VIDEO: Clint Eastwood Mocked for His GOP Speech
Clint Eastwood earned plenty of bad reviews for his latest performance: a bizarre, rambling endorsement of Mitt Romney. Eastwood carried on a kooky, long-winded conversation with an imaginary President Barack Obama, telling him that he failed to deliver on his promises, and it's time for Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, to take over.
``Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you have made when you were running for election, and how do you handle them? I mean, what do you say to people?'' he said at one point to the empty chair.
The 82-year-old actor and director also talked about Oprah Winfrey, Obama's unfulfilled promise to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and lawyers. At one point, he referenced dismissing Obama and making a change.``When somebody doesn't do the job, you gotta let 'em go,'' Eastwood said. The tough-guy actor of ``Dirty Harry'' fame then drew a finger across his throat.
Twitter was instantly ablaze with comments mocking the Oscar-winning director of ``Unforgiven'' and ``Million Dollar Baby.'' Minutes after Eastwood began his speech, someone created an (at)InvisibleObama account on Twitter. It has already amassed 30,000 followers and counting.
``I heard that Clint Eastwood was channeling me at the RNC,'' tweeted comic actor Bob Newhart, known for his one-sided conversation bits. ``My lawyers and I are drafting our lawsuit.''
``Clint, my hero, is coming across as sad and pathetic,'' tweeted film critic Roger Ebert as Eastwood adlibbed Thursday night to an audience of millions (and one empty chair) on stage at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. ``He didn't need to do
this to himself. It's unworthy of him.''
The Obama campaign shot back afterward by tweeting a photo of the back of the president's chair, with Obama's head peeking over it, along with the line: ``This seat's taken.''
Eastwood, a fiscal conservative who takes left-leaning stands on social issues such as gay marriage and environmental protections, made waves with conservatives earlier this year when he starred in a Super Bowl spot for Chrysler, a company that benefited from
government support. Eastwood, who endorsed Romney earlier this month at a campaign event in Sun Valley, Idaho, and once served as mayor of Carmel, Calif., defended his appearance in the commercial, noting it had nothing to do with his politics.