Dateline Tampa: It’s Clint! (Is Hollywood Really Conservative??)
Has Mitt Romney been upstaged on his big night?
Well, sure, but so what?
It’s by Hollywood’s biggest star — Clint Eastwood — the newly announced mystery speaker for the last night of the convention (speaking before Marco Rubio and the candidate himself).
Biggest star, you say, raising your eyebrow a twitch? Well, think about it. Who on the other (liberal) side would have the heft Eastwood has to address a presidential convention? Tom Hanks? Steven Spielberg? Rosemary Clooney’s little nephew?
Small potatoes next to Clint, who besides being the best director in town, is out of old Hollywood when it comes to larger-than-life dimensions. Only Jack Nicholson on the liberal side (if he is a liberal — who knows with Jack?) has the size to command a hall that way. But everyone knows that Nicholson is, well, not exactly the guy for a presidential campaign. It would be, to use an old phrase, reefer madness.
And … as everyone knows … Clint recently appeared as the halftime star of the Super Bowl in a commercial, viewed by some (not by Eastwood himself evidently), as an endorsement of Obama. Well, checkmate. Clint arrives in Tampa to set things straight.
Hollywood conservatives used to complain that, yeah, Eastwood was one of us but he never really does anything about it. This should end that. Bang. It’s the Hollywood liberals who now should be shivering in their bourgeois fuddy-duddy boots. They’re not the cool guys anymore. Backfield in motion, as the old song goes. The world changed, only it was hope and change.
Now, about Mitt Romney in all of this: I don’t know about you, but after four years of the Narcissist-in-Chief, I’m more than ready for a man with the self-confidence to take a back seat to others once in a while, first to an extraordinarily gifted young Paul Ryan and now to craggy old Clint who looks more presidential than any real president we ever had except for maybe George Washington.
I have to admit, I originally thought this convention was going to be dull, and made the slog from L.A. to Tampa mostly out of professional duty.
Boy, was I wrong!
– Dems will have to bring out Hanks. Y’know, Band of Brothers. Ironic that both actors are from the Bay Area.
The Dems, from what I hear will bring some towel heads with terrorist connections. If that won’t get them extra votes it might get them some petro-dollars under the table.
Mitt can easily afford to be upstaged by Clint. After Paul Ryan’s awesome speech, all he really needs to do is “close the deal”, as I think Ace said this morning. Also, this cements idea of his humility as contrasted to B0′s galactic ego.
Yep, that’s why we have Biden, “the intellect of the Democratic party” as Clint put it. Even with Obama’s stammering, Joe makes him look pretty smart!
What’s the classic business line? “The best leaders surround themselves with people who are BETTER than they are.”
The best bosses I had never ever worried about not having the good idea first. They just wanted the ideas. Before the competition. The worst colleagues I ever had worked every day in fear of being found out. And hiring no one who might possibly outshine them. Guess who is our president today? Romney will never worry about not enough glory to go around. And Ryan will show up to work every single day.
Here here!!!!!!!!!
And you can bet they’ll both put in the long hours needed !
I hear the mystery speaker at the Democratic Convention is going to be Sandra Locke.
They can have her. We had Locke and Load.
I think mitt should make his entrance to the convention hall tonight from the rear of the room. I see him making that long presidential walk down a rope line with nervous Secret Service on each elbow as the candidate confidently smiles and shakes the hands of his many many well-wishers. At some point a camera lingers on the face of one of the agents and we realize it’s Clint Eastwood reprising his role from in the line of fire. They both frame the stage and Eastwood introduces Romney before his acceptance speech. The roof would explode off the building!
Not bad
Mr. Eastwood is his own producer these days, and has plenty of money. He doesn’t need to be a HollyDhimmi.
Action movie heroes — if they’re going to have any sort of staying power at all — tend to be, if not died-in-the-wool conservatives, at least moderate Republicans. Clint’s one example, while if you look at the cast of “Expendables 2″ — Stallone, Willie, Chuck and Arnold all have GOP ties (and you can go back to people like Jimmy Cagney or John Wayne from the previous generation of Hollywood stars).
