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| Actor Clint Eastwood addresses an empty chair and questions it as if it were President Barack Obama as he endorses Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney during the final session of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida on Thursday. (Reuters Photo/Mike Segar) |
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Los
Angeles. Clint Eastwood earned plenty of bad reviews for his latest
performance: A bizarre, rambling endorsement of Mitt Romney.
“Clint, my
hero, is coming across as sad and pathetic,” tweeted film critic Roger Ebert as
Eastwood ad-libbed Thursday night to an audience of millions — and one empty
chair — on stage at the Republican National Convention. “He didn’t need to do
this to himself. It’s unworthy of him.”
Eastwood
carried on a long-winded conversation with an imaginary President Barack Obama,
telling him that he failed to deliver on his promise and that it’s time for
Romney and running mate Paul Ryan to take over.
“Mr.
President, how do you handle promises that you have made when you were running
for election, and how do you handle them? I mean, what do you say to people?” he
said at one point to the empty chair.
Twitter was
instantly ablaze with comments mocking the Oscar-winning director of
“Unforgiven” and “Million Dollar Baby.”
“Clint has
now eclipsed the total word count of his last three films,” tweeted film critic
Richard Roeper during the speech, which was intended to last five minutes but
went on for nearly 12.
Howard
Kurtz, host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” said “Clint’s empty chair act” was the
“weirdest convention moment I have ever seen.” Joe Scarborough, the conservative
host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” declared that “a great night for Mitt Romney
just got sidetracked by Clint Eastwood.”
Minutes
after Eastwood began his speech, someone created an (at)InvisibleObama account
on Twitter. It has already amassed 30,000 followers and counting.
“I heard
that Clint Eastwood was channeling me at the RNC,” tweeted comic actor Bob
Newhart, known for his one-sided conversation bits. “My lawyers and I are
drafting our lawsuit.”
The
82-year-old actor and director, a fiscal conservative who takes left-leaning
stands on social issues, also talked about Oprah Winfrey, Obama’s unfulfilled
promise to close the US prison at Guantanamo, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
and lawyers.
“When
somebody doesn’t do the job, you gotta let ‘em go,” Eastwood said. The
tough-guy actor of “Dirty Harry” fame then drew a finger across his throat.
The Obama
campaign shot back afterward by tweeting a photo of the back of the president’s
chair, with Obama’s head peeking over it, along with the line: “This seat’s
taken.”
A top Obama
adviser, David Axelrod, told MSNBC that Republicans must be regretting
Eastwood’s rambling speech.
Inside the
convention, the crowd cheered the actor’s entrance and shouted his famed
catchphrase, “Go ahead, make my day.” But backstage, stern-faced Romney aides
winced at times as Eastwood’s remarks stretched on.
After his
speech, Romney’s camp defended Eastwood.
“He’s an
American icon,” Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho 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.”
Romney’s
wife, Ann, was peppered with questions on morning news shows about whether
Eastwood’s appearance was a distraction. She said Eastwood is “a unique guy and
he did a unique thing last night.”
Associated Press
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