Politics | Icepicks and Nukes

By now, most of you have seen this exchange between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama about the attack on the diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya in which four Americans were killed on September 11:

Here’s the transcript of that exchange:

CROWLEY: Because we’re — we’re closing in, I want to still get a lot of people in. I want to ask you something, Mr. President, and then have the governor just quickly.

Your secretary of state, as I’m sure you know, has said that she takes full responsibility for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi. Does the buck stop with your secretary of state as far as what went on here?

OBAMA: Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job. But she works for me. I’m the president and I’m always responsible, and that’s why nobody’s more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I do.

The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people in the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened. That this was an act of terror and I also said that we’re going to hunt down those who committed this crime.

And then a few days later, I was there greeting the caskets coming into Andrews Air Force Base and grieving with the families.

And the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the Secretary of State, our U.N. Ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we’ve lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. That’s not what we do. That’s not what I do as president, that’s not what I do as Commander in Chief.

CROWLEY: Governor, if you want to…

ROMNEY: Yes, I — I…

CROWLEY: … quickly to this please.

ROMNEY: I — I think interesting the president just said something which — which is that on the day after the attack he went into the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror.

OBAMA: That’s what I said.

ROMNEY: You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack, it was an act of terror.

It was not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you’re saying?

OBAMA: Please proceed governor.

ROMNEY: I want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.

OBAMA: Get the transcript.

CROWLEY: It — it — it — he did in fact, sir. So let me — let me call it an act of terror…

OBAMA: Can you say that a little louder, Candy?

CROWLEY: He — he did call it an act of terror. It did as well take — it did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. You are correct about that.

The key – and largely unnoticed – part of this exchange was not Candy Crowley’s factcheck of Romney. Rather, it was President Obama’s gentle nudge to “Please proceed, governor.” Having watched that Libya exchange replayed several times on the news over the past two days, I couldn’t help but notice Obama’s poker face as he said this. It reminds me of Napoleon Bonaparte’s famous phrase, “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

Obama got the first response to the question, and Romney was clearly chomping at the bit to respond because he and the Republican party view the administration’s handling of the Benghazi attack as a political liability to be exploited. Looking back on it, it seems as if Obama saw where Romney was heading with his attack and rather than cut him off, encouraged him to continue with his train of thought and he played right into Obama’s hands.

Jon Stewart weighed in on it during last night’s Daily Show (scroll to 1:38 in the clip).

Obama v. Romney Round 2 Debate Live Blogging

Posted: October 16, 2012 in 2012 Elections, Barack Obama, Debates, Mitt Romney, Politics
Tags: 2012 Elections, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

We’re a few minutes away from showtime… Watch this space.

9:02 – Candidates walk out…
9:03 – First question from a first-time voter, a college student. Asks how he can support himself and get a job after school. Romney gets the first question after winning a coin toss earlier today.
Romney: When do you graduate? (2014) Presuming I’m president in 2014, I’m going to make sure you get a job.
9:05 – Obama response: The future is bright. I want to build manufacturing jobs in this country. Romney said let Detroit go bankrupt. Obama hits Romney on auto bailout within first minute of his response.
9:08 – Followup question by Candy Crowley: What about people unemployed six months or more, long-term unemployed who need a job right now?
Romney – We have fewer people working today than when the president took office. If you calculate people who stopped looking for work, unemployment rate would be 10.7 percent.
Romney plugs his 12 million jobs in 4 years proposal.
Romney to Obama: “You took Detroit bankrupt.”
Obama rebutall: “Candy, what Governor Romney said just isn’t true.”
Obama: Romney doesn’t have a five-point plan, he has a one-point plan.

9:11 – Second question: Energy Secretary on record saying it’s not the policy of Energy Department to lower gas prices. Do you agree?
Obama – we’ve increased oil production to highest in 16 years, increases in coal production. Can’t just produce traditional sources of energy, need to look to the future.
Basically, Romney’s plan is to let the oil companies write the energy policy.
9:14 – Romney rebuttal: production on federal lands down.
What was the cost? 2–25 birds killed, brought out the Migratory Bird Act.
Romney hits Obama on Keystone XL pipeline.