I know Arnold headed for the high weeds when his ed reform plan blew up in ’05, but the point still remains — he couldn’t have survived for years off an action hero figure persona while spouting Alec Baldwin-like liberal tripe in public. It would have killed his appeal to his film’s core audience, and it’s also why current ‘stars’ like Matt Damon never really gain traction. You can’t ask the audience to accept you as one kind of character and then go off and sound like Sean Penn-lite during the publicity tour for your next picture.
Adam Baldwin comes to mind as a less vintage example- I don’t think a liberal actor could convincingly name his gun “Vera”, never mind knowing how to actually handle it, uh…. her.
Who knows, perhaps being Republican helps action-hero types as it certainly plays to stereotypes.
Met Adam once. He said Vera was a crappy gun. The balance was way off.
It is an interesting point about Alec Baldwin. I always wondered why he did not ride the Jack Ryan franchise past Hunt for Red October — talk about action hero. His Jack Ryan movie was tons better than the other guy’s, Harrison Ford’s. Maybe Baldwin did not want to be identified with that character, so, in a moment of honesty, he let it go to someone else.
I suppose Roger S. knows the scoop.
Anyway, it ought to be interesting to see Clint Eastwood on the stage tonight. Good.
You might be confused. Adam Baldwin (Vera reference is from Firefly) versus Alec Baldwin.
“His Jack Ryan movie was tons better than the other guy’s, Harrison Ford’s.”
…Only because that movie featured a real man, Sean Connery, to balance out Alec’s pretty boy persona. As for portrayal, Harrison Ford did a great job fulfilling the Ryan role, and the determined anger he conveyed when getting into the face of the Sinn Fein leader in a pub (after he believed the organization was behind the attack on his wife and daughter) was quite memorable… for me at least. (and let’s not even discuss the ignominy of the Affleck pic)
As Reagan liked to say “there’s no limit to what can be achieved when you don’t care who gets the credit”
Awwww that means no Ronald Reagan hologram. I’m kinda disappointed to be honest.
“Only Jack Nicholson on the liberal side (if he is a liberal — who knows with Jack?)”
I understand Jack’s noticeably pro-life. Understandable under the circumstances, since his career, and life, resulted from it.
There’s no chance he’s a Trojan Horse, is there? I hope he’s not gonna grab the mic and go full lefty. As stated above, he’s about as big as it gets on the Hollywood gravitas scale, if he turns on the GOP, he might actually gain cred back in West Coast circles.
[Must contain urge to say it...MUST contain urge to say it...TOO LATE!]
GET OFF MY LAWN!
[Deepest apologies. Total loss of self-control; regrettably, millions of other will be expressing the same thing. Again, I'm very sorry.]
thanks for saying it
I believe you meant to say “Get off my White House lawn”.
“Gran Torino” defines America’s story since 1968, on so many levels.
So, yeah, “Get off my lawn”.
I just caught Eastwood’s close, and now have to wait for the Youtube. Had no idea he was the surprise because I am watching NCIS re-runs, because Gibbs Rules.
In fact, Gibbs’ Rule #16 is “if someone thinks they have the upper hand, break it.” easier said than done. Gibbs is the reincarnation of Dirty Harry, and I should note that a Carhartt ad sign appeared in Gibbs basement when Rick Perry jumped in, and when Perry suspended his campaign, that Carhartt sign aquired a black ribbon.
I digress, Clint Eastwood is impossible to top. Not even Tom Hanks. And, not so sure Spielberg would even accept the invite.
ok, Angelina Jolie would top Eastwood, because she is also Jon Voight’s daughter.
Read recently that Hollywood was not going to the Dem convention because they didnt want to look like the party of elites. Wonder if Clints showing will start some folks hunting throughvtheir rolodexes.
