Yes, I did catch a bit of Clint Eastwood yelling at an empty chair. And that was just the strangest fucking thing I’ve seen since I don’t know when. To paraphrase The American Prospect’s Jamelle Bouie, this was the perfect metaphor for the modern Republican Party: an old white man yelling at an imaginary Barack Obama.
The whole thing was truly bizarre from start to finish. Why was Clint Eastwood even there? Mr. Beale wondered if the Democrats ever had a Hollywood celebrity speak at their convention, and I couldn’t think of one. I remember Tommy Lee Jones was involved in 2000, because he had been Al Gore’s college roommate. I don’t remember him having a prime time speech. But even so, the Republicans are always slamming Democrats for being “Hollywood,” right? So what the fuck was Clint Eastwood doing as a prime-time speaker last night, anyway?
As I’ve said a hundred, thousand times before: the problem with moderm Republicans is that no amount of political power will cure what ails them, which is that they have not come to grips with their complete lack of cultural relevance. Theirs is a psychological problem that won’t be fixed no matter how many branches of government they capture. They so desperately want to be the outsiders, the rebels, the cool kids with the cool music and the anti-establishment, revolutionary message. But being the party of the establishment is in their DNA. They are now and always have represented the status quo. It’s the definition of being a conservative. So until they come to grips with these conflicting desires, we’re going to see more bizarre stunts like last night’s.
And then, after Clint’s speech I saw, oddly, a TV spot for his new movie, Trouble With The Curve, where he plays a cranky old guy going senile who kicks a table to pieces and yells at things. I mean … wtf? Could this whole thing have been a stunt for his movie? Does this not tell us our unhealthy intersection of politics and entertainment has reached some kind of tipping point?
And finally, Mitt Romney got overshadowed by an old man yelling at a chair. And folks, that just says it all.
Would like to hear what everyone else thinks.
Southern Beale 
As I said, previously, on a different thread, Clint Eastwood’s talent is not the same as character. He has been, on more than a few occassions, a dick. Maybe it’s just part of the process of getting old and cranky. I have not seen any of his recent films. I will not BE seeing them.
Side note. I told somebody a while back that I didn’t listen to Alice Cooper, Nugent, Keith, Greenwood and Lynnyrd Skynrryd (among others) or watch films with Seagal, Willis and other GOP boosters. He said that Skynnyrd was NOT a supporter of the GOP. They had a gig in Tampa, this week (http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/08/31/clint-eastwood-stumping-for-mitt-romney-in-memorable-moment-suggests-shift-in/).
And yes, Southern Beale, as the Fox piece attests, when Hollywood goes GOP, it’s all good!
BTW, do you think that Mittmoroni will carry his “home” state of MA, or is it UT?
It would be more apt to suggest it’s California. You don’t go to all of that trouble to build a nice elevator for your car and then not use it, do you? And what was with Eastwood leading off explaining to the delegates that everyone in Hollywood isn’t liberal? Of course they believe that, but then they just haven’t been paying attention. Good lord, they even had their Hollywood president who some suggested was going to be the surprise speaker, a holographic Ronald Reagan, which at this point, the GOP is thinking they should have done. Too bad the guys over at Industrial Light & Magic are probably liberals.
***NEWS FLASH***
So far Romney doesn’t quite have the permits to bring his earth-moving machines down a sleepy little one-way, bent street barely thirty feet wide with limited parking on only one side. The elevator remains a figment. I don’t think the La Jolla Town Council really wants a major construction project on a popular local beach for the next 24 to 36 months. Not to mention it would require an enormous variance.
One thing that jumped out at me during this ramble was his comment that he never thought attorney’s should be president. Of course, he’s completely unaware that Mitt Romney himself is a licensed attorney, Harvard JD, not a shabby law degree (which he shares with the President). There have been over two dozen attorneys who have become president. He would leave out this illustrious group: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, and FDR. A Republican stalwart, Wm. H. Taft went on to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after being president.
The ramble was telling as to why he doesn’t believe attorneys should be president: “they’re always taught to argue everything, and always weight everything — weigh both sides” and “They are always devil’s advocating this and bifurcating this and bifurcating that.” I had to doublecheck the meaning of “bifurcate” and in the law, apparently it’s something divorce attorneys do which makes sense. Perhaps Clint’s unhappy about his divorce all those years ago.
And best joke? Bob Newhart’s, who noted that he’s spoken to his attorneys about a lawsuit for Clint using his comedic device.
Was this the first convention speech where the speaker endorsed the candidate while actually saying that he believes he never should be president? Yikes!
“a rich old white man yelling at an imaginary Barack Obama”
There, fixed that for you.