Candy Crowley followup: Are we looking at the new normal here?
Obama – Gas demand on the rise, but so is gas production.
What he said was not true.
Obama and Romney going at it, Obama repeatedly saying what he says is not true, Romney repeatedly pressing him to answer the question.
Looks like rules set by both campaigns in the Memorandum of Understanding went out the window.
Obama points out Grassley favors wind tax credit that Romney opposes… Specifically targeting Iowa voters

9:24 – Third question: asking about tax deductions important to the middle class.
Romney mentions middle class buried last 4 years, a reference to Biden gaffe which went unmentioned during VP debate.
Obama rebuttal: I’ve cut taxes for middle class families and small businesses. Want to continue those tax cuts for middle class families and small businesses. If we’re serious about deficit reduction, in addition to spending cuts, wealthy have to do a bit more.
Obama hits Romney for 60 Minutes interview quote about it being fair he pays lower tax rate
Romney rebuttal: trying to push back on Obama by tying unemployment rate to low taxes.
Again pushes 5-point economic plan.

9:32 Crowley follow-up question: Romney says tax cut not going to top 5 percent… Settled?
Obama: No, it’s not settled! What he wants to do costs about $5 trillion, defense spending another $2 trillion, continue the Bush tax cuts, that’s $8 trillion. How are you going to do it? He can’t tell you.
Big Bird!
Obama has the soundbite of the night so far – “sketchy deal”
Romney rebuttal: Cites his business record, Olympics experience.

Question: How do you rectify inequalities in workplace, women who make less than men?
9:37 – Obama: Mentions his upbringing by single mom and his grandmother.
Mentions his signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Act.
Romney rebuttal: When I was governor, all applicants were men.
My government had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state.
Obama: Hits Romney campaign for not having a position on whether they supported Lilly Ledbetter Act.
Also mentions contraception coverage in health care and Planned Parenthood funding.

Question: Disappointed with lack of progress in last 4 years. Attribute problems in economics and abroad to missteps of President Bush. Fear return to policies of those years. What is difference between you and George W. Bush?
9:45 – Romney: President Bush and I different people, different times. My 5-point plan different than what he would have done.
Trade – I’ll crack down on China, President Bush didn’t.
Romney on Obama: “His forecast for the next four years is more deficits”

Obama rebuttal: We have been digging our way out of policies misplaced and focused for the top doing very well. 31 consecutive months of job growth.
When Romney says he has diff econ plan, the centerpiece of his economic plan is tax cuts.
Obama: “Governor, you’re the last person who’s going to get tough on China.”

Question: Mr. President, I voted for you in 2008. Why should I vote for you again?
9:52 Obama recites list of pledges he’s accomplished…
Commitments I’ve made I’ve kept. Those I haven’t not for lack of trying, and will do in a second term.
Romney rebuttal: “I think you know better.”
Per CNN timekeeping, President Obama has spoken about 5 minutes more than Governor Romney.

Question: What do you plan on doing about immigrants without green cards who are productive members of society?
Questioner has a Freudian slip, addresses “President Romney.”
Romney: We are a nation of immigrants. Notes that his father was born in Mexico.
I will not grant amnesty.
Military service a pathway to becoming permanent resident.
Notes that President Obama promised to reform immigration in his first term, hadn’t done it.
10:01 Obama rebuttal: Need to fix broken immigration system.
Go after gangbangers, not students
Notes Romney would have vetoed the DREAM Act, hits him on self-deportation.
Romney rebuttal: E-verify portion of the Arizona law a model for the nation.
I asked a question – why when you said you would get legislation in first year and you didn’t do it?
Self-deportation: I said we’re not going to round up 12 million illegals, let them make their own choice.
Obama and Romney getting testy again: Obama – I don’t look at my pension. It’s not as big as yours… (audience laughs)
Obama hits Romney for having Kris Kobach, author of Arizona immigration law, as his immigration adviser.