Maybe now I can get up and cheer wildly which I was expecting to do when Christie was on the podium but didn’t happen! Christie…wheres the beef??? Clint is ‘the man!’
aardunza, that is harsh. Can I steal it? Thanks.
Obama, having heard so many excellent Republican convention speakers about adult fundamental change in our country, must be wondering about the next rhetorical bullet headed his way, and his chances of electoral survival in November.
Clint Eastwood as Detective Harry Callanhan talking to a criminal in the movie “Dirty Harry” nails it:
“I know what you’re thinking. “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”
(The .44 Magnum in our current political context is simply, the TRUTH about Obama’s failure as an executive and about the failure of his policies.)
YAWWWNNN….Clint who? Oh yes, an old white guy being dragged out of the closet to pitch the old white order. If the selection of Eastwood doesn’t support the argument that all Republicans are indeed racist, I don’t know what does. Eastwood’s racist credentials were proven in that movie El Torino, where he referred to some black youths as “coons”. Otherwise, the movie focused on the purported “destruction” of the white Detroit power structure by people of color (although I’ll admit that Asians may not really fit into the “minority” category; time will tell). It’s always race with you guys…race, race, race, you can’t get over it! Hopefully the Dems will roll out an actor who possess true talent and respect for otherwise, like Danny Glover.
Most thinking people can understand the difference between portraying racism and endorsing it. Clint’s character was racist, was forced to confront his racism and eventually changed his mind to the point of (spoiler, sorry) sacrifice of the highest order, the very Biblical definition of love.
If you watch movies just long enough to figure out what offends you, I pity your existence.
The Old White Man issue is valid; however, we’ll see how much that helps or hurts. This election will not come down to a Battle of The Stars, it will hinge on how well Obama can obfuscate the results of his policies. The election is not about Mitt and Paul, fundamentally it is about whether or not we fire Barack Obama. If Clint Eastwood can help make the case as to why Barack Obama should be retired then I welcome his input.
If portraying a racist makes Eastwood a racist, doesn’t that line of reasoning make Danny Glover a murderer? After all, he portrayed one in Witness.
And who exactly was it who introduced the subject of race into this thread? Talk about projection. Sheesh.
Old? Yes, I’m afraid so, unquestionably. But well known even today.
I asked my kids if they knew him. Yeah, sure. Cool, tough old guy like you dad.
(sigh) I was born the year Clint shot his first spaghetti western.
Then I asked about his two most famous lefty contemporaries. Robert Redford?
(crickets chirp)
Okay, how about Warren Beatty? There was a moments silence, a bit of consultation among themselves, then my eldest (IQ of 140) replies, “Wasn’t he the guy, that was raped by hillbillies in Deliverance?”
The “Old White Man issue is valid”? Really?
RACIST!!!
“Hopefully the Dems will roll out an actor who possess true talent and respect for otherwise, like Danny Glover”.
Go ahead, make our day.
Danny Glover, the guy who admires Hugo Chavez? Yeah I’d love it if he got a prime speaking slot at the DNC. And bring on Oliver Stone, Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Ellen Barkin, Cher and Samuel Jackson too.
Three things:
1) It’s “Gran Torino”, not “El Torino”. It was, as mentioned, a tale of redemption…and a good one, at that.
2) Your side has made it all race, all the time. Within the past 48 hours we’ve had racism from Chris Matthew and the yahoo from Yahoo. We’ve had MSNBC trying to ignore the fact that any minority spoke at the RNC convention (Mia Love, Artur Davis, Col. Allan West, Condi Rice, Susanna Martinez, Ted Cruz, and I’m sure there are some others I’ve forgotten). We’ve had Toure saying that calling a black man “angry” is racist. You guys are tools.
3) Danny Glover? Really? A supporter of Palestinian terrorists, cop-killer Mumia, and Occupy Oakland counts as respectable? Good night.
