Was Clint Eastwood In The Tank For President Obama?

Clint Eastwood is an American icon. Roland wouldn't go have dinner because he wanted to watch either the Reagan hologram or the Eastwood performance, whichever the GOP decided to go with as the much-touted "mystery guest" for closing night at their ill-starred convention in Tampa. Unfortunately for them, they scrapped the hologram. Clint's routine was a sad, unscripted attempt at comedy that barely made any sense and was kind of embarrassing.

Remember how Romney turned Ron Paul down when he requested an opportunity to speak at the convention? He turned him down twice because Paul wouldn't agree to turn over a speech and endorse Romney. (He wants Romney to release his tax returns and, as of now, Paul says he's "undecided.") Eastwood isn't really even a Republican; he's a libertarian, and at one point in his crazy monologue he seemed to be advising the Ron Paul supporters embedded at the convention to not settle for Romney. Anyway, for all the vetting and editing the Romney campaign honchos wanted to do to Ron Paul-- and they did make Huckabee swear on a stack of Bibles not to bring up Todd Akin-- they just let Eastwood get up on stage and say whatever he damn well pleased. What an ad lib disaster from a guy too old to be doing that kind of thing! Romney's management style? You betcha!

Convention planners had assumed the Hollywood legend would reprise the powerful and typically gruff/charming performance he delivered at the beginning of August when he showed up out of the blue at a Romney fundraiser in Idaho and said he was backing the Republican.

Romney aides played down the impact Eastwood’s odd turn might have on Tampa’s positive impact, but they acknowledge that the empty-chair monologue came as a complete surprise to them. They simply turned the podium over to an iconic superstar and expected him to stand and deliver.

Remember not that long ago when Eastwood did one for Obama? It was very much scripted-- and very, very effective.



And what about Trump? Is he working for Obama too?