Leahy’s office hits back against Beck’s Batman analogy.
Leahy’s office hits back against Beck’s Batman analogy.
As ThinkProgress reported, CNN’s Glenn Beck yesterday said that President Bush’s policies were vindicated by the “conservative values on the war on terror” in “The Dark Knight.” He also said that Bush’s willingness to “die as the worst president ever because of the war on terror” is “exactly the message that Batman carries.” ThinkProgress contacted the office of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) — who appeared in the movie — and received this response from spokesman David Carle:
Sorry Glenn but that’s not just a stretch, it’s a hoot. But I do grant the parallels between Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor and the Vice President.
Last month, author Andrew Klavan also wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the new Batman film is 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.”
Q: So it's not a stretch to look at Gotham and see shades of Baghdad?Nolan: Well, where I suppose I would see a parallel is the threat of chaos, which is something we very much deal with in this film. And in today's world, Baghdad is a powerful illustration of that. It's frightening to imagine in one of our own cities.
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… Bush’s willingness to “die as the worst president ever because of the war on terror”… riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight… at whatever ripe old age he reaches, amidst the material comforts of the family estate, in Paraguay…
The Martyrdom of St George of the Endless Lie…
August 7th, 2008 at 9:51 amLex Luthor has an extensive vocabulary and a genius-like scientific mind ; Cheney has a shotgun and a sneer………
August 7th, 2008 at 9:51 amComparing the Shrub to Batman is like comparing the shrub to a comic book character………..
August 7th, 2008 at 9:54 amBetween this and the fetishism for ‘24′, I’m starting to think they’ve lost the ability to discern reality from fantasy.
Wait, nevermind….
August 7th, 2008 at 9:57 amNo, no, no… Cheney is the Penguin… G. Gordon Liddy is Lex Luthor and Bush is Alfred E. Newman.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:01 amThe discussion sparked by the movie in our family pointed to the follies of this administration:
If the movie were comparing Batman to Bush, Batman would’ve killed the Joker when he had the opportunity; instead, he knows the big issues of life aren’t either/or choices. Most often, there are other options.
For example, Batman doesn’t accept the “kill the Joker or allow him to possibly kill thousands of others.”
Bush, on the other hand, sees the world only in black and white, stick a label on everything to make it easier to compartmentalize.
Go, Batman. No, Bush.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:03 amOh yeah, I see the similarities- Batman is lawless and acts above the law… So what is problem here?
The difference is that one is a vigilante comic book hero and the other is a war criminal, posing as the leader of a country, who is beholden to the laws of this country, especially the Constitution. Which, in turn, makes his actions illegal no matter how you spin it, and no matter the cause.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:03 amchristopher wiwi Says:
Comparing the Shrub to Batman is like comparing the shrub to a comic book character…
August 7th, 2008 at 9:54 am
______
In other news, ice cream has no bones.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:04 amThe point is: republicans have to rely on simplistic comparisions to reach their base, who happen to be comic book reading mouth breathers.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:04 amNaturally to their friends it is moral fortitude to drum up a war on false evidence so you can hand your country’s credit card to your friends, all in order to keep America weak and Big Oil strong.
Is it courage that lead them to tell America to give in to our fears and give up our freedoms for safety?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:05 amAt least the compelling vigilante in the movie did his own work. Our elected leader, charged with upholding the law, ordered his legions of minions to break those very rules.
Bush might live better than Bruce Wayne’s rich lifestyle. Batty George took virtually the whole Bush clan to Beijing for the opening ceremonies. Maybe one of the two rich friends he took along is the real Batman. Bush surely isn’t.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:08 amHe also said that Bush’s willingness to “die as the worst president ever because of the war on terror” is “exactly the message that Batman carries.”
Can someone ask Glenn Speck when Batman ever lied or tried to falsify his claims to prove his case or use that against an adversary ?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:08 amAn oldie but goodie:
Rogues Gallery
August 7th, 2008 at 10:12 amYes, the president took what should have been a short, nasty punitive action against Bin Laden and AQ and turned it into this world wide fight against the Borg. Unfortunately, the terrorists were never as numerous or threatening as Bush fantasized. However, he did succeed in legitimizing the terrorists and destroying the reputation of the US. (Not to mention its military and budget.)
George Bush and the conservatives, heroes in their own minds.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:14 amLast month, author Andrew Klavan also wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the new Batman film is 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.”
Yeah there is at least one big difference between the two: Batman is competent at what he does.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:16 amIn regards to comparing politicians to fictional characters, I was trying to envision what member of Chimpy’s administration some of our trolls resemble. Dennis, for example, I see as a Hans von Spakovsky type, even though I think he secretly wants to be a Larry Craig type.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:17 amWho is Glenn Beck?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:17 amThe national guard took over the streets of Chicago during the filming of Batman. They closed one of the bridges.
We need to organize and get Francis Boyle in front of a congressional committee ASAP.
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Francis A Boyle, University of Illinois Law Professor and person who wrote bio-terrorism laws signed by first President George Bush, reported shortly after the anthrax attacks to FBI Agent Marion “Spike” Bowman that the anthrax was produced at Fort Dietrich. Agent Bowman had met Professor Boyle at a bio-terrorism conference earlier. The FBI responded by destroying the database that Professor Boyle used and the good professor was placed on a no-fly list.
Alex Jones interviews Francis Boyle in 2006
(Agent Bowman was later cited by the congress for impeding an investigation of Mohammad Atta before 9/11 and then received a raise)
August 7th, 2008 at 10:17 amDRxJ Says:
——————————————————————————–
Who is Glenn Beck?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:17 am
A brainless , zipperhead d0uchebag………………
August 7th, 2008 at 10:21 amLast month, author Andrew Klavan also wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the new Batman film is 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.”
