Eastwood speech
Like I said last night, I can’t watch speeches anymore, but Clint Eastwood got so many bad reviews in the “unbiased” media, I had to watch it this morning. While I’ll admit that it was a little odd that he was talking to an empty chair (which was supposed to represent the President with whom he was supposedly conversing), I didn’t think he did a bad job at all. He hit on all of my complaints about this administration. Well, if you didn’t watch it, here’s the 11 minute video;
He didn’t give me many reasons to vote for Romney, but he gave me a lot of reasons to vote against Obama, and I guess that’s the whole point this year. The speech would have better if he had channeled Gunny Highway, though.
Category: 2012 election, Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan
I guess this is what happens when many of us start to close in on 82. The ability to put a cohesive, flowing speech together gets a bit tougher. I for one appreciated his effort and have much respect for the man we all see in the movies.
Yeah, I squirmed some as he stammered through his speech, but I pretty much liked the underlying message……”we have to let HIM (Obama) go.”
I agree with Jonn that Eastwood didn’t give us many reasons to vote for Romney……….frankly, I’d vote for the local dog-catcher before I’d vote for the empty suit that currently occupies the White House.
Empty suit, empty chair, same-same.
And people, before you pile on for him being senile, etc…first he’s 82, second he did it without prompter.
Draw your conclusions based on that.
Did alot better than the empty cha-er-suit when he’s without a teleprompter. Honestly i’m waiting for the VP debates when Biden gets so flustered he just starts dropping F bombs all over the place. It doesn’t take much for that guy to get unspooled.
@1. Vote for the dog catcher? Hell, I’d vote for the dog!
Not what was needed. Clint needed to give a pointed focused narrative on why he believes in Romney, conservatism, and why people should believe in the direction GOP is taking the country. Eastwood is a fantastic actor, but when giving a speech at a political convention – absolutely NO improvisation. Yep your asking for trouble – it was rambling and disrupted flow of the night leading to Romney’s strong performance. Gotta say the Romney video they played last night was awesome – showed Mitt as a decent giving person and really humanized him.
They ripped him because he was Hollywood going against the Hollywood norm, all the other Hollywood dicks will come out in the Democratic convention.
@6
Democratic convention in Charlotte isn’t generating alot of buzz-read some articles about lack of interest from Hollywood and Manhattan big shots. Some Democrats are going to skip the event. This is what happens when you have a polarizing and disappointing President. Many liberals are these days only making half hearted attempts at defending Obama – the hope and change excitement ain’t there. The other big problem is where are the next generation young talent for the Dems ala Paul Ryan, Scott walker, and Marco Rubio? Liz Warren anybody?
In my mind Clint will have peaked with Gran Torino. Devtun is right….Clint is a great actor and an American icon, but his speech didn’t match the legend.
Saw Ann Romney being interviewed this morning, and body language said it all – she is major pissed about the Eastwood stinker. Members of the Romney campaign team are about to get a severe beating. She doesn’t feel Mitt was well served last night to say the least – yeah nothing like a wife on warpath…
At first I was put off by the manner of the speech, then got a clue. Anyone think he was playing that for all it was worth, making it much like what you might hear in the barbershop or such? Good points, and well done though the effect they apparently were going for may have been too subtle for many.
How things work when the media reviews them:
Michael Moore interviewing an empty chair = BRILLIANT!
Clint Eastwood interviewing an empty chair = BIZARRE!
Too bad, he did not use some of his Gunny Highway lines. I love that Character.
I didn’t think it was rambling at all. I thought it was done that way on purpose. Reminded me of the old Bob Newhart routine. I enjoyed the bit of comic relief after all the stirring speeches. Maybe that’s all it was supposed to be…entertainment.
Liz Warren anybody?
You can keep her. Here in NH’s 1st CD, we’ve got to deal with Carol Shea-Porter (or Che-Pelosi as I call her) trying to go up against Guinta in November.