Question: State Department refused extra security for Benghazi. Who denied it and why?
10:09 – Obama: These people are my representatives. No one more concerned about their safety and security than I am.
Hits Romney for trying to politicize Libya attack.
“When it comes to national security, I mean what I say.”
Romney rebuttal: Hits Obama for going to Vegas fundraiser after Benghazi victims memorial service.
Pivots to Israel and Syria, hits Obama for “apology tour.”

Crowley follow up: Does the buck stop with Hillary Clinton?
Obama: Hillary works for me. I am responsible.

Question: What are you planning to do to limit availability of assault weapons?
10:17 – Obama: Nation believes in Second Amendment. Instances where I had to comfort families who lost somebody, recently in Aurora.
Romney rebuttal: We don’t want to have automatic weapons, already illegal in this country.
Hits Obama on Fast and Furious gun-running program

Crowley followup: Why did you change your mind?
10:23 Romney: In my state, both sides came together. Mutually agreed piece of legislation. What we need more of. We haven’t had leadership in Washington on bipartisan basis.
Obama rebuttal: “I think Governor Romney was for an assault weapons ban before he was against it.”

Question: Outsourcing of jobs overseas taken toll on our economy… What plans do you have to keep jobs here in the United States?
10:26 – Romney: Lot of jobs going to China. 500k manufacturing jobs lost in last 4 years.
Made it less attractive for enterprises to come here than to go offshore.
Trickle-down government has never worked here or anywhere else.
I will label China a currency manipulator.
Obama rebuttal: I want to close loopholes… All those changes in our tax code would make a difference.

Crowley follow up: How do you convince companies to bring labor back here?
Romney: Have to make America most attractive place for entrepreneurs. That’s what bring jobs.
Obama: Some jobs not going to come back – low wage, low skill. I want high wage, high skill jobs.

Last question: What do you believe is the biggest misperception the American people have about you as a man and candidate? Opportunity to debunk and set us straight?
10:35 Romney: I care about 100 percent of the American people. I care about our kids.
Romney preempts Obama on 47 percent comments.
Obama rebuttal: I believe free enterprise system is greatest engine of prosperity.
Everybody should have fair shot, do their fair share, play by same rules.
Hits Romney on 47 percent comments
Obama saves 47 percent for his closing comment, when Romney can’t rebut it. Good strategic move.

Game over…

VP Debate Live Blogging

Posted: October 11, 2012 in 2012 Elections, Joe Biden, Politics
Tags: 2012 Elections, Barack Obama, Debates, Joe Biden, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Politics

I’ll be live blogging and tweeting the VP debate tonight. Watch this space…

8:50 – Martha Raddatz introduced, takes the podium…
8:52 – Raddatz just referred to Paul Ryan as “Congressman Ryan” from the stage. Did she just violate the terms of the debate?
8:54 – @TheFix: What were the odds on Martha Raddatz mentioning Chamillionaire? 1 trillion to 1? #vpdebate
8:58 – For your amusement, follow Onion Politics on Twitter tonight, who will be tweeting in character as Joe Biden as only they can.

9:02 – Biden and Ryan take the stage Let the games begin…
9:03 – Raddatz opens with a question about Libya, noting today is the one month anniversary of the attack. Was this a massive intelligence failure, Vice President Biden? “It was a tragedy.”
9:05 – Biden pivots response to mention ending war in Iraq, getting Osama bin Laden
Biden channels John McCain’s “gates of hell” comment from 2007 GOP primaries
9:06 – Ryan points out that the US ambassador in France has marines guarding him. Shouldn’t US ambassador in Benghazi have had a marine detachment guarding him?
“What we are watching on our TV screens is the unraveling of the Obama foreign policy.”
9:09 – Biden: “With all due respect that’s a bunch of malarkey.” (Why?) “With all due respect, not a single thing he said was true.”