Does the moral courage include his decision to torture people in violation of international and US law?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:21 amAs some other said in earlier threads:
One GLARING difference is that, if you’re going to take Glenn’s characterization to the fullest, Batman actually CAUGHT the Joker (i.e. OBL in their warped little minds).
At what point in the movie did Batman say: “You know, I’m just not that concerned about him”?
At what point in the movie did Batman invade London in order the stop the Joker…who was in Gotham?
At what point in the movie did Batman say there was “nothing illegal” about what he was doing? (unlike Boy George who can do no wrong)
At what point in the movie did Batman suddenly become NOT chased by the cops as well as everyone else for being an outlaw?
Did these fu(kers forget Harvey Dent’s speech? The one about how “Batman will have to answer for the laws he’s broken, but to US (i.e. THE PEOPLE)”?
Did they forget the part in the scene where Batman is “torturing” the Joker and the Joker LAUGHS at him? And then tells him “You have NOTHING to threaten me with. NOTHING to do with all your strength.” I would say this pretty much is an INDICTMENT of the power of torture, not vindication of it.
Did they forget the part about how Batman left the power of the eavesdropping in the hands of someone vehemently opposed to it, thereby ensuring it was destroyed after use?
Did they forget the scene where neither the convicts nor the innocent civilians could bring themselves to kill anyone else in order to save themselves?
Did they forget that:
THIS WAS A FU(KING MOVIE AND IS NOT REAL LIFE?
Sorry all for the rant, but I loved this movie for reasons that have NOTHING to do with real world politics, and I’m really PI$$ED that these ba$tards are even trying to ruin a BATMAN MOVIE for me…
Ugh…
August 7th, 2008 at 10:21 amThere seems to be another glaring difference that we all have overlooked.
In “The Dark Knight” , Batman/Bruce Wayne accepts that his methods are indeed lawless ; and he PERSONALLY ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY for those actions , which make him an outlaw .
Where and when has Chimpy accepted any responsibility for ANYTHING ?????
August 7th, 2008 at 10:29 amLex Luthor?
Sticking with the “Batman” theme, Cheney is The Penguin.
Mwah, mwah.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:29 amLet’s see, Batman decided that the global surveillance was too much power in one person’s hand and destroyed it.
Batman refused to kill and took the blame for what he didn’t do.
Joker set up situations to cause chaos. In one, the hostages appeared as the bad guys. A false flag operation so to speak.
Joker played a “social experiment” where the participants thought it was either kill the other boat or be killed themselves with the anticipation that they would kill the others. But human nature proved better.
So is “terror, terror, terror” Bush more like Batman or the Joker ?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:38 amHmmmm, interesting but…
Batman caught the Joker within the same month as their first encounter
Had Batman received a credible intelligence warning that the Joker was going to attack Gotham city, he would have made an effort to prevent it
Batman was brave and did the work himself rather than send 4000 to die in the WRONG venue
Batman didn’t kill 500,000 people to get the Joker (and he actually CAUGHT the Joker!)
Besides Batman being a fictional story and character, BUSH HAS IGNORED THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM ON HOW TO DEFEAT TERRORISTS AND HIS ACTIONS HAVE MORE HELPED THEIR CAUSE THAN ANYTHING.
Folks here act like we’re the first and only country to ever experience terrorism. One big attack is all it takes for some to give in to fear and surrender their judgement. Grow up you fools!
August 7th, 2008 at 10:41 amTo be fair, the Joker hasn’t killed one American citizen since Bush has been in office so Bush anti-comic villain policies must be working… why doesn’t he get any credit for that?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:44 amHey, Glenn baby, in the words of your hero, Dick Cheney, which he originally spoke TO Patrick Leahy, on the floor of the Senate:
“Go f*** yourself.”
And in the Codpiece-in-Chief’s words, too:
“Who cares what you think?”
Nobody, dude. If MSNBC and every other cable “news” channel were NOT exclusively propaganda outlets, Glenn Beck’s lowest-rated crappy show would have been canceled YEARS ago.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:54 amHey, Neeko, one more:
Batman didn’t invade Metropolis to catch the Joker, who was sitting in Gotham. That’s got to be the ultimate difference, at least in their motives…
August 7th, 2008 at 10:56 am“So… where’s Mark Foley?”
“Taking care of the casting for the part of Robin, the Boy Wonder… well actually he said something about wondering about boy parts”
August 7th, 2008 at 11:27 amThe comparison of Bush to Batman is laughable yet completely consistent with the authoritarian mind where they place a childlike trust in their leaders and anything goes as long as it’s their side that does it.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
August 7th, 2008 at 12:21 pmCNN’s Glenn Beck yesterday said that President Bush’s policies were vindicated by the “conservative values on the war on terror” in “The Dark Knight.”
How in the world can a work of fiction be put forth as vindication for real world foreign policy??!!
Infact, how can a work of fiction be put forth as vindication of anything?
The only thing this vindicates in my mind is the right’s desperation to prove that their policies have been anything other than a total disaster.
August 7th, 2008 at 12:32 pmFunny…I don’t remember Batman dropping bombs on innocent people in the movie.
Most superheroes have a dark side. Batman always has.
August 7th, 2008 at 1:09 pmYeah, I can see a parallel between Cheney and Lex Luthor.
Luthor seeked land. Cheney seeked oil. Same character but seeking different things.
August 7th, 2008 at 3:11 pm