“Asians may not really fit into the ‘minority’ category”
Well, in my dictionary, “minority” is defined as having a lower demographic representation than the most common, making Asian definite minorities in most places in America (I’ll give you the various Chinatowns and Little Tokyo in LA). Then again, if you define “minority” as meaning socially, economically, or politically inferior to the “white man,” then I guess there’s little argument about who, exactly, is racist (defined as holding stereotypical views of a person based upon their race).
Everybody:
I don’t think “LovelyEarth” is serious. I think she’s doing a parody; the user name “LovelyEarth” should have been the tipoff. It’s not possible for anyone to be so silly and actually be real.
LovelyEarth has been around for ages, fooling PJ readers every time. Amazing. It’s like those people who call in to Phil Hendrie and say “I’ve been listening to your show for years and I’ve got something to say that that crazy Bobbie Dooley who’s on tonight!”
Punk’d, eh? Ah, well. The satire was a little TOO spot-on. You just can’t tell these days- I’ve read a ton of mind-blowingly inane comments over the past month.
Yup. He punks at least 3 every time, and at least one says “It sounded so real”.
Lampooning leftoid loons is very difficult. They are so nuts.
Scary, isn’t it? And no matter how over the top LovelyEarth goes there is some for-real libtard that makes him/her sound tame in comparison.
Phil Hendrie is an actual genius. I was once able to get through to him. I played along for about 20 minutes as he portrayed himself as some retired pro-basketball player who insulted Eastern European players, claiming that they all “smelled like bad goat cheese”. It was the best back-and-forth he ever had.
Ah! So you play like this all the time. You must be a hoot at work!
I once knew a fella like you. Every once in a while he’d run into someone like himself who would play along with him. His tolerance for the game was about 20 minutes before he’d lose it.
lovelyearth amost had me…
…but the Danny Glover reference spoiled it!
Danny Glover: One of the most rabid racists on the planet.
Glover? Oh, I hope so!
Haven’t seen you in awhile. I always enjoy your posts. You nail them so well.
There is a term for people who view everything through the prism of race: racist.
So explain to us why anyone in their right mind would vote for four more years of this crappy economy?
Hey, Tingles! Is that you? Bottoms up!
50% of clint’s motivation?
tom hanks.
the man made a mistake in 08, and continues to shill for a president who will have worse unemployment, and a LARGER deficit, than he inherited.
if it weren’t for the carter/reagan/polls anecdote I’d be consoling myself with some serious Schadenfreude. A chance to stick the dems with the single worst president in history, empirically?
the man is a walking debt machine. every thing he touches turns to s***.
seriuosly, if the polls are correct, they aren’t, this country is 1% away from failing governmental evolution.
we get exactly what we deserve. we get what we vote for.
I just wish the GOP would break out the old Hollies tune “King Midas in Reverse.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_-XSGcjIhM
Unfortunately, the Democrats are able to cancel out the votes of many Republicans and Independents by registering unqualified people to vote who then vote for their candidates. From Mickey Mouse to illegal aliens, the Democrats used tax-payer funded Acorn to rig the deck in the last Presidential election. It is past time to make each real Americans vote count with voter ID.
Given that vote stealing is a democrat way of life and the legal system is stacked against us regarding voter ID, our task is pretty clear, then, isn’t it?
Our task is to vote Romney/Ryan a majority so large that the democrats cannot steal enough votes to nullify it on the tally sheet.
I don’t actually get the impression that Romney minds being upstaged. This convention has been competence on display. He wants America to see the caliber of people he is looking forward to working with and he’s happy to promote their ideas and policies. He’s happy to promote them as the comeback team.
I think if Romney were worried about being upstaged he would have gone with a less exciting pick. But Romney seems to be in this for the long haul. It’s clear that he’s not looking at just his own presidency–he’s looking to build a leadership team that can continue to lead America to prosperity long after he’s gone.
It’s not discussed much, but Romney didn’t just campaign for president for the past 4 years. Instead he went to work getting conservatives into office wherever he could. Rubio is one of the people he helped get elected in Florida.
