Dirty Harry's Misfire
Clint Eastwood's odd appearance at the GOP convention threw off the timing of the night and stepped on Romney's acceptance speech.
Dirty Harry's Misfire
John Baer, Daily News Political Columnist
Maybe Clint Eastwood is a closet Obama backer who duped the GOP into thinking he’s supporting Romney.
How else to explain the bizarre, distracting, pace-breaking, mood-altering, prime-time act Eastwood put on at the Republican National Convention Thursday night?
At a minimum, his long-winded and often rambling routine involving an empty chair representing Obama skewed the timing of the evening and forced Romney’s acceptance speech past the 11 p.m. hour.
The 82-year old actor Academy Award-winning actor/director (whose later work, especially his 2008 “Gran Torino,” I happen to love) seemed simply out of it for most of his too-long time at the podium.
His “performance,” with hair askew and an ill-fitting suit jacket either showed his years or the results of a Jack Daniels warm-up. It's getting bad reviews. Mostly because it was so odd.
Equally odd, however, was the wholly enthusiastic audience reaction to anything and everything Eastwood said.
At one point, for example, talking to the empty chair (Obama), he referred to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and asked, “Why don’t you bring them home tomorrow morning?”
The audience roared its approval despite the fact that (a) former GOP nominee John McCain had the same audience cheering his position against a quick or date-certain withdrawal from Afghanistan and (b) Romney agrees with Obama’s timeline for withdrawal.
Eastwood also pretended Obama was speaking back to him, at least twice suggesting Obama was telling both he (Eastwood) and Romney to go f—k themselves.
“I can’t do that to myself,” Eastwood said.
It was a strange note in a convention focused on family values.
The Associate Press reports Romney aides were wincing backstage.
Eastwood, a former GOP mayor of Carmel, has long backed Republican candidates and presidents even though he supports gay marriage and is a staunch environmentalist.
But his big “surprise” appearance, intended to fire up the GOP faithful, turned out to be a misfire.
Hope you look that good at 82. He's an entertainer, not a politician and he entertained. I thought he was funny and clearly trying to show having a conversation with Odumba.— McCormick- Bear: Don't blame Clint only for not supporting Romney.
Whole convension was rehearsal for 2016 nomination. None of them cared about Romney.
They knew he bought the nomination and arranged the party; so they were there to have a party at Romney tab.— Seed - Big mouth Ann Romney just came out and said Clint Eastwood is an "unique ma" like "you people".
She is getting into peoples nerve like her "corporations are people" husband.
Newt or even Kaine would have been better than Mr and Mrs Smuck. Now we have to watch them for 2 months.
Thanks. RNC.
— Seed - Golly Gee. I agree with Bill Maher who thought that Clint doing all of that comedy at age 82 without a teleprompter on that big stage was very good and gutsy. Sure he made fun of the President, but he killed the audience. Obie fans are all in a flutter because because of his race, no one dares to make fun of the President for fear of being called a racist. I think that Eastwood also was able to find that voice. I applaud him for that. I don't necessarily agree with his politics, but I think that his piece was good.
- It would have been ok for Wednesday at like 2:00 in the afternoon, not prime time right before the republican nominee. Big time mistake. — PhillySteel36
You think so? I found his bit to be much better than either Romney's or the FL senator's. Maybe it was just so nice to hear something that wasn't written by 50 people and drilled into the speaker's brain (probably should have done a better job on the senator's brain given that unfortunate mix-up he had there at the end).
Or, you know, maybe it was for people with a sense of humor. :P
More importantly, I don't think he alienated moderates or leftists as much as the other two. I don't recall him saying anything about religion as a background for the way to run the country. I cringed when those two started railing on about "protecting the sanctity of marriage" and all. I mean, Romney talked about uniting a divided country - saying you're going to run the country based on your church's version of the Bible is not a great way to make moderates or liberals (who are also part of this country) feel any better. So yeah, of the three, I think he probably did the best job. Certainly better than the senator who messed up his closing remarks.
But yeah, you really expect CLINT EASTWOOD to talk like a politician? Did you even watch the previews for Dirty Harry?— Ilmare- This whole thing is going to be a two month journey on the Magic Bus. Mitt is a strange dude.— CamdenCountyReader
- Considering Clint using no script, no teleprompter, in front of cameras and a whole stadium full of people. He did a marvelous job of supporting a "Stellar Businessman" (his own words). John, if that is two sided, you need to take your memory meds.— FocusTruthFully
- Romney "a stellar businessman" like:
Hoover- Harvard MBA, stellar businessman
W Bush- Harvard MBA, stellar businessman
Romeny- Harvard MBA, stellar businessman
You need to have heart to be a president. None of the above there have it; and they have been or will be financial disaster for the middle class.— Seed - Obama<---never stellar at anything and has been DEVASTATING to the middle class. More wealth has been ripped from the middle class during his 4 years tenure than at any point in recent history, plus he has piled 5 trillion in debt on their heads.
Pin + Head = Seed— thetaxmanisback - You mean financial disaster by borrowing another 5-7 trillion from China in next 4 year? That disaster?
and what is this "you need to have heart to be a president" speech. This is not football mor*n.
— Nitroglycerin - Hoover did not go to Harvard, and the MBA didn't even exist when he was in school. — Thad Lawrence
- Sending liberal warriors like you, Bunch and the other shill was a waste of our time. Your reviews of everything have all been tinged with disdain for the Republicans, so what was the point? Can't wait to see the flowerly prose for the Democrats convention. EVery day your papers become more of a joke.— jimmymack
- There are no more republicans. These people are fascists. — PhillySteel36
- When asked for comment Clint replied, 'who's John Baer and why should I give a ***k'?— bannedrepublican
John is the author of the book "On The Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics: Twenty-Five Years of Keystone Reporting" (The History Press, 2012). Reach John at baerj@phillynews.com.