I’ve talked to that woman, and when you talk to her, you can tell the words she’s hearing from you are just bouncing around an empty skull.
The idea of Eastwood’s speech may have been better than the actual execution, but as others point out above, he’s 82.
The real punch in his speech comes around the 8 minute mark when he plainly said we own this country, politicians work for us, and if they don’t get the job done, we should vote them out. Good stuff.
I just watched the Eastwood speach and also think it was possibly planned to run that way. I have seen him in recent interviews and can say that he did not present himself as that dottering. I know health changes rapidly at 82, but, since I like the man, I will go with the “performance point was too subtle” idea. The points he did bring up are valid, and I too would vote, not only for the dog catcher or the dog, but, the poor sap that has to pick up the poop left on the sidewalk before I vote for the standing/vacant suit in office now.
Clint should have used an orangutan instead of an empty chair, but that probably would not have been received so well.
The impression I got from his speech was that he wanted to, and did, deliver an unscripted talk. I don’t think he was as prepared as he could have been but most of all, I got the impression that there was a lot more he wanted to say but after years of dealing with the politically correct crowd he just couldn’t bring himself to really cut loose. I think he may have walked away from that podium wishing he could do it over.
Clint Eastwood has long been a favorite of mine and knowing now that he’s of a conservative mindset cements him into the top spot.
Watching him last night I was prepared for the ridicule he would receive soon after his last words were spoken. He may not have been prepared as he could have been, but he is not a live action actor… I cut him some major slack, and those who could not see his conversation with the empty chair for what it was, well they are mostly partisan (they got it but won’t admit it) or it was just too subtle for them.
I think it took a lot for him to get up on that stage and speak last night. I do not see him as a political person, and he was driven to speak because of the anger a large number of people are feeling in this country.
It would behoove those on the left to listen to that anger, but I do not think they will. He did not get up there and speak like he always does, because he never has. There are a lot of people who are beginning to speak out that had remained silent, and it is about damned time too.
OK lets be clear and simple. Clint IS one of the brightest stars in Hollywood and he is very intelligent. You don’t have to go very far to realize that he has been sending patriotic and sound messages to our country and the world through his movies. He makes good movies with good messages (unlike the other crap coming out of Hollywoood). He is 82 years old, not a young man and was not as quick as most of the viewers (slack is automatically cut). He and his like minded conservatives are loathed by their Hollywood counterparts (and they the conservatives don’t care). So it is not surprizing that he was bashed in reviews . This is a shame because he was essentially spot on. First he spoke with out notes, teleprompter, he ad libbed. He used an old school entertainers skit (or bit) “the invisible person or empty chair”. This bit is used by every lone stand up comic and entertainer who is engaged in a conversation during their act. So this was not strange at all. He spoke to young and old. He directed his remarks to REP, DEM, and IND alike. He submitted a simple theory that if your elected officials are not performing they should be removed. He highlightes broken promises and failed attempts. He was funny, in fact very funny the way he artfully crafted the “you can go fu*k yourself” jokes. If not for the fact that he is a conservative from Hollywood he would have been hailed as a true patriot citizen who was asked to address the convention. Well here it is: “Citizen Joe Addresses the RNC and Speaks for the People”. BRAVO ZULU Clint.
@ 17 … last night I was thinking the same thing. Imagine if Clint had said, “Right turn Clyde” speaking about a course direction for our country. Oh ,,, the monkey’s cousin thing would have been a problem for the DEMs as they would not have understaood the HUMOR value over the made up RACISM charge.
BTW I do appreciate, understand, and respect all the opinions here.
It took me a few minutes in to overcome something akin to disappointment. The preceeding speeches were mostly from professional pols, obviously designed to build upon what the previous professional pol had said.
So, to begin, it was such a radical change of pace and message, that it left me somewhat out of step. In that sense, it was entirely out of place. But soooo refreshing! And much funnier than I had anticipated.