Bunch of celebrities for both conventions in 1988, I found an LA Times article listing them. I was a Gore delegate from Texas back then:
\Stars to Shine on GOP Convention August 13, 1988|Times Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS — Actress Helen Hayes will deliver a tribute to senior citizens, jazz musician Lionel Hampton and actor Charlton Heston will lead the Pledge of Allegiance and the Oak Ridge Boys, soap opera star Shelly Burch and gospel vocalist Sandi Patti are among those who will get a chance to sing out the national anthem. The 1988 Republican National Convention will have a diverse sprinkling of entertainers to liven up a program that lists 111 political speeches over four days and nights. At the Democratic convention in Atlanta, the entertainers who participated in the program included Garrison Keillor, Lynda Carter, Dionne Warwick, Melba Moore, Jennifer Holliday and Ally Sheedy. The Republicans will offer a patriotic emphasis with a performance by Lee Greenwood, a country-Western singer known for his ballad “God Bless the USA.” He will follow President Reagan’s speech to the nation on Monday.Actress/singer Shirley Jones reportedly will be the featured soloist for “America the Beautiful” after Bush’s nominating speech, along with a chorus of 1,500. Jones’ husband, Marty Ingels, was quoted as saying the Oscar-winning actress hesitated before accepting because she remains undecided about how she will vote in November.
Demmo,
“He has been, on more than a few occassions, a dick.”
For all the memories of Eastwood as an actor, it is helpful to remember that for a couple of decades he has been more focused on being a director. I am not sure about the OED but in most dictionaries the definition of ‘director’ includes the word ‘dick’ or ‘dictator.’
If the Eastwood speech was on the unusual side, MSDNC just devoted pretty much of a whole news block to interviewing James Lipton. I appreciate that MSNBC is the official house organ for the President and is supposed to be a counter to Fox but James Lipton talking about Clint Eastwood is almost as silly as Bill O’Reilly talking to a body language expert.
And Andrea Mitchell just led with Eastwood.
“And yes, Southern Beale, as the Fox piece attests, when Hollywood goes GOP, it’s all good!”
I would suggest that one difference is that Republican actors tend to limit their political involvement to supporting candidates. That seems far less problematic than when Hollywood figures lend their names and time to serious policy issues about which they are even less informed than members of Congress. As in Meryl Streep badly damaging the apple industry over the alar scare. Or Michael Moore glorifying Cuba without mentioning that the population is little better than slaves to the communist party.
I wish more people in Hollywood would follow the lead of those celebrities that get their hands dirty helping others. I was never a fan of Angelina Jolie but I respect her for her work on a variety of important issues.
Joe,
Having a law degree does not make one a lawyer. When a friend of mine graduated from Vandy Law several of the top members of his class got MBA degrees on the same day and went into ‘finance.’ The dual degree was an advantage in gaining employment, not a decision to practice law.
Nice Newhart note. I love Bob. But isn’t a talking chair really different from a telephone? Probably an issue requiring lawyers.
Anyway, thank Heaven that one convention is over. Every four years it is like the worst parts of the Olympics squeezed into four days with the occasional cool event thrown in.
Really nothing I can add. Also love the Bouie quote.
But this:
“And finally, Mitt Romney got overshadowed by an old man yelling at a chair. ”
You mean at least one GOP media consultant couldn’t see that coming?
Beyond Belief.
“I appreciate that MSNBC is the official house organ for the President and is supposed to be a counter to Fox ”
Fucking lies like that are one of the major reasons that I see you as being as much of a dick (in the sense of a penis, don’t bother looking it up) as Eastwood could ever be.
Demmo,
Almost every minute of the convention that I watched was on MSDNC. When I am in my office at home, I usually prefer them to Fox or CNN because NBC has a stronger stable of reporters. Also Chuck Todd is the best political reporter on tv.
Typical of MSNBC’s regular coverage, the overwhelming number of talking heads were supporters of the President. Fox has many more defenders of the President on air than MSNBC has Romney defenders.
All during the convention Chris ‘tingling leg’ Matthews could not wait for an opportunity to criticize the Republicans. Christie was too self-serving. Ann Romney was deeply flawed. Romney is a robot {did Matthews ever see Al Gore?}.
Somehow MSNBC apparently failed to cover any of the minority speakers the first couple of days. Not much mention of the number of pro-gay rights and pro-choice speakers either.
And MSNBC seems not to have noticed the firing of a Yahoo editor who commented near an open mike about how Republicans don’t mind black people drowning. They have extensively covered Romney’s unfunny ‘birth certificate’ comment as a racist stunt but can’t find time to discuss the possibility that the media covering the convention is almost totally biased.
Probably the nadir for me was when Mitch McConnell made some comment about the President’s golfing and MSNBC turned that into an effort to link the President with Tiger Woods, an absurdity of unimaginable proportions because no one has ever criticized the President’s love and loyalty to his family.
So be a little objective. I am not defending Fox. I abhor much of their coverage. But MSNBC actively promotes the President. And its coverage of his opponents is hardly objective.
Demmo,
Right now on Hardball Chris Matthews is interviewing Willie Brown, former Democratic Speaker of the House in California and a reporter from the Nation about the Republican Convention. Did you realize that everything that Romney and Ryan said was a lie? Or that only Republicans ever sought to undermine a newly elected President?