9:11 – Biden on administration’s initial story about protest: Intelligence community told us that… they learned more facts and changed their assessment.
9:12 – Raddatz to Ryan: Should US apologize for burning Korans, urinating on corpses. Ryan – Yes. For urinating on corpses. Not for US values.
9:14 – Good/tough question from Raddatz for both candidates: How effective would a military strike on Iran be?
9:16 – Biden on administration handling of Iran: “These are the most crippling sanctions in the history of sanctions.”
9:18 – Ryan hits Obama for going on The View while in New York City but not meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu.
9:19 – 20 minutes in, purely from an optics perspective, Biden looks like he’s having more fun with the debate than Obama.

9:23 – Raddatz pivots to the economy.
9:24 – Biden hits Romney for “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” op-ed and 47 percent comments.
9:26 – Ryan asks Romney about the unemployment rate in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
9:28 – Ryan telling story of Mark Nixon, family in MA helped by Romneys after two of his children paralyzed in a car accident.
Ryan zings Romney for gaffes… Biden laughs, responding “But I always mean what I say.”
9:31 – @mollyesque: Biden: “Stop talking about how you care about people. Show me something. Show me a policy.”
9:32 – Biden hits Ryan for requesting stimulus money for the state of Wisconsin…

9:34 – Raddatz pivots to Medicare
9:37 – Biden mentions Sarah Palin and death panels in rebuttal to Paul Ryan’s opening response. Fact check: Palin’s death panel comment came in 2009, AFTER the Obama administration was in office.
9:38 – Ryan: “They got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.”
9:40 – Some pretty contentious back and forth going on, as Ryan and Biden speaking over and interrupting each other.

9:45 – Raddatz moves on… next question is on taxes. Who will pay more or less in taxes?
9:47 – Looks like the “Mr. Ryan” agreement went out the window. Raddatz and Biden have been referring to him as “Congressman” throughout the debate
9:51 – @TheFix: Dem analysis of debate so far: “Biden rules, Ryan sucks”. GOP analysis of debate so far: “Ryan rules, Biden sucks”. #vpdebate
9:53 – Ryan ALMOST steps in it with a John Kennedy reference… “Now you’re Jack Kennedy?”
9:54 – @DeathStarPR: A little less conversation, a little more lightsaber duel to the death. #VPDebate #Debates

9:55 – Raddatz pivots to defense spending.

9:57 – Raddatz pivots to Afghanistan. Why not leave now? What more can we accomplish?
10:02 – Ryan: “Problems are growing abroad, but jobs aren’t growing here at home.”
10:07 – Are they arguing about Afghan weather and geography?

10:08 – Raddatz pivots to Syria… Why no military action in Syria?
10:10 – @ZekeJMiller: Biden hits Romney for not saying what he’d do in Syria
10:11 – @joshrogin: Biden contradicts State Department on Benghazi security http://t.co/o8jri6OZ
10:12 – Watching the clock… Biden has spoken a full 3 minutes more than Ryan.
10:13 – Ryan: We should not have called Bashar Assad a reformer. We should not have waited for Russia to give us the green light at the UN.

10:14 – Raddatz asks Biden and Ryan – both Catholics – what role religion plays in their views on abortion.
10:15 – Ryan: “I don’t see how a person can separate their public life from their private life.”
“The policy of a Romney administration will be to oppose abortion except in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother.”
10:17 – Biden: “My religion defines who I am. I’ve been a practicing Catholic my whole life.”
Biden says he accepts church teachings that life begins at conception personally, but won’t impose it on others.

10:21 – Candidates pivot to Supreme Court

10:22 – Raddatz closing question: What would you say to American hero about this campaign? Ever embarrassed about the tone?
10:23 – Biden hits super PACs/Citizens United, calling them an “abomination”
10:24 – Ryan: You had a president run on hope and change 4 years ago who now campaigns on attack, blame and defame.

