# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/121 "2012-08-31T15:16:46Z")
Listening to it now on youtube. Clint’s complaining about Gitmo not being closed. Crowd goes wild. But it wasn’t closed under Bush. Clint’s complaining about Obama wanting to stay in Afghanistan and how big a mistake that was. Crowd goes wild. And no one remembers who STARTED the war in Afghanistan. Um…that’s about it, substantively. There was a small piece about 23 million unemployed people and a small piece about Obama driving a gas guzzler, but those two points seemed to be the only thing in an 11 minute speech he was upset about. What a weird thing that was. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/122 "2012-08-31T15:23:19Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > In addition, there was Mia Love, a rising star in the Republican party, Artur Davis, Governor Nikki Haley, Governor Martinez, Governor Brian Sandoval, Governor Luis Fortino… Are they all ‘tokens’? Given that essentially every non-white in the party who has won election to a post as significant as, say, the mayoralty of Saratoga Springs, Utah, was trotted out before the camera, irrespective of any actual accomplishments, and that those people constitute virtually the entire list even at that, then _yes_. Not that they aren’t using the party as much as the party’s using them, of course. Declaring membership in a party desperate to show them off, with the ensuing political pandering, is a great career move for each of them. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/123 "2012-08-31T15:33:15Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Clint’s complaining about Gitmo not being closed. Crowd goes wild. But it wasn’t closed under Bush. In fact it was _opened_ under Bush. 😉 And it sounds to me like he is criticizing Obama for not keeping a promise but he’s seems to think Gitmo should remain open. The critique of Afghanistan makes much less sense. I’m listening to the Clint thing now, and I’m thinking this would have gone over pretty well if he’d just started by saying “I’d like to do a scene from ‘Oh My God What the Fuck is Grandpa Talking About?’ by Vincent Gallo.” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/124 "2012-08-31T15:34:16Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Obviously the GOP is _trying_ to reach out to minorities. They have no choice. Unfortunately, their idea of reaching out to minorities is much like their idea of reaching out to Democrats. They want them to become more like good conservatives, rather than the GOP adopting any of the issues that are important to minorities. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/125 "2012-08-31T15:36:43Z")
[Obama’s response to Eastwood.](http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-responds-to-clint-eastwoods-speech?ref=fpb) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/126 "2012-08-31T15:47:31Z")
What a mess. Totally disorganized and unprepared, many of the critiques make little sense and others make none, he seemed to forget when the war in Afghanistan started and people in the crowd couldn’t tell if he was fer Gitmo or agin it (fer, with a criticism of Obama for failing to close it), there was no sensible reason to use the chair at all. Jeez. It was distracting even though the pretend "Go fuck yourself"s were amusing. And all that after the Republicans went out of their way to hype the speech by keeping Eastwood’s participation a secret. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/127 "2012-08-31T15:48:22Z")
It’s good that the President waded in, because Clint essentially highjacked the night, and sucked all the air out of the room. Other than his wife, Romney’s “supporters” basically delivered campaign speechs for their own Presidential candiacy. So Romney seemed defeated before he started. Overall I find the GOP to be as empty as the chair. Romney didn’t give us anything new or substantive. Even the CNN focus group of undecideds said roughly the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/128 "2012-08-31T15:53:01Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > In fact it was _opened_ under Bush. 😉 And it sounds to me like he is criticizing Obama for not keeping a promise but he’s seems to think Gitmo should remain open. The critique of Afghanistan makes much less sense. > > I’m listening to the Clint thing now, and I’m thinking this would have gone over pretty well if he’d just started by saying “I’d like to do a scene from ‘Oh My God What the Fuck is Grandpa Talking About?’ by Vincent Gallo.” I was thinking maybe it’s time for Hilary Swank to return the favor. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/129 "2012-08-31T16:20:22Z")
From David Catanese at Politico via Twitter: > [@](#): > > Clint Eastwood – not Romney – in the headline of 5 of 6 most read @politico stories the day after the convention [http://www.politico.com](http://www.politico.com) That’s the damage from Eastwood – no one cares about Romney this morning. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/130 "2012-08-31T16:28:55Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Michael Steele is _not_ being trotted out as a token minority - because he wasn’t even invited to the convention. He’s essentially _non grata_ in the GOP these days. He mentioned it on Jon Stewart last night. Sorry–I meant that when Michael Steele was made chair of the RNC, he was an obvious token minority, who proved to be a little less malleable than the Pubbie bosses liked, so they canned his ass. Honestly, when Michael Steele is outside your parameters of what a totally safe milk-hearted black man looks like, you don’t have a lot of room inside your tent for people of color. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/131 "2012-08-31T16:41:18Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > It’s good that the President waded in, because Clint essentially highjacked the night, and sucked all the air out of the room. Other than his wife, Romney’s “supporters” basically delivered campaign speechs for their own Presidential candiacy. So Romney seemed defeated before he started. > > Overall I find the GOP to be as empty as the chair. Romney didn’t give us anything new or substantive. Even the CNN focus group of undecideds said roughly the same thing. We were out last night, so didn’t hear any of this, but reading the highlights of Romney’s speech this morning, it’s clear as a bell who to vote for. Couching things like vouchers, tax cuts for the rich, and deregulation of industry and pollution controls in pretty language doesn’t fool anybody. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/132 "2012-08-31T16:55:27Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Sorry–I meant that when Michael Steele was made chair of the RNC, he was an obvious token minority, who proved to be a little less malleable than the Pubbie bosses liked, so they canned his ass. Honestly, when Michael Steele is outside your parameters of what a totally safe milk-hearted black man looks like, you don’t have a lot of room inside your tent for people of color. “Milk-hearted”? And I thought he was canned because he wasn’t seen as being particularly good at his job, at least as far as the 2008 campaign went. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/133 "2012-08-31T17:02:32Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > And I thought he was canned because he wasn’t seen as being particularly good at his job, at least as far as the 2008 campaign went. 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. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/134 "2012-08-31T17:11:32Z")
I haven’t watched any of the Republican Convention, but read about Eastwood’s performance and parts of his speech. Interesting that the Republicans have always bitched and moaned and made fun of the Democrats for going “Hollywood” anytime one of the 1000’s of celebrity Democrats appear at any fundraiser, but suddenly yanking up Eastwood on stage to stump for Mitt is not only OK, it is a badge of honor. Wonder why they didn’t yank up their other star-power; George W. Bush and Sarah Palin? ---
**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:** [August 31, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/135 "2012-08-31T17:13:04Z")
One is too busy cutting brush and the other would have stopped halfway through her speech to take a job analyzing her speech for Fox. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/136 "2012-08-31T17:13:35Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Interesting that the Republicans have always bitched and moaned and made fun of the Democrats for going “Hollywood” anytime one of the 1000’s of celebrity Democrats appear at any fundraiser, but suddenly yanking up Eastwood on stage to stump for Mitt is not only OK, it is a badge of honor. Speaking of tokens, I laughed at his call out of Jon Voight, the token Hollywood Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/137 "2012-08-31T17:22:55Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Wonder why they didn’t yank up their other star-power; George W. Bush and Sarah Palin? George Bush wasn’t invited to the RNC Sarah Palin wasn’t invited to the RNC Dick Cheney wasn’t invited to the RNC John McCain was invited as a Wal-Mart greeter. I think this puts into perspective what the Republican Party thinks about its past leaders. Frankly, I think that if Reagan were alive and lucid today he wouldn’t have been invited because no one in the RNC would have been comfortable with what he’d have to say about the Republican Party of 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/138 "2012-08-31T17:57:08Z")
The Eastwood fiasco was pretty bad for Romney. At the least it represented a lost opportunity. The final hour of a convention is an incredibly valuable commodity; basically a large prime-time audience and the last real opportunity for a candidate to present himself unfiltered before the election. Wasting some of that on some rambling nonsense is a real waste. But Eastwood is also threatening to suck what little oxygen Romney’s speech was going to get. It was a decent but not particularly memorable speech and now it may be completely overshadowed by Eastwood. Certainly the comedians are going to have a field day and it’s probably going to become the Interne meme of the week. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/139 "2012-08-31T18:14:10Z")
Mitt Romney: I don’t deserve this… to die like this. I was running for President! Clint Eastwood: Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it. [point to an empty chair] Mitt Romney: I’ll see you in hell, Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood: Yeah. [Goes onstage] ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469/140 "2012-08-31T18:22:49Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > George Bush wasn’t invited to the RNC > Sarah Palin wasn’t invited to the RNC > Dick Cheney wasn’t invited to the RNC > John McCain was invited as a Wal-Mart greeter. The saddest part is that with all those people, I kept thinking that the GOP had hit bottom. Little did I know that they were determined to bring in a back hoe and see just how far down they could dig. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clint-eastwood-voting-for-romney/630469.md?page=8)