NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > People and Politics > Clint Eastwood makes the Democrats day at GOP convention, but not Mitt Romney’s -VIDEO

People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Clint Eastwood makes the Democrats day at GOP convention, but not Mitt Romney’s -VIDEO

Posted on Friday, August 31, 2012 at 08:05 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

90 Comments

RSS

Archives

Clint Eastwood speaking at the Republican National Convention on Thursday

When the streamers have all been taken down and the party balloons burst, the memory of Irish American Clint Eastwood’s speech will be paramount in most people’s minds after the Republican convention.

Now I know why the parties insist on such tightly scripted remarks from every speaker before they go live on air to millions of Americans.

Clint, alas, looked like a confused old uncle who had wandered into the convention by accident.

Utah senator Orrin Hatch said he thought the teleprompter went on the blink but it looked to me like Clint had no intent to use it anyway.

Pretending to tell the President of the United States to go f*** himself live on air was a new low for American politics no matter who delivered the lines.

It was a sad moment for a great actor and even better director and whoever gave him the green light to speak should be fired.

It was un-American and downright demeaning and showed no respect for the office of the president.

What are we to tell our kids after such an outburst? That we can imply vulgarisms on national television not once but several times because we disagree with a man’s policies?

Read more: Clint Eastwood's empty chair a perfect metaphor for the 2012 GOP

It was beneath the GOP and beneath Eastwood as well, a man with a stellar reputation - and also very sad.
Speaking to an empty chair was bad enough but some of his lines were downright embarrassing such as:

“What do you mean, ‘Shut up?’”

“What do you want me to tell Romney? I can’t tell him to do that to himself. You’re getting as bad as Biden.”

“You thought the war in Afghanistan was OK. I mean, you thought that was something that was worth doing.

"We didn’t check with the Russians to see how they did there for 10 years. But we did it.”

(Er.. George Bush started the war in Afghanistan and the nation was right behind him after 9/11)

Here’s an example of his mental meanderings, to put it nicely:

“I think if you just kind of stepped aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over. You can still use the plane. Though maybe a smaller one, not that big gas one when you’re going around to colleges and talking about student loans and stuff like that. You’re an ecological man. Why would you want to drive that truck around? OK.”

“I’m not going to shut up. It’s my turn.”

“I never thought it was a good idea for attorneys to be president anyways… I think it’s maybe time for a businessman. How about that? A stellar businessman.” (Romney is a lawyer also as was Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln)

“OK, you wanna make my day? Alright. I’ll start it. You finish it. Go ahead, make my day.”

I think most Democrats would agree he made theirs.

Here's the clip of Clint Eastwood's speech:

E-mail

90 comments

Next Previous Page 2 of 7 pages

EphraimKibbey | Sep 01, 2012, 05:22 PM EDT

THAT is what this is all about. A bunch of very wealthy people who are tired of paying taxes to keep YOUR country running and are willing to see it fail as long as they can keep their gold. Maybe they need to be reminded of King Midas who lost his most precious gift through his greed. We ALL stand to lose our most precious country if the 1% win. Vote wisely, PLEASE!

Report abuse

EphraimKibbey | Sep 01, 2012, 05:13 PM EDT

NOW think about what the GOP policy of smaller government really means. It means less government to protect YOU and serve YOU! It means bigger class sizes, longer lines at the DMV, a longer wait for the fire truck while YOUR house burns, a longer wait after calling 911, fewer policemen watching over YOU while you sleep and five days of mail delivery instead of six. And guess what part of government will NOT be reduced! If the GOP politicians get in power, how many of themselves do you see them firing? Obama (who does not have dictitorial power) has done what he could to serve and protect but the GOP, to their undying shame, have fought him tooth and nail without remorse for what it has done to their country. Are YOU one of the 1% who will be unharmed by the GOP smaller government that they want just because they do not want to pay their taxes?

Report abuse

EphraimKibbey | Sep 01, 2012, 05:08 PM EDT

@paddyRanger - Thank you for your service. The military, teachers, firefighters, EMTs, policemen and women, postal workers, food and drug inspectors, CIA and FBI agents and yes, even politicians are public servants. It is their honor to serve this country and its people. If the people who serve YOU were not being fired wholesale by Republican State governments, our current jobless rate would be well below 7%. The American government was designed by its founding fathers to PROTECT its citizens unlike the governments of the Old World that were designed to protect the rich and powerful.

Report abuse

McNamara31 | Sep 01, 2012, 04:53 PM EDT

Little did I know when I saw Gran Torino in the movies that Clint was playing a part very close to himself.

