For Someone Who’s 82 and Didn’t Use a Teleprompter (A Skill POTUS Has YET to Master BTW)
…I’d say it was a smashing and memorable convention debut. major dad and I enjoyed it immensely.
Well, done, Clint!
Of course, it seems to have burned some buttcheeks in certain quarters…
Media Strikes Back After Dirty Harry Dares To Mock Obama
…Eastwood hit Obama in every sweet spot we’ve been waiting for him to get hit on: The incompetence; the lies; the empty, pretentious rhetoric; the inexperience; and that roaring blowhard of a moron Obama chose to be a heartbeat away.
Oh, and the empty chair. Other than an empty suit, there is no sharper metaphor.
Eastwood also made one of the very best points of the night: WE own this country, and when someone doesn’t do the job “we have to let them go.”
The media, naturally, is furious. They don’t like to see Their Precious One mocked and they also understand the power of mockery — which is why they keep Stewart and Colbert on such a tight leash. This is why the media has already written 25 stories (5 from Politico) mocking Eastwood.
Had Eastwood said the things the media likes to hear with the same nervousness and hesitation, they would’ve called him wizened and seasoned. But because he mocked Their Precious One, suddenly he’s some kind of embarrassment.
I don’t think that’s going to carry much water with the former Mayor of Carmel, but they might want to watch how the average American feels about their assault on Eastwood.
America LURVES them some Clint.
ths update: Oh, I LOVE the smell of hate in the morning…
…“Clint, my hero, is coming across as sad and pathetic,” said film critic Roger Ebert via Twitter. “He didn’t need to do this to himself. It’s unworthy of him.”
And really, John Hayward’s right about this:
…Was talking to an invisible Obama in an empty chair demeaning to the President? Good. Now Obama knows how he made millions of business owners feel.
The point of Clint’s appearance wasn’t just to loosen up the crowd with a few laughs. He was there to provide more than humor or star power. The Man With No Name rode onto the high plains of the RNC stage to deliver something else: validation.
The intended recipient was not Mitt Romney, the convention delegates, or even Republican voters, but rather wavering independents. Clint was there to tell them it’s OK to find Obama, his ugly campaign operation, and his increasingly shrill band of die-hard defenders ridiculous. It’s OK to laugh at them.
…It’s OK to dismiss the brutal slander of the Obama campaign with humor, as Clint did when Invisible Obama supposedly gave him profane insults to relay to Mitt Romney. The silly notion of Obama as a serene, cool, Spock-like figure floating above the political fray is gone forever, but Clint shoveled a little dirt on its grave with those jokes. The pained over-reaction of Obama defenders does them no credit, and will not serve them well in the election. Americans are a humorous people who value the ability to take a joke. A thin-skinned campaign that appears to be cracking walnuts with its clenched butt cheeks usually turns them off.
And it’s OK to let Obama go, as Eastwood said, in what I think will prove to be his most widely quoted line: “When somebody does not do the job, you’ve got to let them go.” The significance of that statement, coupled with the raspy straight-shooting delivery of Dirty Harry, should not be underestimated.
A good deal of the Obama campaign effort, particular from his media allies, comes down to portraying votes against him as racism – as if the public has a moral duty to re-elect the First Black President, no matter how ghastly a failure he has been. (Swing by the MSNBC comedy show and check out Chris Matthews for the extreme low-brow version of this argument. Matthews portrays even relatively mild criticism of his beloved President as coded racism. The other day, he decided references to “Chicago” are encrypted racist appeals.) Independent voters really do need some inoculation against this argument.
Media, People, Politics | tree hugging sister | 
August 31, 2012 9:11 am
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[…] they are: MEDIA STRIKES BACK AFTER DIRTY HARRY DARES TO MOCK OBAMA The media, naturally, is furious. They […]
Roger Ebert calling Eastwood sad and pathetic? That’s rich and as if Eastwood gives a rat’s ass what Ebert says or thinks. For that matter, I doubt Eastwood cares what anyone on the left thinks, Go ahead, make his day…
Another way of saying ‘I like being able to fire people.’
From what I’ve heard, Eastwood always completed the films he directed on time and under budget. I think he’s entitled to speak his mind regarding somebody being able to do the job.
Roger Ebert calling Clint Eastwood sad and pathetic is like Vern Troyer calling Tom Cruise short.