# Clint Eastwood voting for Romney **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 5, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469 "2012-08-05T00:49:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/201 "2012-09-01T16:51:22Z")
BTW, prior to Eastwood’s, uh, performance - the RNC was using the phrase “…surprise guest that was going to embarrass President Obama …” Can anyone find a cite for who actually said that? Just wondering if they still have their job, or if they have claimed it was a mis-quote, out of context. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/202 "2012-09-01T17:20:36Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Actually, I don’t think either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama are lawyers. They both graduated from Harvard Law School, but I’m not sure either ever practiced law or even got licensed to practice law. > > Obama became a law professor and later on a community activist Romney became a businessman. Neither are lawyers _now_, it’s true. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Mitt was admitted to the [Michigan bar](http://www.michbar.org/memberdirectory/detail.cfm?PID=40351), so by definition he was a practicing attorney for at least a short time even though he didn’t actually practice law. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/203 "2012-09-01T18:48:26Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The performance pretty much definitely helped Obama. Yes, it’s possible Eastwood really is the Obama supporter he seemed to be in the Chrysler commercial, and so good an actor that he fooled Romney and his staff into thinking the opposite, and so skilled at improv that he can play a confused old geezer while shrewdly tailoring his performance to achieve a fairly-subtle effect. It’s also possible that he really is a confused old geezer now, still skilled at performing a script but lost without one. I read this thread just to see if anyone else had this suspicion. If Eastwood’s goal were to hurt Romney without quite being obvious, I think this might have been the exact speech he would give. The idea does seem far-fetched, but “truth is stranger than fiction” and I certainly wonder. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/204 "2012-09-01T19:56:19Z")
What, you kidding? It was a huge success, improv theater (Republicans are _totally_ about the improv…). “Heartfelt” “Spontaneous”. (Republicans are _totally_ about spontaneity, that part which isn’t taken up by being about improv.) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/205 "2012-09-01T21:16:54Z")
It is just not me, but on Slate they noticed that what took place can not be spinned much in favor of Romney and the republicans, the thing is that as many mentioned before conventions are indeed supposed to be propaganda and they are in reality set to have no surprises and demonstrate organization and discipline, in other words to generate confidence among the American viewers and voters. What took place (and I include the booing episode against the Puerto Rican delegate, that was not racist, but showed the divisions that are in the party) was a demonstration of a lack of control and amateurism that does stick to Romney when he is still insisting that he enjoyed what Eastwood did. And based on what the Romney campaign is saying, putting all the blame on Eastwood, shows to me that the Romney campaign is not very competent on controlling the message when it was the most important thing to do at the time. > **[The Assassination of Clint Eastwood by the Coward Mitt Romney](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2012/08/clint-eastwood-gop-convention-the-romney-campaign-sells-out-its-surprise-speaker.html)** > > Read the rest of Slate’s coverage from the GOP convention. > [@](#): > > This is not the best way to demonstrate that your candidate is something other than a ruthless human weathervane (that is, a successful business consultant). But the Clint Eastwood debacle undermines the other half of Romney’s message even more. In disavowing Eastwood’s performance, the campaign is pleading total incompetence. > > Eastwood’s remarks, aides reportedly told the Times, were not rehearsed. That whole business of haranguing an invisible Obama, represented by an empty chair? > > Initially, there were no plans for Mr. Eastwood to take a chair onstage as a prop. But at the last minute, the actor asked the production staff backstage if he could use one, but did not explain why. “The prop person probably thought he was going to sit in it,” a senior aide said. > Advertisement > > Again, this is the campaign’s defense: In advance of the candidate’s biggest public speech to date, at the climax of a tightly orchestrated multiple-day political performance, Team Romney sent an actor out to wing it on national television. > > They screwed up the un-screwuppable. This was like having one of the featured guests at the State of the Union drop his trousers on camera. If you botch that, how are you going to execute the more complicated constitutional duties? Mitt Romney can’t handle Clint Eastwood trying to do him a favor, and he wants to take on unfriendly negotiations with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Vladimir Putin? > > And the Eastwood appearance was a miscalculation long before any furniture got dragged out onstage. The campaign had hyped it as a special secret appearance, causing waves of speculation about what political coup Romney might have in the works. Was he going to bring out Gen. David Petraeus to endorse him? The SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden? He might redefine his whole candidacy in one memorable moment. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/206 "2012-09-01T22:31:55Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The performance pretty much definitely helped Obama. Yes, it’s possible Eastwood really is the Obama supporter he seemed to be in the Chrysler commercial, and so good an actor that he fooled Romney and his staff into thinking the opposite, and so skilled at improv that he can play a confused old geezer while shrewdly tailoring his performance to achieve a fairly-subtle effect. It’s also possible that he really is a confused old geezer now, still skilled at performing a script but lost without one. > > The puzzling thing is why Romney and the RNC organizers would have thought Eastwood would be on their side at all, much less to the point that they put their fate so completely in his hands. But their bumbling has been a painfully obvious pattern already. I’m usually not one for stars aligning, but this convention was a flop in major league proportions for the GOP. It all started with Isaac, delaying the start and reminding everyone of the disaster of the GOP Presidency in 2005. Mother nature was just the start of the knives coming out for Romney. Then the speeches from the likes of Rubio and particularly Christie that felt like they’ve already thrown in the towel and are thinking about 2016. And the worst of course the warm up to the candidate, speaking to an invisible man but suggesting to everyone what Romney should do to himself. What to do? Pundits were generous in thinking Mitt was going to get a modest bounce, it appears now even that has evaporated before the last bit of bunting gets packed away [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-usa-campaign-pollbre87u1cj-20120831,0,4956514.story](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-usa-campaign-pollbre87u1cj-20120831,0,4956514.story) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/207 "2012-09-01T22:54:13Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Steele wasn’t in charge in 2008. He announced a run for chairman of the RNC in November 2008, won, and became chairman in January 2009. He was on The Daily Show last night taking credit for Republican gains in Congress and in lower levels in the 2010 midterms, but as I remember it preferred Republican establishment candidates to the Tea Party candidates, and when the Tea Party candidates won and helped the party take control of the House, he was pretty much doomed. My mistake; I remembered him getting the blame for an election result gone awry and conflated it with 2008. Back on the main topic, I’m hoping Obama opens his speech next week with “Has anybody seen my chair?” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/208 "2012-09-01T23:10:45Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > I’m usually not one for stars aligning, but this convention was a flop in major league proportions for the GOP. It all started with Isaac, delaying the start and reminding everyone of the disaster of the GOP Presidency in 2005. Mother nature was just the start of the knives coming out for Romney. Then the speeches from the likes of Rubio and particularly Christie that felt like they’ve already thrown in the towel and are thinking about 2016. And the worst of course the warm up to the candidate, speaking to an invisible man but suggesting to everyone what Romney should do to himself. What to do? Pundits were generous in thinking Mitt was going to get a modest bounce, it appears now even that has evaporated before the last bit of bunting gets packed away > [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-usa-campaign-pollbre87u1cj-20120831,0,4956514.story](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-usa-campaign-pollbre87u1cj-20120831,0,4956514.story) God is still punishing them for Clarence Thomas. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/209 "2012-09-02T00:07:34Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Back on the main topic, I’m hoping Obama opens his speech next week with “Has anybody seen my chair?” That would be funny, but also strike that cringe nerve for picking on a senior citizen. NOW, if he asked that and Clint brought him a chair on stage and redeemed himself (Clint = himself)… THAT WOULD BE GOOD. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/210 "2012-09-02T00:15:38Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > God is still punishing them for Clarence Thomas. And God knows there was a pube on that can of Coke. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/211 "2012-09-02T00:22:45Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > That would be funny, but also strike that cringe nerve for picking on a senior citizen. NOW, if he asked that and Clint brought him a chair on stage and redeemed himself (Clint = himself)… THAT WOULD BE GOOD. That would be too much awesome, like the Trump smackdown at the correspondent’s dinner. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/212 "2012-09-02T00:34:48Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > Less than 8 months ago we saw Clint on television doing an amazing Chrysler commercial, completely contrary to Romney’s policy on Detroit. BTW at the time the reaction of some of the Right Wing was asinine. You make an ad cheering on the recovery of Chrysler, and you get pounced upon? Really? Because you can say nothing except this is the worstest most horriblest time we’ve ever lived? But yeah, he has always been more known as a Republitarian of the ornery school, not a “movement conservative” as we know them today. He’s unlikely to play a mole, unless he’s the greatest of them all. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/213 "2012-09-02T01:24:38Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > BTW at the time the reaction of some of the Right Wing was asinine. You make an ad cheering on the recovery of Chrysler, and you get pounced upon? Really? Because you can say nothing except this is the worstest most horriblest time we’ve ever lived? > > But yeah, he has always been more known as a Republitarian of the ornery school, not a “movement conservative” as we know them today. He’s unlikely to play a mole, unless he’s the greatest of them all. I keep going back and forth on this, maybe because the freakin’ speech was so disjointed it seemed like he was thinking twice about who he was backing. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/214 "2012-09-02T01:44:13Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > But yeah, he has always been more known as a Republitarian of the ornery school, not a “movement conservative” as we know them today. He’s unlikely to play a mole, unless he’s the greatest of them all. You’re probably right. But thinking about the movie that he has coming out, if he were to show up at the DNC convention and redeem himself with a talk about social security, medicare and dignity for seniors. That would make serious headlines along with getting huge publicity for his movie and it would leave the Romney camp sputtering because if Romney’s best are outwitted by an actor, what chance would they stand against terrorists. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/215 "2012-09-02T03:31:44Z")
There was a passing reference to this earlier, but I think it deserves way more attention than that. Let me start with the headline: The use of Clint Eastwood in a starring role at the RNC kills all future Republican criticism of the use of “Hollywood liberals” by the Democrats. The hatred of the liberal media and anti-American values Hollywood has been a big seller for conservatives. It works among a large segment of their base. Yet from now through November 6 any time “Hollywood liberal” gets tossed out, it can be met with, “Yeah, but, Clint Eastwood.” The RNC must have been utterly certain that Eastwood’s special surprise mystery guest American icon status would have trumped all the flack they’d get about their hypocrisy over the next two months. Why else would you even think of throwing away a surefire crowd-pleaser? Now it’s far worse. They’ll still get hit with “Yeah, but, Clint Eastwood” except that it will be “Yeah, but, Clint Eastwood” [snicker, snicker, guffaw]. I once said something to the effect that you’d see actual assassinations before the Republicans would allow a floor fight to ruin their infomercial. (That’s hyperbole, for the humor-impaired.) Yet they gave a prime-time slot to an unvetted performance by a non-politician. That can’t have happened. I’d have believed UFOs landing on the convention floor before I considered that a possibility. This gives the campaign some real excitement for the first time all year. I’m dying to see what the public reaction turns out to be when the first Hollywood liberal speaks at an Obama rally. Nobody can predict that. We’re in uncharted waters. Man, we live in interesting times. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/216 "2012-09-02T04:26:59Z")
“May you live in interesting times” is a curse! We did not need more reminders of this - we’ve had plenty of reminders. As to the speech, I think the Romney campaign did not vet this the way they should have, and Eastwood mistakenly thought he could ad lib at that level. They screwed up. You don’t need a conspiracy theory every time someone screws up. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/217 "2012-09-02T15:21:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The use of Clint Eastwood in a starring role at the RNC kills all future Republican criticism of the use of “Hollywood liberals” by the Democrats. Charlton Heston should have done that, but yes, you’re right - this kills it. Unless Eastwood really \*does \*turn out to have been a sleeper agent. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/218 "2012-09-02T16:13:48Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Unless Eastwood really \*does \*turn out to have been a sleeper agent. I don’t know much about Clint Eastwood but I remember once reading an article or interview with him and he came across as much more counter-culture than you would expect. There was a lot of talk about his interest in jazz & black culture, and that he never really associated with John Wayne types. So maybe there is a grain of truth to that. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/219 "2012-09-02T18:29:33Z")
Yes, because a conservative could never like jazz music. :rolleyes: Clint Eastwood is a libertarian. That’s why he’s never been particularly active in Republican politics. Here’s there now because the Obama administration is the great uniter of the right. ---
**Author:** ![bigal11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@bigal11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigal11)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/220 "2012-09-02T22:59:16Z")
who gives a sh1t. What’s next? Lil John voting for Obama? Richard Simmons voting for Paul? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469.md?page=12)