He’s in this for the long game. He’s sincere that he wants to fix America’s current woes. But he’s also looking to prevent future woes as well with an accomplished, competent team waiting in the wings. That’s what I love about this convention–it’s about America. It’s about the Founding Fathers’s vision for America and the best way to accomplish that. We aren’t trying to elect a messiah–we’re trying to elect a leader who wants what our Founders left for us and is willing to lead. Romney is that guy and he’s bringing along a lot of people like him.
It is Obie who worries about being upstaged: narcissism is supported by a fragile foundation of insecurity.
Romney is the type who leads and who gets the best people around him he can identify, people who will tell him what they think.
People like Romney know that strong people surrounding them lend better overall outcomes. They know themselves also and are confident in that knowledge.
Such people are not worried about being upstaged. Adults know all this. Democrats do not.
The best quarterbacks are always very deferential to the rest of their team. They know their lives and success hinge on that goodwill.
No matter how good, in fact, they are!
Oweenie can’t play football, either. Effing sissiy.
I think it was well-planned. People would tune in to see Eastwood who might not ever watch the convention- then stick around for the main event. No, Romney was not worried about being upstaged, he was looking for the best headliner he could find.
I’m with Texan — Romney doesn’t care about this whole silly “upstaging” idea. A good manager doesn’t care about the credit — just surrounding himself/herself with good people with good ideas and giving them what they need to do good work. Good and successful managers provide the framework, the guidance, and understand the goals for the organization they are shepherding and know how to keep it moving in the proper direction. They don’t care who gets the credit.
Absolutely correct.
And if the entire team is successful in their efforts
then the good manager gets the credit which = 2nd term.
So let’s go…
John Wayne’s corpse dragged onto the stage at the GOP convention would get more votes than Alec Bladwin live at the Dem convention. .
“What gives you the right. . .”
“I have got this badge, I got this gun, and I got the love of Jesus in my pretty green eyes.”
The Gauntlet
“Democrat sucker fish”: the term came to me watching and reading some of the professional democrat sucker fish express their terror at being linked to a dying whale called the democrat party. Watching them chatter tensely away on their various electronic sinacures is a real treat! Flop sweat ain’t in it.
Roger Simon – I have question and you are in a better position to answer than I am. I had heard rumors that Hollywood people were starting to worry about having put all its eggs in one, somewhat weathered basket.
Twenty years ago they could count on somebody like, Lou Wasserman holding some big markers in the GOP camp. Wasserman famously rated an annual hand written birthday card from President Reagan.
But today…well is there anyone like that at all in Hollywood?
Let’s hope Clint brings his .44 magnum. After all BHO suggested “when they bring a knife – you bring a gun”. Were you counting shots Obama ?
“They’re not the cool guys anymore.”
That is the key isn’t it? If liberals are no longer cool, this form of liberalism is through.
Yup. The next phase: those old gray hippy Marxist professors are such squares. Don’t trust anybody over 30.
Clint; make my day.
For years Eastwood was despised as a reactionary brute, almost a fascist, by the usual suspects among the chattering classes and glitterati. That was until he started making movies with themes and messages the left approved of, which began about 1992 with Unforgiven. Anti-heroic, nihilistic and atheistic, it says justice is a lie told to us by the power structure. Suddenly the left found a new complexity in Clint’s work. he was mature, nuanced, a serious filmmaker. Of course the left loved Million Dollar Baby again with the nihilism and lack of faith. Gran Torino gave the left goosebumps for its portrayal of the futility of religious faith, the hatefulness of WASPs, the injustice of America’s draconian immigration policies, etc. And of course God is completely absent.
Today Eastwood is the left’s reliable good buddy. He is not a conservative, but more libertarian. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and I certainly approve of the idea of getting government out of our lives. But Eastwood will show how his ideas differ from conservative thought. Putting him up as a spokesman for the Republican Party will backfire.
Actually Eastwood is simply bringing the libertarian wing of the GOP out in the open. And that in my opinion is a really good thing.
