Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Play Clinty For Me
National Review Online - The Corner ^ | August 31, 2012 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 08/31/2012 12:32:00 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

...Clint is a brilliant actor, and a superb director of other actors (and I don’t just mean a quarter-century ago: in the last five years, he’s made eight films). He’s also, as Mr Gavin observed, a terrific jazz improvisor at the piano – and, in film and music documentaries, an extremely articulate interviewee. So I wouldn’t assume that the general tenor of his performance wasn’t exactly as he intended. The hair was a clue: no Hollywood icon goes out on stage like that unless he means to.

John Hayward writes:

>>>The intended recipient was not Mitt Romney, the convention delegates, or even Republican voters, but rather wavering independents. Clint was there to tell them it’s OK to find Obama, his ugly campaign operation, and his increasingly shrill band of die-hard defenders ridiculous. It’s OK to laugh at them.<<<

I’m not sure he could have pulled that off if he’d delivered a slick telepromptered pitch. As Mr Hayward suggests, the hard lines packed more of a punch for being delivered in the midst of a Bob Newhart empty-chair shtick from the Dean Martin show circa 1968. They were some of the hardest lines of the convention and may well prove the take-home (“We own this country… Politicians are employees of ours… And when somebody does not do the job, we’ve got to let them go”), but they seemed more effective for appearing to emerge extemporaneously from the general shambles.

The curse of political operatives is that they make everything the same.....Even politicians you’re well disposed to come across as slick bores in that format. Which is by way of saying Clint is too sharp and too crafty not to have known what he was doing......

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: clinteastwood; laughatobama; marksteyn; rncconvention; romneyryan2012
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-56 next last
Human Events: "..........It’s OK to dismiss the brutal slander of the Obama campaign with humor, as Clint did when Invisible Obama supposedly gave him profane insults to relay to Mitt Romney. The silly notion of Obama as a serene, cool, Spock-like figure floating above the political fray is gone forever, but Clint shoveled a little dirt on its grave with those jokes. The pained over-reaction of Obama defenders does them no credit, and will not serve them well in the election. Americans are a humorous people who value the ability to take a joke. A thin-skinned campaign that appears to be cracking walnuts with its clenched butt cheeks usually turns them off.

And it’s OK to let Obama go, as Eastwood said, in what I think will prove to be his most widely quoted line: “When somebody does not do the job, you’ve got to let them go.” The significance of that statement, coupled with the raspy straight-shooting delivery of Dirty Harry, should not be underestimated."..... John Hayward

1 posted on 08/31/2012 12:32:09 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

Eastwood was hilarious and people have to be seriously anal to not have noticed.


2 posted on 08/31/2012 12:35:01 PM PDT by jwalsh07 (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jwalsh07
You have to have a sense of humor.


3 posted on 08/31/2012 12:38:56 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

Clint Eastwood was great.

The liberal press is just besides themselves. You can’t make fun of obama - you just can’t. He is too serious. He is above satire. He is the One. No one makes fun of the “One.”

Clint did in 15 minutes what SNL was afraid to do for 5 years.

And I foresee it will open the flood gates...


4 posted on 08/31/2012 12:48:06 PM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2banana

Well said!


5 posted on 08/31/2012 12:49:15 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

Great point. Clint Eastwood is a pro, still at the top of his form. Nothing he did was accidental.

I was actually thinking—despite the desperate lefty attacks on him—that he kind of pulled some of his punches. He could have hit Obama even harder. But that probably wouldn’t have been as effective with the people he wanted to reach. And no one could call it a hate speech and retain any credibility.


6 posted on 08/31/2012 12:50:35 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jwalsh07
deserving
7 posted on 08/31/2012 12:51:00 PM PDT by FrankR (They will become our ultimate masters the day we surrender the 2nd Amendment.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
To the great audience of thinking individuals out there across America, Eastwood's keen political analysis was delivered and received loud and clear.