Report abuse

JimmyJK | Sep 01, 2012, 02:42 PM EDT

paddyRanger - moron? Hmmm-- your name is paddyRanger... nuff said. please present an argument that has intelligent data. You scour this site and when you should be on the rush limbaugh or hannity message boards. I'm sure you hate President Kennedy and President Reagan. I'm sure you hate Al Smith of New York. I'm sure you were disgusted with Tip O'Neill. And Hugh Carey of New York, you probably didn't like him either. Hmmm.... now why are you on this website again? Tell me honestly your vision of America? is it a land with no government? because no taxes equals no government... is it a land that taxes the top earners less than the bottom earners? paddyRanger there are a lot of democratic supporters in the military..... but when the rich want to keep their money they need an army to protect it.... Did you know 20% of suicides are from Veterans? This because our Government which includes GOP'ers like Bush, Ryan, Romney would like to spend money on weapons but not on rehabilitation..... I hope I am like sunshine.... you seem more like frumpy gray clouds

Report abuse

POL O L | Sep 01, 2012, 12:44 PM EDT

Poor auld Clint,I have lost a lot of Faith in you.

Report abuse

paddyRanger | Sep 01, 2012, 12:14 PM EDT

JimmyJK......well done sunshine, you are proving again what a moron you are. Maybe we should fire all the Military eh......majority of whom have zero respect for the democrats.....

Report abuse

mollysdee | Sep 01, 2012, 11:52 AM EDT

Irish Central is clearly on the Liberal side of politics! Clint Eastwood is not a confused old uncle ... he told it like it is. Many of us are disappointed in Obama, fearful of where he is taking our country. And Clint did not tell the Prez to 'go *** himself". You can't even get your facts right, so why not leave off analyzing our politics? I think Clint said what many of us are thinking. When someone's ot doing the job, get rid of him. Yea Clint!

Report abuse

JimmyJK | Sep 01, 2012, 09:47 AM EDT

A Ranger is a government job..... Maybe you should fire yourself

Report abuse

JimmyJK | Sep 01, 2012, 09:20 AM EDT

Rangers are a huge part of BIG GOVERNMENT

Report abuse

paddyRanger | Sep 01, 2012, 08:54 AM EDT

JimmyJK what kind of empty head are you...Clint did not say Obama took us into Afghanistan or even start it.....HE SAID Obama agreed with it, do you understand English ...agreed is not same as took us in..what Clint said is correct, everything they said is correct, you need to do some waking up and stop being so moronic. Do you know any teachers and cops etc in New Jersey, it is a Rep Gov looking after them unlike demorats who look after fat cat UNION bosses,who line their pockets and screw their members

Report abuse

JimmyJK | Sep 01, 2012, 08:28 AM EDT

Read the Matt Taibi Rolling Stone article on Mitt Romney and Bain capital.... just search for it on yahoo and it will come up

Report abuse

JimmyJK | Sep 01, 2012, 07:26 AM EDT

I can't believe Clint said these things.... it will be hard to watch his movies in the same way... Megk311 and irishpjk - Are you two racists or just plain dumb? Tell me what Clint and the republicans said that has any truth to it? It's all lies..... George Bush got us into afghanistan and iraq AND along with alan greenspan allowed our financial industry to RUN amuck with laizze faire capitalism... the same type of capitalism Romney and Ryan want.... MegK311 and irishpjk... do you have any family members on medicare? or that take social security? or do you know any teachers or cops? Well say bye bye to them with Ryan and Romney PLEASE USE YOUR BRAIN and RESEARCH the FACTS! God gave a brain so you would use it!!!! And if you are a woman.... Wow! Romney and Ryan would almost like to see a burka on you

Report abuse

MegK311 | Sep 01, 2012, 12:06 AM EDT

Clint made a lot of good points and it was great to see him there. OLDWILDROVER, I agree with you everyone should go and see "2016 Obama's America" I saw it a few days ago and I might go again. I also want to see the documentry "The Hope and The Change". I think it is due out in September.

Report abuse

irishpjk | Aug 31, 2012, 11:52 PM EDT

wtf I did think that Obama would try to unite the country and have transparence in his administration. As soon as he got into office he did just the opposite, which means he was lying to us. So now many of us are skeptical of anything he promises. You know what a lot of Americans think about Clint’s shenanigans he kept hitting the nail on the head. He had an empty chair, and we have an empty suit in the white house, I loved it. Thanks for the video.

Report abuse

Next Previous Page 2 of 7 pages