I agree. I liked how he mentioned “all of you good people…. Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians”.
Oh my! Will Clint announce Romney’s plan to stop outsourcing? Will Clint announce Romeny’s plan to increase blue collar wages and jobs? Wait. Sorry. There is no Republican or Romeny plan to stop outsourcing or increase blue collar wages. Never mind. This is one of those nostalgia and celebrity plays.
Harry – Blue collar wages will rise when blue collar workers are able to demonstrate their worth and productivity to compete in the world economy we now live in. Our competion lives in what used to be called third-world countries, and are now called developing countries – same as America was when it was developing into a mature economy in the 20th century, and the competition was ‘old Europe’.
So get your act together, improve your productivity (and your attitude), and you’ll find a place in the new economy we’re all dealing with. If you can’t, or won’t, you’ll be left in the dust, because those of us who are ready to compete and earn our better wages have the strength and determination to pull our own weight, but we don’t have the wherewithal to pull yours too, while you sit back and complain how unfair things are.
Harry,
Outsourcing is when you don’t produce everything you consume. Did you weave the cloth for the shirt you’re wearing? No! You just outsourced. Perhaps you’re thinking of offshoring or, more likely importing? But don’t worry; the messiah evidently doesn’t understand the different terms either.
Economic systems are the way resources are allocated. You get rich, as a whole, by allocating resources to their most efficient producers. You get poor, as a whole, by allocating them based on who gave the most money for your election. (See Solydra, UAW, NEA).
Where is Obama’s plan to stop offshoring? Everything he does encourages offshoring. So you want four more years of this crappy economy? Because that is what voting democrat will get you.
No one is more secure in his own skin than Mitt. His success is rooted on finding the best available talent and not be afraid of being overshadowed, as long the job on hand got done and got done successfully. America will be lucky to have Mitt as her president.
We are just seeing the Romney style of leadership in practice. Pick your cadre based on character and competence, give them trust and authority, let them take the spotlight and the credit, setting their loyalty in concrete. Mitt has an ego – a big ego. It is focussed on the accomplishments of his team. That;s where he gets his jollies, not in the euphoria of demonstrations of mindless adoration. If you think this Convention program was just put together by GOP lackeys you’re very mistaken. The Romney stamp is all over it.
Hello True Leadership. Goodbye Puppetry. (aka leading from behind)
The first presidential decision a potential president makes is his running mate. Whether you like or dislike him or agree with his views or not, Paul Ryan is a credible backup president. Joe Biden, well the most charitable thing that can be said about him is that is he is Obama’s life insurance policy. Clint stole the show and said what the candidates and other politicians cant’t say: Joe Biden is the intellect of the democratic party.
The worst thing that can happen to the democrats is Obama winning and the democrats taking the house. Four more years of them in charge and the party will become a regional party at best. In the future the only interesting political debate will be which side of the GOP become the ascending wing? The RINO’s, the conservatives or the libertarian ( TEA Party) wing. The hard left has jumped the shark with Obama. Thank God Obama, Reid and Pelosi are so incompetent, imagine if they were competent and couple competency in execution with their ideology?
LOL — said that from the beginning — Joe Biden his life insurance policy and Nancy Pelosi was Joe’s.
stuart williamson:
“Mitt has an ego-a big ego.”
May I add “a healthy ego” compared to Obama’s narcissistic ego.
Oh wouldn’t it be sweet if the Democrats panicked and started scrambling for a counter or counters for an appearance by Eastwood. Somebody break out the Banjo’s, it is time for a pig squeal.
Joe Sixpack, you should be a director. I love it.
I’m really tired of all this complaining about Mitt’s ‘lack of personality’ and ‘having trouble making a connection with the people’. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a candidate who demonstrated that old-fashioned word: modesty. Becoming modesty. Usually it goes hand in hand with an internal confidence, and competence, that have been lacking lately. And Mitt possesses all three in spades. Rather than producing all the flash that substitutes for competence these days, I’ll take Mitt’s type of modesty any day!