Today, on the networks and "progressive" social sites, subtlety and humor have been deliberately misrepresented by the media "talking heads" and Obama surrogates as senility and signs of deterioration.

Voters are not buying it though, and Seniors may wonder if this is how the "bureaucratic panels" of Obamacare will evaluate their intellect and mental acuity, once they're in charge of health care.

8 posted on 08/31/2012 12:57:53 PM PDT by loveliberty2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
The gist of Clint's message: "Right turn, Clyde America"
9 posted on 08/31/2012 12:58:48 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (Taranto: "The whole point of the metaphor is that if you can hear the whistle, you're the dog.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: 2banana

WAS? IS !!


10 posted on 08/31/2012 1:01:44 PM PDT by MtnMan101
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: 2banana
....You can’t make fun of obama - you just can’t. He is too serious. He is above satire. He is the One. No one makes fun of the “One.”

He isn't smart enough to be funny or clever or original.

11 posted on 08/31/2012 1:12:24 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: loveliberty2
....Voters are not buying it though, and Seniors may wonder if this is how the "bureaucratic panels" of Obamacare will evaluate their intellect and mental acuity, once they're in charge of health care.

As well they should. Seniors LIKE Ryan!

12 posted on 08/31/2012 1:18:22 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Cicero
.....Nothing he did was accidental.

I agree.

13 posted on 08/31/2012 1:19:17 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: MtnMan101
Today, on the networks and "progressive" social sites, subtlety and humor have been deliberately misrepresented by the media "talking heads" and Obama surrogates as senility and signs of deterioration.

These lefty "talking heads" are either ultra-stupid or ultra-dishonest. They can't be anything else. Either they were too uninformed about vaudeville comedy to know that the stammer/ramble technique is just that... a technique. Its used when ever any comedian pretends to talk to an imaginary person. Bob Newhart did it often pretending to talk on a phone with someone. Jimmy Stewart used to use a stammer as part of his comedic technique. IT WAS AN ACT!!! They have to be immensely stupid to not see that. Or more likely, they're being intentionally dishonest and they just hate that their ox was getting gored and they're just trying to destroy anyone who disses Obama.
14 posted on 08/31/2012 1:20:44 PM PDT by AaronInCarolina
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: NonValueAdded

:)


15 posted on 08/31/2012 1:21:55 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

CNN and the mainstream media are now out to detroy him for poking fun of O and B.


16 posted on 08/31/2012 1:25:24 PM PDT by FreedBird
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: jwalsh07

The fact is, some people ARE seriously anal, and it shows in their faces. They have this pained, pinched appearance to their faces any time something less that complimentary is said about their idol, and it is a traumatic thing to realize that not everybody shares their almost religious zealotry.

That was classic and vintage Eastwood up there on stage, ranking with some of his best “Dirty Harry” or “The Outlaw Josey Wales”.

Clint had that Gatling machine gun up, loaded, aimed, and firing away.


17 posted on 08/31/2012 1:25:53 PM PDT by alloysteel (Are you better off than you were four years ago? Well, are you?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

Clint Eastwood

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000142/
 
Won 4 Oscars. Another 126 wins & 86 nominations
See more awards 

18 posted on 08/31/2012 1:30:15 PM PDT by Wolverine (A Concerned Citizen)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
AMC is running a Clint Eastwood marathon all day Monday. Someone in programming is being taken out and shot, even as we speak type.
19 posted on 08/31/2012 1:30:50 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (Taranto: "The whole point of the metaphor is that if you can hear the whistle, you're the dog.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
It was one of the best performances I've seen this year.

Though he may have been wearing that Bob Newheart/Jimmy Stewart impersonation, and he did it well enough that I kept thinking there was something familiar about it until I finally figured it out, it was clear enough he meant what he was saying.

I can forgive the Bronco Billy days. Every man has to find and break his limitations. Clint Eastwood is a master and that performance last night was just more of why. Some age well; Clint's obviously a bit better at it than most.

20 posted on 08/31/2012 1:31:02 PM PDT by GBA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-56 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson