Clint Eastwood Fires up the conversation:and Hardball: GOP: Grand Old Past?

Social media's reaction to Clint Eastwood's bizarre speech at the Republican National Convention, in which he addressed an empty chair as President Obama, was swift and merciless.

Within hours of the Hollywood icon's mystifying address, the chair had its own Twitter account (@InvisibleObama), verb ("Eastwooding," usually accompanied by a hand pointing to an empty chair), a Simpsons meme and countless trending hashtags.

#InsertChair, for example, spawned gems like these:

 "No chairs for Old Men";
 "Chair: The Musical";
 "Ask not what your chair can do for you, but what you can do for your chair";
 "Open mouth, #insertchair; 
"I'm gonna wash that man right outta my chair"; 
"Medichair"; and this tribute to the late Neil Armstrong, 
"One small step for chair. One giant leap for chairkind."
Even the sitting president himself offered a rebuttal:
 
 Actor Clint Eastwood was the "surprise" guest at the 2012 Republican National Convention Thursday night (Aug. 30).

Eastwood's schtick was to address an empty chair, pretending he was asking President Obama some questions -- though very pointedly not referring to him as the President, but as "Mr. Obama."

The schtick was very weird because Eastwood kept stumbling over his words and he kept acting like this invisible President was telling him to "shut up." Then it took a turn for the ugly, when Eastwood says, "What? What do you want me to tell Romney? I can't tell him to do that. He can't do that to himself."

It was certainly expected that Eastwood would come out and fire up the RNC crowd, but it was not really expected that Eastwood would treat his segment like the worst Friar's Club roast ever.

Following the segment, NBC's Andrea Mitchell called Eastwood's speech "strange." To say the least.

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Link:  http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2012/08/clint-eastwoods-chair-unseats-the-internet.html 

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By DERRIK J. LANG, ASSOCIATED PRESS


LOS ANGELES — Clint Eastwood earned plenty of bad reviews for his latest performance: a  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.
 


Minutes after Eastwood began his speech, someone created an @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."

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.
 
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.

Inside the convention, the crowd cheered Eastwood's entrance and shouted his famed catchphrase, "Go ahead, make my day." But backstage, stern-faced Romney aides winced at times as Eastwood's remarks stretched on. After his speech, Romney's camp defended Eastwood.


"To restore balance to the universe, Obama must have Tommy Chong onstage at the DNC talking to a steak," joked Patton Oswalt.


 




Link:
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/clint-eastwood-convention-speech_n_1846077.html