10:29 – Closing statements… Biden goes first.
10:32 – That’s a wrap. Now onto the Spin Room and post-debate coverage!

Circular Firing Squad

Posted: September 28, 2012 in 2012 Elections, Mitt Romney, Politics
Tags: 2012 Elections, Mitt Romney, Politics, Republicans

40 39 days out from the election and the knives are already out for Mitt Romney within his own party, even his own campaign. There are also people in the Republican party and base in full-blown CYA mode as to how Romney wound up being their nominee.

Politico:

“Lousy candidate; highly qualified to be president,” said a top Romney official. “The candidate suit fits him unnaturally. He is naturally an executive.”
…
“He’s a great leader, but he’s not a great politician,” said a top member of Romney’s organization. “As much as we complain about politicians, we like a good politician. He doesn’t have the hand-on-the-shoulder thing. He’s not quick-witted. He’s an analytical, data-driven businessperson.”
…
“You have to know the room, and he doesn’t know the room,” said a top Republican in D.C. who has donated to Romney and wants him to win. “He’s missing the normal-guy gene.”

Real Clear Politics:

Like it or not, the money and opinion elites on the center-right own Romney’s failure from the perspective of the base—they need him to win. And the reality is that if Romney loses, it will have little if anything to do with Paul Ryan’s big ideas, tactical choices, or elite misgivings—and far more to do with the simple fact that Romney is still disliked by most voters.

Red State:

The staggering irony is that those of us who did not want Romney are now the ones defending him to the hilt while the elitist jerks are distancing themselves from Romney as quickly as possible — both upset at what their media friends tell them is to come and upset that Mitt Romney might not actually listen to their sweet whispers as much as they originally presumed.

The American Conservative:

Activists would love to treat Romney’s candidacy as something that party elites foisted on them, but those elites were generally unenthusiastic about Romney this time as well. Romney prevailed this time in no small part because movement conservatives in 2008 helped make him a viable contender for the nomination. Many activists allowed themselves to be taken in four years ago, and now they’re stuck with the candidate they helped create. Romney’s candidacy this year is a monument to the conservative movement’s short-sightedness and lack of imagination, and naturally they want to deny their part in this.

Unleash the Running Mate!

Posted: September 24, 2012 in 2008 Elections, 2012 Elections, Mitt Romney, Politics
Tags: 2008 Elections, 2012 Elections, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Politics, Republicans, Sarah Palin

“Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.”
– Julius Caesar; Act 3, Scene 1

From today’s New York Times (emphasis mine):

Through the halls of Congress and well beyond, a whisper campaign is bursting into the open: Rather than burden him with the usual constraints on a ticket’s No. 2 not to upstage or get ahead of the presidential nominee, let Ryan be Ryan and take a detailed, policy-heavy fight to President Obama and the Democrats.

Also see this writeup in the Washington Post; September 21, 2012 (again, emphasis mine):

“I was enthused when Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan because I thought that was a signal that this guy was getting serious, he was getting bold,” Walker said. “I just haven’t seen that kind of passion I know that Paul has transferred over to our nominee.” The governor suggested that “pushback from some of the folks in the national campaign” was restraining the Wisconsin congressman from making detailed policy arguments.

That rang a few bells… Sure enough, after doing some digging on Google, I found these (all emphasis in the block quotes mine):

CNN; September 29, 2008:

The New York Times conservative columnist Bill Kristol argued in his column on Monday that McCain must “liberate his running mate from the former Bush aides brought in to handle her — aides who seem to have succeeded in importing to the Palin campaign the trademark defensive crouch of the Bush White House.
“McCain picked Sarah Palin in part because she’s a talented politician and communicator. He needs to free her to use her political talents and to communicate in her own voice,” Kristol wrote.