Come November I’m looking to hire a competent and capable CEO, not some ‘cool’ buddy to hang with. But then again I’m an adult.
The Republicans’ 2012 Teleprompted Convention Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77W5OKStO5s&feature=player_embedded
if this is true Obama wins
from Debkafile
“Russian naval vessels have unexpectedly departed the Syrian Mediterranean port of Tartus and Russian arms shipments to Syria have been suddenly discontinued. debkafile’s military sources reveal that those and other military steps indicate that the Russians are rapidly drawing away from the Syrian arena to avoid getting caught up in the escalating hostilities expected to arise from military intervention by the US, Europe and a number of Arab states. Russian intelligence seems certain that this foreign intervention is imminent.”
then Iran think they next and run with tail between their legs
Yikes!
How will this benefit Zero? Does anyone take him serious as a war leader? Obviously not the Russians.
Clint is too senile to remember he made a car commercial.
BS, Simon. Eastwood is one of those closet small c conservatives that caused our ruin by staying silent all these years.
He doesn’t deserve squat for “coming out” with a trade-worn skit instead of well formed oratory. That’s his trade for gosh sakes!
But it’s nice to know at the end of his life, and after the ruination of the U.S. empire that he and his Hollywood buddies did nothing to prevent, that he maybe, perhaps, might have a little tiny c conservative feeling behind the drool.
BS! He remained silent while the country needed him. Now he gets kudos for delivering its eulogy half-heartedly. BS!
Perfectly said. You nailed it. Before his act, I turned to my husband and said, If they have him on, won’t a celebrity seem out of step with all the other authentic speakers? How will they switch gears? He said he didn’t want a celebrity on (and he’s a Clint fan).
He went on, and I have to admit, it was a disappointment. He shouldn’t have free-styled it, but I guess he got a little overconfident, as we all do at times, thinking, I know what I want to say. It was nowhere near the conviction and laser speech of the others that night.
But in end, it doesn’t really matter. My husband and I were on such an unexpected high, after learning about the personal side of Mitt and his family. I wasn’t even expecting to be moved. The past few years put me in a funk, in a fighting stance, really. And I was not enthused initially over Romney as a candidate. I thought Ryan saved the ticket. Was I wrong. Mitt educated the Republicans last night, to be firm, to be focused, to be active in putting this country back on the right track. There was no anger in his speech. There was no snarkiness either, in sharp contrast to the tiresome barbed Tweets that C-Span ran at the foot of the page. In his speech, Mitt got me back on track and showed me that we can do this, minus the anger and bitterness. That’s leadership, knowing we can do this, and do the right thing, in the face of nasty attacks from our opponents. Like an arrow, slicing through the crosswinds, straight on and hitting the target.
– Ionesco. Also a bit like the skit where he had to substitute for Heston at the Oscars decades ago. Chuck was going to deliver a speech as if he were Moses down from the Mount, but got stuck in L.A. traffic. Rowdy “Blondi” Yates saying “Thou” and “Thee” not as funny.
Juan Cole
White Terrorist Plot to Assassinate the ‘Commander in Chief’
Posted on 08/28/2012 by Juan
A white terrorist cell on a military base in Georgia plotted to assassinate President Barack Obama and stage a military coup. It murdered two former members of the cell. It bought $87,000 of military grade weaponry and land in Washington state. It planned to bomb a dam in Washington and poison its apple crop. It planned to take over Fort Stewart in Georgia.
The National Security Agency is massively and illegally spying on ordinary Americans. Peace activists are bothered by police and put on watch lists. Journalists like Amy Goodman have been beaten up for covering peaceful protests. The NYPD conducted extensive espionage on American citizens of Muslim heritage not only in NYC but far beyond their jurisdiction. Rep. Peter King of New York keeps holding hearings on the alleged radicalization of American Muslims (who are mostly pillars of the American establishment; King himself supports IRA terrorism).
