the lead villain is a guy named Bane. Romney, in case you've been living under a rock, has had some connection to Bain Capital. The spelling of the name is totally different, but try telling that to Limbaugh, who hurled some accusations at co-writer/director Christopher Nolan and Warner Brothers. He claims that, given the four year lead time between "The Dark Knight" (2008) and "Rises", which is set 8 years after the last film, that there's been a debate over the selection of Bane, a character introduced in the comics nearly 20 years ago, and whether or not there was any intent on the part of Nolan---purely for political reasons, Limbaugh asserts---to influence voters.
To Limbaugh, I say, GET A FREAKIN' CLUE!
Limbaugh then referenced a blog from the Washington Times that made the same dumb-as-dirt assumption. Apparently, Limbaugh hasn't been up to speed on comics, particularly Batman, else he'd know that Bane came along a year before Romney made his first bid for political office. It's well known, however, that the movie was being shot while the Occupy movement was in full swing in New York last year, but that just happened to be a coincidence of timing.
Bad timing, then, for Limbaugh to present himself yet again as being as sharp as a dead tree stump. Lucky for him that Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? has ceased production, otherwise, he'd be a candidate for embarassment on that show. Hope he likes the Dunce Cap.
The other point against Limbaugh is that, from what I've heard about the film, Bane is a rabble-rouser who sends the poor out to attack the rich, which would make him an unconvincing caricature of Mitt Romney -- though I long ago suggested a poster photoshopping Tom Hardy's muzzle on Romney's face and labelling it "BAIN."
ReplyDeleteI had heard part of that broadcast but it sounded like Rush was joking (as he'd made jokes before that the mainstream media chose to take seriously), so I did some checking.
ReplyDeleteIt seems it wasn't Rush who suggested Bane vs. Bain [Capital] but Washington Examiner columnist Paul Bedard. He reported in his column that Democrat operatives do indeed see the film as an opportunity to continue smears on Romney and his Bain Capital roots:
"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."
To be fair, I only heard part of Rush's chatter about this as I was on the road, but it seems he didn't come up with it so much as commenting on someone else's suggestion.
Given Limbaugh's reputation as a rabble-rouser himself, he gets the Dunce Cap for perpetuating the assumption that a political agenda is attached to the movie when none exists.
ReplyDeleteAs for Bedard, well, comics fans might want to go after him instead of the pre-release reviews........