Was it just coincidence that the villain in The Dark Knight Rises has the same name as Mitt Romney's investment firm? The former may be spelled B-A-N-E and the latter, B-A-I-N, but they're pronounced the same, leading conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh to ask his radio audience on Tuesday, "Do you think that it is accidental, that the name of the really vicious, fire-breathing, four-eyed, whatever-it-is villain in this movie is named Bane?" Limbaugh clearly doesn't think it is. But one of the Batman comic-book creators, Chuck Dixon called the theory "ridiculous," pointing out in an interview with the Washington Post that he and partner Graham Nolan created the character in 1993 and that the movie was already in pre-production before Romney declared his candidacy. But Limbaugh remarked that it makes no difference when the character was created, and that when "a lot of brain-dead people" hear "Bane' in the movie, they're going to think "Bain." He added "And 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, not Bain Capital, but Bain, Romney and Bain, that these people will think back to the Batman movie -- 'Oh yeah, I know who that is.'" Limbaugh has company, including conservative commentator Jed Babin, who predicted in Secrets magazine that the Romney campaign will link the two names. And GOP advisor Frank Luntz told the magazine, "Hollywood does it again. ... [Romney] had to know all this was coming and he should have done a lot more to prepare for it."

18/07/2012