Posted on 09/01/2012 3:23:27 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
When "Dirty Harry" interviewed "Invisible Obama" at the Republican convention Thursday night, Clint Eastwood gained a new kind of fame, as the butt of jokes all over the Twitter-verse.
"Idea for a cable drama: Clint Eastwood is a hard-boiled cop that sees his dead partner in every empty chair. It's called 'La-Z Boys in Blue,'"read one tweet.
"Give Clint Eastwood a break. ...The RNC asked him to speak about ObamaCare and he thought they said ObamaChair," read another.
The actor's mock interview of an empty chair purportedly representing President Obama turned into one of the most-talked-about events of the entire convention. Probably not in the way Eastwood or the GOP intended.
It had convention delegates and other Republicans alternately guffawing and scratching their heads. And it gave Democrats new ammunition heading into their own convention next week.
"Condescending talk down and ridicule of POTUS by white man makes Eastwood a great tea party icon," read another tweet.
Yet in the real world - Carmel-by-the-Sea, where the 82-year-old actor and former mayor is regarded more as a friendly neighbor than a big-shot movie star, the reaction was akin to a shrug.
"Hey, he's a nice guy who walks around town and talks to all the locals," said resident Ann Oggerino, 48, who works at a downtown gas station. "Nobody's going to hold anything against him."
The guy's a hit
On a night Republicans hoped the country would focus on presidential nominee Mitt Romney, San Francisco's Twitter said Eastwood came close to stealing the online show.
The third-biggest spike in Twitter traffic during the entire convention, behind speeches by Romney and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, was the 7,044 tweets per minute posted after Eastwood had his imaginary, sometimes funny, sometimes halting, on-stage conversation with an invisible Obama, represented by that empty chair.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The image of Obama in an empty chair will remain, regardless of the attacks on Eastwood. Rush Limbaugh described it best yesterday. The skit hit a nerve because it was the truth.
Most powerful points in all of the RNC and indeed forever unforgettable. Thank God for Clint.He said what no one else could say, and not being a politician but a director whose films always make a powerful statement of reality exposing the lies of political correctness only gave him more clout than any politician could ever have.
No, it didn't take away from the great speeches.
It only added a huge asterisk to all of them.
Yep. Even at the height of his fame in 1982, when I lived in Monterey and he set up his Hog's Breath bar in Carmel, he would often tend bar personally when he was in town. He acted like any normal business owner and only asked the press to not pester him when he was at home.
I think it was brilliant.
If Clint is as feeble as his appearance at the podium would suggest, how did he get out on stage as quickly as he did is one thing people need to think of.
The other is when his skit was finished, did y'all notice how deliberate and focused, without any wobble or indecision, his stride was going backstage?
Add to it, this guy is a very professional actor, director and producer. Everyone who is panning him for his apparent feebleness needs to think long and hard about that one. He is very adept at making the smallest traits of a character look perfectly real. How many Academy Awards has he won by doing just that?
they want to play gatekeeper for Obama, where Clint said -this is our country can't hang on to the ineffectiveness of one man.
“Empty head” is more like it (referencing Obama’s marvelous intellect). Furthermore, I bet Eastwood is crying all the way to the bank. More power to him!
Clint hit’em right where it hurts...and they darn sure felt it.
Hence, all the tears...
Exactly! My grandmother talked just like he does with the rambling and stuttering but SHE WAS VERY SHARP even for a Democrat!
(She didn't vote so she was my favorite democrat)
I loved Clints speech and I truly think he new exactly what he was talking about.
Now lets start working hard at getting that empty chair removed from OUR WHITE HOUSE!
When I here that scrawny POS make his last speech (when he concedes in November) that will make my day!!
I was taken by the audience reaction when Clint took the stage. There was immediate and tumultuous applause, yells of delight, and smiles all around. It was obvious that Clint (and it seems natural to call him by his first name) is held in great affection, and not just by Republicans, but by the American public, much like another patriot/actor, John Wayne.
Have one in the yard now!
“this is 1950’s comedy” with a little vaudeville bawdiness thrown in. It’s well worth watching again, and listening line by line. He really jabs the Dems and Obama.
Bfl
We have a friend who is 87. He was in the 101st Airborne and parachuted into Normandy on D-Day. Last 3 days, shot in the lung by friendly fire. Out lasted one wife of 63 years (may God rest her soul. I STILL miss her). Married a Japanese woman who was witnessed the A-bombing of Nagasaki.
Our friend has health problems and is “feeble” in that his back doesn’t work as well as it used to, and his legs don’t move as fast, and he’s kind of scary to drive with, there is not a thing wrong with his mind. He’s still sharp, his memory is in tact. In fact, he and his wife do so much with the VA and other veteran’s groups, we can’t keep up with them.
Yup, we won't have to wait for o bummer to do this:
How dare Clint gently mock the POTUS. Why, it’s never been done before in the history of our country. Just ask Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, H Bush, Clinton, Dubya, etc!
Bingo! Just what I thought. He was not speaking to committed Republican voters he was speaking to the undecided/independents/middle-of-the-roaders.
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