But extremist white Christian soldiers want to kill the president and privately stockhold thousands of dollars worth of military grade weapons? Apparently if they hadn’t started murdering people they could have flown under the radar on all that.
All those right wing politicians and commentators who kept hammering Obama as a foreigner, a Muslim, illegitimate, a budding dictator– they created the hothouse atmosphere that fostered this kind of evil.
Indeed, apparently one of the four plotters was a page at the 2008 Republican Convention.
Republicans aren’t responsible for having crazed assassins among them– that would be guilt by association. But they are responsible for promoting irrationality by using fear, demonization, taboos, innuendo and coded race discourse. It is reasoned argument that makes for democracy. Karl Rove and Rupert Murdoch and Koch brothers’ rhetorical tactics release chickens that eventually will come to roost.
And don’t get me started about what the Bush White House would have done if minority members in uniform had gotten up such a plot against W. They’d have used it to put progressives in concentration camps. Because Democrats are not on the whole demagogic, this plot will likely not even get that much air play.
Nor will the National Rifle Association come under any pressure to stop insisting that extremists and the mentally ill have free and constant access to military grade weaponry.
What I’m afraid of is that demagoguery and semi-automatic weapons will keep dominating our society until something very bad happens, something which may cost us even more of our liberties.
Feel better now? You were all out of breath there.
I have to ask, was there any of your own writing there or did you just post Cole’s blog?
Clint “made my day”! The improv was pure genius.
And what shall we anticipate breathlessly from the Dems?
Sandra Fluke discoursing on “Why I need free birth control.”
Barack Obama teleprompting us with “Why is America trashing its Messiah?”
Joe Biden on “Plantation formation plans during a GOP Administration.”
There’s only 6 conservatives in Hollywood:
Eastwood, Mamet, Sinise, Voight, and the two guys from South Park.
Corlyss please. There are many many you don’t know – including the author of this article (me) who has written seven produced feature films and has an Academy Award nomination in screenwriting. Robert Duval, perhaps the greatest actor of his generation, is a conservative. Tom Stoppard, the greatest playwright in the English language and the author of many films, is a libertarian. I could go on and on. Are we outnumbered? Yes. But there are plenty of us. And we are growing.
Roger;
Congrats on your creative achievements; good to know. I’m glad you’re involved w/ this e-zine. My late mother was an actress & a Big Band singer; however, very conservative & old-school. Thanks to her, I enjoy the old US musicals & movies from the gilded era. Back then, there was real talent around, gorgeous women & real men. Today, I’m sorry to say, Tinseltown is filled w/ pretty-boys & anorexic/silicone bimbos w/ less talent collectively then any of the yesteryear stars individually.
The last 24 hours have been a revelation and education for me. I had never been a Clint Eastwood fan but last night he revealed a sense of comedy timing that blew me away. I laughed so hard my neighbors came over thinking I was throwing a party. Yes, yes, he didn’t have his lines down pat and fumbled a bit which may have made it more effective – I thought of Jimmy Stewart and Harvey, the imaginary rabbit. And while being hilariously funny, he made all the points necessary to remind the undecided that to save the country we need to dump the African. The morning hours taught me another thing – that we have a lot of dummies in media who just don’t get it when it comes to humor, or perhaps they are so hate-filled they are blinded to great entertainment and the reality that their idol is a loser.
Your reaction is, I believe, exactly what Clint was aiming for.
There is no way he’d have been able to get away with (or have people truly hear) his message- except via the straightforward, unfettered wisdom that is the exclusive province of the elderly. And he did it with wit and style, as well. He didn’t come away as a bitter, mean old man at all.
Very, very well played.
Ordinary people (by which I mean people who do not read political blogs, or follow the latest polls, who never knew who Ryan was before this week, and who will never know who Stephanie Cutter is) will “get” Clint’s message. I think his rambling was an act- but maybe it wasn’t. It doesn’t matter, because it worked.
“you need to let them go.”