Posted on 09/04/2012 12:57:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Much of the world cringed as Eastwood berated an invisible Obama at the GOP convention. The Right is celebrating Eastwood's talk-to-the-chair speech as a misunderstood triumph.
Clint Eastwood's bizarre, unscripted speech at the Republican National Convention is something of a political Rorschach test. Republican delegates at the convention and conservative activists across the country loved the salty 12-minute "dialogue" with an invisible Obama seated in an empty chair; nonpartisan political reporters and most TV pundits declared it a momentum-sapping, off-message disaster; liberals loved the primetime spectacle of an aging actor hijacking Mitt Romney's big night; Team Romney was reportedly miffed; and President Obama declared himself a "huge Clint Eastwood fan" and shrugged off the actor's attacks. (For late-night comedians' takes, see video below.) Now, several days after Eastwood's speech, the political world is still engaged in "a heated debate about whether it was historically bad or sneaky good," says Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post. Cillizza is firmly on the "historically bad" side, but the Right is energetically reclaiming Eastwood's cri de coeur as a successful rallying cry. Conservatives have appropriated the initially mocking Twitter meme "#Eastwooding" (photos of people berating empty chairs) and rechristened Labor Day as "Empty Chair Day." "Clint Eastwood resonated with voters outside the snotty, derisive NY-DC-Hollywood axis," conservative blogger Michelle Malkin tells Politico. "Activists on the Right wanted to demonstrate... their appreciation." Can Republicans turn Eastwood's widely panned performance into a political plus for Mitt Romney?
The pundits called this one wrong: Sure, "Eastwood's speech had notable shortcomings," says Joseph Charlton in Britain's The Independent. But the "predominantly derisive response" from the media missed the speech's "rousing effect on many putatively Republican-voting Americans." Eastwood was "stirringly patriotic" and "seductively old-fashioned," speaking with a colorful grandeur missing from the "bland and carefully scripted" Romney campaign. Besides, Eastwood's speech has gone viral on YouTube, and "any publicity is good publicity" for Romney.
"Why Eastwood's speech was not the disaster it seemed"
Huh? Clint was an unmitigated disaster: Spin it all you want, but Eastwood's belittling attempt at standup comedy "was a train wreck that would not stop," says Alfred P. Doblin in New Jersey's The Record. And that does not reflect well on the man who invited him to speak, the supposedly hyper-competent Romney. If elected, "I hope Romney has better judgment when meeting with the Russians and Chinese." Because far from being intimidated by Dirty Harry, "in a chair somewhere in the White House, the real Barack Obama must be saying: 'Made my day.'"
"The good, the bad, and the ugly of Clint's imaginary friend"
But the attention helps obscure the convention's other flaws: I doubt "Chairgate" will "have any lasting impact on the race," says Melinda Henneberger at The Washington Post. But in the short term, it seems like a small net positive for Romney. With his Crazy Uncle Clint bit, "Eastwood made workaday Romney look blessedly sane by comparison." And have you noticed that after Eastwood, everyone is talking less and less about the GOP's alarming cognitive dissonance? Namely, "how the compassion [Paul] Ryan mentioned and the poverty Romney spoke of square with their plan to cut social programs and ask the middle class to subsidize the already well off." Every minute we spend arguing "whether [Eastwood's] routine was cringe-inducing, hilarious, or both," we ignore all the misleading statements uttered by GOP leaders at Romney's convention. And that's good for Mitt.
"Eastwood effect: Maybe it did make Romney's day"
(VIDEO AT LINK)
“Could they be any more in the tank for Obama?”
I laughed my ass off. Clint. Pure Clint.
Where the heck are the "fact checkers"? This is BS. There is no proof of anybody cringing. Most of the world was laughing its ass off.
If they are still talking about it, and still trying to diminish its impact, it was good.
I have to give the fact checkers this. President Obama is a human, not a chair. Therefore the whole speech was inaccurate.
All anyone needs to know is that Clint is NOT voting for Obama and IS voting for Romney. Nothing else matters, although the empty chair was brilliant.
The MSM and all the liberals predict that Clint will be devastating to Obama, just for showing up at the Republican convention. And that is the reason for Rachel’s meltdown, live on TV.
YAY, CLINT!!
The only thing that would have made Clint Eastwood’s conversation with the empty chair any better, was if there had been an empty suit jacket and pants sitting on the chair. Then it would have been very realistic.
This would only create cognitive dissonance for a brain dead liberal.
Conservatives know that the left's throwing billions of dollars at social programs in order to make the poor's lives a little more tolerable isn't true compassion.
Creating a roaring, vibrant economy where the poor that so choose are able to get good jobs and actually improve their lot in life is.
It took them several days, but they have gone from “Were going to ruin Romney over this” to “Holy #@%^, this you mean people liked it”!
ABSOLUTELY corectomundo!!! Ridicule. That’s what Alynski said, right? haa. haa.
For those morooons that think Clint was off his meds, will you PLEASE remember he has for years memorized lines for movies, etc. The skit was brilliant. I’m still laughing at it and EVERYONE IS talking about it. We all love Clint and the leftie media is dribbling on themselves. They are going down, just as is Ozippy. If it didn’t hit a nerve as ridicule, the left would ignore Clint. HE is the one laughing at the reaction. Brilliant move on Romney team’s part in getting him to do this. And now we see they are scrambling to get Betty White. copycat, copycat!
it was a brilliant piece of performance art which has transcended the convention and will transcend the election
You will hear about Clint's empty chair skit as long as we live
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The fact this article was published at all proves that Clint’s chair skit was highly effective. Had it been a disaster, then the right would be criticizing Eastwood, not the left. The left can’t stop obsessing over it because they’re the ones whose teeth were knocked out, and whose tongues now cannot resist revisiting the after-effects of their wounding.
From what I heard, Romney’s people almost went AKIN over Clint’s speech. I am still not reassured about a Romney administration.
The left is critical of Clint Eastwood who only gave a humorous speech while they are perfectly comfortable with Joe Biden who is but a heartbeat away from the presidency.
I hope they don't get Betty White. I like her a lot and I'd hate to have my opinion of her lessened.
The empty chair was brilliant. It signified the FOREIGNERS lack of running this country. It signified how the american people have turned off to obama, (he’s not even there) It also really P’od the socialist democrats frauds on the left. And it was a grin. That is 4 bagger grand slam in my book.
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