The Dark Knight Rises...To Crush Mitt Romney?

There's nothing I'd put past liberal Hollywood, and I don't believe in coincidence, so I view this story with a wary eye:

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...

"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.


Hmmm....

Well, Bane first appeared in 1993 ("Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1"), and I doubt there was anyone at DC who had the foresight to predict that the mild-mannered Mormon manager of an anonymous private equity firm would run for president twenty years later.

Furthermore, it appears as if director Christopher Nolan had been dedicated to working Bane into this final Batman sequel as early as 2008, but certainly no later than winter of 2009 - certainly not yet the winter of Obama's discontent, and still a time when the president seemed, at least to his allies, invincible.

It seems as if Lehane is wrong, too, about Bane's background:

Born into a life sentence for the crimes of his father, he was raised from birth within the harsh prison known as Peña Duro (“Hard Rock”), in the Caribbean Republic of Santa Prisca. He was named Bane by the warden after his first murder as an adolescent, and as he grew to adult hood he became the most feared and respected inmate, the "king" of Pena Duro... the Warden attempted to rid himself of Bane, and...injected Venom into Bane, almost killing him...Believing him to be dead, Bane was tossed into the sea, where he freed himself. Returning to the prison, Bane held the Warden hostage while escaping by means of a helicopter...

Mitt Romney shares tender moment with Barack Obama?

Mitt Romney, as we are told endlessly, was born into wealth, not prison.  He has never dabbled with drugs, killed anyone, attempted any hostage-takings, and has no known offshore holdings in any Caribbean prisons.  Well, none that we know of, anyway.

And what about the "powerful father"?  Well, George Romney was known for many things, but being a merciless killing machine was not among them:

Sir Edmund Dorrance, aka King Snake, is a British native who first distinguished himself in the Royal Artillery (a corps of the British Army). He and some friends then became mercenaries, offering their professional expertise to various anti-communist rebels, and made considerable money in doing so. While in Santa Prisca working with local rebels, his camp was taken by surprise by government commandos and Edmund blinded by gunfire. He fled the country, leaving for dead a female rebel that he had slept with...He kills without conscience and has earned the title of "the most dangerous man alive". The King Snake is also blind but has made it an asset rather than a handicap, as he has honed all of his other senses to an uncanny degree. He uses the dark as his weapon.

"George Romney IS...King Snake"

Seems like the comparisons being made by the Democrats here are quite a stretch. The only comparison one can fairly make is that both Bane's dad and Mitt's dad are wealthy, and that Bane sounds like...Bain.

 Makes the birthers seem downright sane in comparison.   One wonders what the Democrats are thinking here, in believing they can get America convinced that Mitt Romney is the equal of a comic book villain because he worked for a company that sounds like the bad guy's name.  Are they really that childishly simple?

Or do they all buy into the belief of Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi, who describes Mitt Romney thusly:

"...not merely unlikable, and not merely a fatuous, unoriginal hack of a politician, but also a genuinely repugnant human being, a grasping corporate hypocrite with so little feel for how to get along with people that he has to dream up elaborate schemes just to try to pander to the mob."


If you look at it that way, I suppose, then Bain is Bane.

The only problem with that viewpoint is that it's insane.

Which explains a lot, actually....