What Clint did masterfully was work the crowd. He changed things on the fly based upon crowd reaction beautifully. Or at least so it appeared. It was great!
He left us wanting more. That is successful entertainment.
Yes, he did ramble a bit, but he had quite a few funny lines, we enjoyed it. The regular speechifying gets pretty old. Say a line, wait for applause, say a line with emphasis, wait for cheer, etc. And they never really say anything of substance.
Everyone said that Paul Ryan’s speech was great. Yes, the content was nice, but the deliver was very awkward and stilted. Rubio and even Romney were FAR better speakers.
I love Clint Eastwood. Gran Torino was a fabulous movie, I wish someone had yelled out “Get off my lawn” like they did “Make my day” so that he could have said that too. I’m looking forward to his new baseball movie, looks just a good as Gran Torino.
I have similarly mixed feelings about Eastwood’s performance. Nothing new to share there that hasn’t already been masterfully said. But, I gotta disagree on that last comment about Ryan’s speech being stilted. I think his delivery was spot-on, and that we’ve all underestimated him.
In my mind, Ryan’s speech ties for first place with Rubio’s. So much so, that I truly wish the ticket were a Ryan-Rubio one. Maybe eight years from now it will be!
I (heart) Clint Eastwood. Always have, always will.
@23 You said it all when you said: “And they nver really say anything of substance.” I agree. I’m not listening to words anymore, I’m paying attention to ACTIONS.
Common guys, you have to cut him some slack as he is getting up there a bit.
While watching him I kept thinking “right turn Clyde”. (My personal favorite)
@21.
Philo Beddoe rocks!
Well, Blondie might have been more effective than we thought. Apparently his routine got under the skin of someone at the WH as they felt a need to Tweet “this seat is taken” with a photo of Maobama in the chair.
Man, the MSM are having feeding frenzy ridiculing and mocking Clint today. The late night talk shows and SNL are salivating i’m sure. Blondie will get last laugh when Mitt wins the election and tells the messiah “get out of my chair” !
Missed the live version….reading the Metaxas book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer (highly recommend it). Figured the speech must have struck a nerve judging from the squealing on the left this morning. Thanks for posting.
Clint Eastwood bombed and it stole enough headlines where it makes Romney look bad. The RNC was the one chance for Romney to run a scripted media cycle for almost a week and it was a disjointed affair.
For those who never saw Bob Newhart do this, it’s the empty chair routine. You only heard one side of the conversation. I was surprised that Clint did it so well.
Oh, he hit a raw nerve with that, too. The “this seat’s taken” tweet says it all. Now we know who was REALLY watching.
Kudos to Harry Callahan, Philo Beddoe, and Josey Wales.
To the guy in the seat that you think is taken: do you feel lucky, jerkwad? Well, do you? I know who you are and I know what you’re doing every minute of the day and night.
Oh, my. For reals! I enjoyed his time and found it very entertaining, but had no idea how effective it was. Yep, based upon the whining, squealing, muttering and rumbling from the chattering fools, he seriously hit a nerve. A huge one.
Every day they sound more like spoiled four-year olds refusing to take their naps. Pitiful. There used to be things to admire about both the Dem party and the media. Don;t seem to be any these days, at least on the public faces of both. Sad.
JFK, for instance, was such an inspiration for so many back in the day. Looks like there may be a similar passing of the torch about to occur once again. Listening to the youngsters speaking this week for the RNC gave me more hope than I have had in quite a while for the future of our republic.
Right, according to the “people” at MSDNC, Clint was off message and incoherent. Seems someone at the White House disagrees. If it didn’t apply, why reply?
This hit home, just like the focus on what the TOTUS said about “you didn’t build that”. He screwed the pooch with that, he knows it, the media knows it and the dems know it.
@32 Independent but liberal-leaning reader here. I really don’t think you can dismiss this as Clint having ‘hit a nerve’ — I honestly just felt it was odd and lost my interest pretty quick. I actually did tune out, after tuning in primarily for him. I doubt I’m alone in that.
