Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Eastwood Excuse

If Romney loses the rig he can blame Dirty Harry....

"Romney tours storm-ravaged Louisiana, ahead of Obama" by Matt Viser  |  Globe Staff, August 31, 2012

TAMPA — In the aftermath of Mitt Romney’s speech Thursday night much of the political world was abuzz about actor Clint Eastwood and his rambling 12-minute convention performance in which he spoke to an empty chair that he pretended President Obama was sitting in.

“So Mr. President, how do you handle — how do you handle promises that you made when you were running for election?” he asked, in remarks that came just as television networks began covering the big night. ”How do you handle it? What do you say to people? Do you just. . . I know people were wondering.”

He pretended to ask Obama why he had not closed the prison in Guantanamo Bay. “What do you mean, shut up?” he said.  

Hey, at least the crazy codger injected the U.S. torture chambers into the discussion.

“What? What do you want me to tell Romney?” he asked at another point. “I can’t tell him to do that.. . . He can’t do that to himself. You’re absolutely crazy. You’re getting as bad as Biden.”  

And that is the impression that stuck with the dumb-downed, indoctrinated, inculcated in celebrity culture public (thanks to the AmeriKan media) received regarding those crazy coots in that party. 

I would tell the Republican Party to page Ron Paul, but it's too late.

Eastwood’s performance was a rare moment of surprise in an otherwise carefully scripted convention, and it appeared to catch Romney’s campaign advisers, fund-raisers, and family off guard. After GOP aides had vetted almost every speech at the convention, Eastwood took the stage with no teleprompter running and delivered impromptu remarks in the most important moments of the convention, minutes before Romney spoke.... 

And how did Mitt follow the lead?

"From the economy and Medicare to foreign policy and the genesis of his own fortune, Mitt Romney’s assertions in Tampa are coming under close scrutiny, with some of the Republican presidential nominee’s statements just as empty as the chair in Clint Eastwood’s shtick."   

The reporters of the AmeriKan media have so internalized the Jewish supremacism of their owners and masters they have resorted to using their words.  Such is the state of the AmeriKan media today.

I'm glad I didn't watch either farcical spectacle.

Romney campaign aides defended Eastwood, saying “his ad libbing was a break from all the political speeches, and the crowd enjoyed it.”

“He’s an American icon,” Gail Gitcho, a Romney campaign spokeswoman, told CNN’s Piers Morgan. “You can’t look at him at through the same political lens that you would other politicians. He’s Clint Eastwood.”  

Clint is God?

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President Obama flew to Fort Bliss, Texas, to meet with troops on the second anniversary of the end of the US combat mission in Iraq. Obama campaign officials, meanwhile, made much of the fact that Romney had not included any mention of the US troops in Afghanistan in his speech Thursday.

The Democrats’ convention doesn’t start until Tuesday, but the general election skirmishing is in full force, and the candidates on Friday seemed to inject fresh urgency into a deadlocked race that has just 66 days left....

That long still?

--more--"  

Two more months of this s***?

"Some Mitt Romney aides perplexed by Clint Eastwood’s routine" September 01, 2012

TAMPA — Clint Eastwood’s off-color endorsement of Mitt Romney on Thursday seemed to startle and unsettle the candidate’s own top aides, several of whom made a point of distancing themselves from the decision to put him onstage without a polished script.

Yeah, no s***. He's an ACTOR!

‘’Not me,’’ said an exasperated-looking senior adviser, when asked who was responsible for Eastwood’s speech. In late-night interviews, aides variously called the speech ‘‘strange’’ and ‘‘weird.’’ One described it as ‘‘theater of the absurd.’’  

The whole convention was like that.

Finger-pointing quickly ensued, suggesting real displeasure and even confusion over the handling of Eastwood’s performance, which was kept secret until the last minute.  

A preview of the pass-the-buck, we-destroy-documents administration?

A senior Republican involved in convention planning said Eastwood’s appearance was cleared by at least two of Romney’s top advisers, Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens. This person said that there had been no rehearsal.

But another adviser said several top aides had reviewed talking points given to Eastwood, which the campaign had discussed with the actor as recently as a few hours before his appearance.

Also, the campaign placed Eastwood at the beginning of the television network coverage, at 10 p.m., eclipsing a video of Romney’s family life for most viewers. 

The campaign thought Dirty Harry would take out that punk Obama. He made a mess instead.

Stevens said he would not discuss internal decision-making but described Eastwood’s remarks as improvised.

‘’He spoke from the heart with a classic improv sketch, which everyone at the convention loved,’’ Stevens said.

Eastwood, 82, delivered a speech in which he pretended to have a sarcasm-filled conversation with President Obama sitting by his side, represented by an empty chair.

The only bad sarcasm is that used by bloggers (guilty). I've been dripping with it for six years now.

Leonard Hirshan, Eastwood’s manager, said the actor was traveling and would not be available for interviews until he started promotional work for his next film, ‘‘Trouble With the Curve,’’ set for release Sept. 21.  

As the Republican Party mints the convention DVD "Trouble With the Clint."

The campaign insisted Romney enjoyed the speech.   

Yeah, I suppose he would have.

Other things to enjoy:

"Bloomberg Businessweek’s website had quoted Republican strategist Karl Rove as telling GOP donors in Florida: ‘‘We should sink Todd Akin. If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!’’  

Karl admitting that "conspiracies" do in fact exist, ha-ha. 

**********************

It wasn’t backed by any Hollywood movie studio. Reviews were mostly negative. It premiered in Houston, not Los Angeles or New York. Still, the movie ‘‘2016: Obama’s America,’’ is among the most successful political documentaries of all time. And it shows no signs of cooling. The conservative film exploring President Obama’s political views took in $6.5 million to land at No. 7 at last weekend’s domestic box office.  

No wonder I haven't heard of it.

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And the Democrats' version?

"Joe Biden’s speech will look to past and future" by Brian MacQuarrie  |  Globe Staff, September 06, 2012

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If there is any chance of a Clint Eastwood moment for the Democrats, this is it: Eastwood pilloried the vice president at the Republican convention. Glancing toward the imaginary Obama on the empty chair, the actor said: “You’re crazy, you’re absolutely crazy. You’re getting as bad as [Vice President Joe] Biden. Of course, we all know Biden is the intellect of the Democratic Party — kind of a grin with a body behind it.”

That is the Biden mix, a combination of crazy uncle and savvy pol who can do the dirty spade work with the head-banging mentality that made him a freshman halfback at the University of Delaware.

The rest is a Biden bio.

--more--" 

Also see: Biden should apologize for “back in chains” remark

He/They didn't: Obama campaign supports Joe Biden on comment 

And it might be Hillary Clinton’s last visit to China as secretary of state, huh?  

Related(?): Why Obama should dump Biden for Hillary Clinton

No excuse for my Boston Globe.