Washington Times; September 30, 2008:

At critical moments before and during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, his admirers would urge that he be allowed to be himself – rather than the far less authentic and appealing facsimile served up by his handlers.

“Let Reagan be Reagan,” they would urge, confident the man would fare well if left to his own talents and judgment. Time and time again that proved to be the case as his common-man qualities, native intelligence and utter decency allowed him to connect with and secure the support of the American people.

This lesson is worth recalling now, on the eve of a possibly make-or-break vice presidential debate between Republican Sarah Palin and her Democratic rival, Sen. Joseph Biden. The outcome – and the fate of the Republican ticket – may turn on whether her handlers “Let Palin be Palin.”

Wall Street Journal; September 29, 2008:

“It’s time to let Palin be Palin — and let it all hang out,” said Scott Reed, a Republican strategist.

The Weekly Standard; September 8, 2008:

Let Palin Be Palin
Why the left is scared to death of McCain’s running mate.

Mitt Romney on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”; September 29, 2008:

“Holding Sarah Palin to just three interviews and microscopically focusing on each interview I think has been a mistake. I think they’d be a lot wiser to let Sarah Palin be Sarah Palin. Let her talk to the media, let her talk to people.”

To be fair, I did a similar search for news articles, columns, and pundits who were saying “Let Edwards be Edwards” during the 2004 campaign, and didn’t find any.

I’m not comparing Paul Ryan to Sarah Palin on a direct one-on-one basis. Rather, I’m pointing out that the underlying dynamics in both campaigns – a running mate who is more popular with the base than the nominee of a campaign that is not going well – are uncanny. If this continues, it will not be a good sign for the Romney campaign during the final six weeks before Election Day.

Foreign Policy Rears Its Unpredictable Head

Posted: September 21, 2012 in 2012 Elections, Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Mitt Romney, Politics
Tags: 2012 Elections, Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, International, Libya, Mitt Romney, National Security, Politics

I forgot to link to my latest submission to Huffington Post the other day… Here it is.

Democrats Horsing Around

Posted: July 18, 2012 in 2012 Elections, Mitt Romney, Politics
Tags: 2012 Elections, Democratic National Committee, Mitt Romney, Olympics, Politics, Rafalca, Seamus, Tax Returns

By now, most people are familiar with the story of Seamus, Mitt Romney’s Irish Setter. But now the Democratic National Committee is using Rafalca, ~~his~~ Ann Romney’s Olympics-bound showhorse in a web ad hitting him on the tax returns controversy:

The ad somewhat reminds me of the famous John Kerry windsurfing ad created by the George W. Bush re-election campaign during the 2004 race.

On a related note:

“This election is starting to look enough like 2004 that Karl Rove should be demanding royalties from the Obama campaign, and others may conclude that no presidential campaign should ever again be based in Boston.”
– Charlie Cook, National Journal, July 16, 2012

Update: You knew this was coming… Somebody created a parody @RafalcaRomney Twitter account.

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Posted: July 18, 2012 in 2012 Elections, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Politics
Tags: 2012 Elections, Bain Capital, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Politics, Scandal, Tax Returns

Looks like the Bain and tax returns attacks finally got under Mitt Romney’s skin. Buzzfeed reports:

In speeches from Des Moines to Dallas, Romney has always been careful to hedge his tough digs at Obama with a civil nod toward the president’s moral character: “He’s a nice guy,” the Republican has often said. “He just has no idea how the private economy works.” But Tuesday’s speech included no such hedge — and one campaign adviser said there’s a reason for that.

“[Romney] has said Obama’s a nice fellow, he’s just in over his head,” the adviser said. “But I think the governor himself believes this latest round of attacks that have impugned his integrity and accused him of being a felon go so far beyond that pale that he’s really disappointed. He believes it’s time to vet the president. He really hasn’t been vetted; McCain didn’t do it.”