Lest you dismiss that as ‘liberal whining’, I thought Rubio was fantastic, and as others have said, a Rubio & Ryan ticket in the future will likely be a force to be reckoned with, especially since I don’t yet see anyone of similar charisma and energy on the Democratic side in the coming years.
@33 I think most Democrats are more amused and bewildered by the ‘you didn’t build that’ thing than anything else; it’s pretty clear to them (and myself) that he wasn’t talking about small businesses, he was talking about the infrastructure that helps enable small business. Chalk it up to the chaos of the English language.
As for the WH reply to Clint? Simple. It fired up its base. I think it’s somewhat childish, but nobody asked me, I’m afraid.
Ahh ah ah…. You think that chair is taken? Well, in all this excitement, you probably did OCCUPY it.But seen’ as how that chair belongs to The American people, and you’re the worst scoundrel to ever sit in it, you gotta ask yourself one question. Do l feel lucky? Well, do ya? PUNK?
I DVR’d the convention on the FoxBusiness channel since I was working, and , Niel Cavuto observed at the beginning of the speech, that Clint had a speech on the TelePrompTer and it froze right at the beginning leaving Clint in the modern version of “The Actor’s Nightmare”. What we watched was a pro actor faced with a disaster on live TV improvise his ass off and still score valid and scathing points.
Clint did OK
@ #34 LC: Well, I wouldn’t have taken your comments as whining. But you carefully defended yourself from a thought which would otherwise not have occurred to me. So maybe I was wrong?
But for the record, I am not dismissing anything, simply making an observation. Had he not hit a nerve there wouldn’t have been such a reaction to his words.
Unless the left is just frustrated because there was absolutely nothing else from last evening which they could criticize.
He represented the Rep party. old and off its rocker.
LC, if Clint Eastwood didn’t hit a nerve, then why make the tweet?
Well done or not, it was a badly needed light comedy relief. Thanks, Mr Eastwood.
I guess he did hit a nerve, the nerve that made me spasm in laughter so hard that it made my diet pop go out my nose. Yuck.
Reminded me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRUj8dma0oo&playnext=1&list=PL93369A80F9658EBE&feature=results_video
Imagine what you guys would do if Willie Nelson came on stage at the Democratic convention and started talking to his stool?
I thought the left came up with some hippie-dippie stuff “Old Man Who Talks to Stools” is quite a piece of performance art.
Willie Nelson talking to his stool? Which piece of stool would that be inspud? Obama or Biden?
We’ll never know, because talking stool is something Republcans do.
So, Mikey Moore is a Republican?
Most people do not talk to their fecal discharge unless they are two years old and resisting potty training.
@45- Playing stupid works well for you. You do it VERY convincingly.
@ insipid: You said, “I guess he did hit a nerve, the nerve that made me spasm in laughter so hard that it made my diet pop go out my nose. Yuck.”
Who the hell says let alone drink DIET POP?
And YUCK, what are you 3 years old?
BTW Willie Nelson would not be talking to a stool. He has not seen a real one in years!
So, i guess we have to add one more group to the list of persons Republicans hate, Liberals, “welfare” recipients (including seniors) and now diet soda drinkers. For folks that claim to love America, you sure do seem to hate a lot of Americans.
You are correct when you say that Easwood is quite full of stool.
Well, if the worst the DNC can do is to bemoan the performance of an 82 year old man, then I guess they’re pretty impressed by the speeches of the actual politicians that were there.
No, Clint’s performance was not that of the top of his game. I realized just a few minutes into it that age was catching up to him, and that my high expectations would fall short. Clint has a long and proven career and it’s actually pretty amazing that he is still making movies..
… or in Insipid logic, I guess the MSM and DNC just hate senior citizens like Clint.
And yes, the Hollywierds have already come out in full support of the DNC and POTUS, putting their millions where their mouth is.