Indeed, facing what the candidate and his aides believe to be a series of surprisingly ruthless, unfounded, and unfair attacks from the Obama campaign on Romney’s finances and business record, the Republican’s campaign is now prepared to go eye for an eye in an intense, no-holds-barred act of political reprisal, said two Romney advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity. In the next chapter of Boston’s pushback — which began last week when they began labeling Obama a “liar” — very little will be off-limits, from the president’s youthful drug habit, to his ties to disgraced Chicago politicians.

“I mean, this is a guy who admitted to cocaine use, had a sweetheart deal with his house in Chicago, and was associated and worked with Rod Blagojevich to get Valerie Jarrett appointed to the Senate,” the adviser said. “The bottom line is there’ll be counterattacks.”

The reference to Obama’s past drug use seems to suggest that former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu wasn’t going off-script after all when he dinged the president for spending “his early years in Hawaii smoking something” during a Tuesday morning Fox News appearance.

Politicizing Batman

Posted: July 17, 2012 in Movies, Politics
Tags: 2012 Elections, Bain Capital, Batman, Movies, Politics, Rush Limbaugh, The Dark Knight Rises

Everybody’s excited about the final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, and Rush Limbaugh sees a liberal Hollywood/Democratic Party conspiracy:

Speaking on his syndicated radio show on Tuesday, the right-wing host brought up the upcoming Batman film The Dark Knight Rises (or as he called it, The Dark Knight Lights Up), in particular focusing on its main villain, the Tom Hardy-portrayed hulking madman Bane. With Mitt Romney’s time at the investment fund (and the questionable time at which he retired from it) filling non-entertainment news headlines, Limbaugh tied the two together, casting some tough accusations at director Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros.

“Do you think it is accidental that the name of the really vicious firebreathing, four-eyed whatever-it-is villain in this movie is named Bane?” Limbaugh asked his listeners.

Limbaugh did note that the film, the sequel to the 2008 hit The Dark Knight, has been in the works for a long time, with a summer 2012 release date long part of the plan.

“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,” he continued. “The audience is going to be huge. A lot of people are going to see the movie. And it’s a lot of braindead 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,” Limbaugh asserted, “and Obama and the Democrats keep talking about Bain, not Bain Capitol but Romney and Bain, that these people will start thinking back to the Batman movies – ‘Oh yeah, I know who that is!'”

Four years ago, conservatives were singing a very different tune about The Dark Knight:

There seems to me no question that the Batman film “The Dark Knight,” currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society — in which people sometimes make the wrong choices — and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.

“The Dark Knight,” then, is a conservative movie about the war on terror. And like another such film, last year’s “300,” “The Dark Knight” is making a fortune depicting the values and necessities that the Bush administration cannot seem to articulate for beans.
– Andrew Klavan, The Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2008.

But Batman goes into another country and with a C-130 snatches a guy out, and then throws him back here into Gotham. So there’s rendition. At one point the Morgan Freeman character says to Batman, wait a minute, hang on, you’re eavesdropping on everyone in Gotham? And Batman says, yes, to stop this terrorist. Morgan Freeman says, I can’t be a part of it. And yet Morgan Freeman does become a part of it, and they find the Joker. One of the ways they find the Joker is through eavesdropping. I mean the parallels here of what’s going on is to me stunning.
– Glenn Beck, CNN, August 6, 2008

Hey, guys… ever stop to consider that maybe the Batman movies are just meant to be entertainment? Or that maybe voters – right and left – are intelligent enough to make their own decisions at the polls and not base them on the name of the villain in a superhero movie?

Update: Politicizing Batman isn’t limited to Republicans. Check out this quote from a Democratic operative (h/t Andrew Sullivan):

“It has been observed that movies can reflect the national mood. 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.”
– Chris Lehane, Washington Examiner, July 16, 2012

Update II: This was bound to happen inevitably… Somebody photoshopped Mitt Romney’s face on Bane’s body.

Icepicks and Nukes

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Obama’s Poker Face