Really unbiased. Fair and balanced indeed.
I’m not sure Eastwood was limiting himself to practicing attorneys. The fact is, the man got his law degree, passed the Michigan bar exam. No idea whether he presently has a law license or not, but then again, neither does the president. Presently his license is inactive since he’s not practicing law. Of course, Clint has a lot of explaining to do as to why he thinks some of the greatest presidents in our history shouldn’t have been president.
At least one of Mitt’s sons is a practicing attorney as well.
I never understood why RWers are so whacked out about attorneys. I always remember that they’re the first ones to run screaming for a lawyer when they feel like they’ve been wronged. Remembering W Bush’s lawsuit against Enterprise rent a car when Jennatonic got in a fender bender or some such.
Mark Rogers:
I don’t watch MSNBC, FuckTheNew’sCorpse or any other “media” that is owned by the handful of companies that control the flow of data on broadcast and cable news. I watch Netflix for entertainment and read the news online.
MSNBC is not in any way, shape or form affiliated with the WH–NONE. To say that they are is a lie. When you repeat the lie, you look like a stupid, partisan clown.
Here’s the major difference between MSNBC and Fox. MSNBC does not, in fact, pay their “journalists” to make shit up; Rupertv does. It’s exactly that simple. Pull your head out of your ass.
Funny the people who like to perpetuate the lie that MSNBC is a liberal network because there’s three hours of lefty programming at night – Ed, Rachel, etc. But that doesn’t make up for the three hours of Joe Scarborough in the morning followed by Chuck Toad…. and all of those hours of “Lock Up”…
Demmo and SB,
I didn’t reference the night time programs. The James Lipton interview about Eastwood was in the late morning. Martin Bashir, at 3:00 Central, is regularly uncivil to anyone who does not agree with his interpretation of events.
As for ‘Morning Joe,’ that excellent program involves a wide range of opinions and is not slanted toward Scarborough’s personal views. And, by the way, anyone familiar with the program knows that he has been very tough on the far right, something that cannot be said of the other MSNBC anchors and the far left.
But this is a pointless discussion because apparently neither of you believes that there is any such thing as an extreme left.that has shaped the Democratic Party or American politics and resulted in a reaction from reasonable people who think that they have gone too far.
Compromise means accepting your definitions of everything and admitting that those who disagree with you are, by definition, wrong? Or did I miss something? . .
And what has Chuck Todd done to merit being called ‘Chuck Toad’?
OMG watch the show for once. The most recent thing was when he marveled over the diversity at the RNC. He’s a hack. He doesn’t do anything useful except take up space on the air. Clint Eastwood’s empty chair is a better use of air time.
This piece resulted in a great discussion…thanks, all! I didn’t get to watch either, very disappointed…but reading all the comments was a HOOT! And the GOP/TEAs here in TN had the continuing embarassment of Stacey…delegate to the one Candidate who won SC…who could not resist talking about all of the FORBIDDEN subjects….and the appearance of a loopy old has been actor with so much craziness to share with the Country…
One of the problems with the 24 x 7 news channels is that they overwork their reporters. In Todd’s case, I think NBC News places too much responsibility on him. At some point, that leads to sloppiness.
No one would suggest that the Republican delegates were all that ethnically diverse. But if Todd were talking about the ideological diversity of the delegates, that would be a different issue.
For example, all the networks and the papers and everyone else covering the Republican Party since the primaries has observed the rather public conflicts between different parts of the Republican Party.
Social conservatives fight with social moderates and libertarian conservatives. Libertarian and small business conservatives want to limit the power of the uber wealthy individuals and large corporations because those are the biggest advocates for government subsidies and individual tax breaks. Business or economic conservatives oppose the social conservatives because their emphasis on abortion and guns gets in the way of their agenda.
The bottom line is that the Republicans are far less harmonious about issues and ideology and that diversity has all sorts of implications for the elections.
Disagree. Todd is not a reporter. He’s a face. If cable news actually had some freaking reporters committing acts of journalism, I’d be happy.
Todd is just a face on the screen, a butt in the seat. Like Wolf Blitzer, he’s just passing the ping pong around, never getting to anything, just basically allowing people to spew their canned BS and then “that’s all the time we have, we’ll have to leave it there!” They could save a lot of money by putting a mic on a stand and letting their guests just read press releases.
“But this is a pointless discussion because apparently neither of you believes that there is such thing as an extreme left.that has shaped the Democratic Party or American politics and resulted in a reaction from reasonable people who think that they have gone too far.”
Another fucking lie. Do you even look at shit you write before you hit, “submit’? The EXTREME LEFT has shaped the Democratic Party in what ways? Are you thinking of their demands for racial and sexual equality? Their demands that sexual orientation that is not “one man, one woman” not be persecuted under the law? Their demands that the rich pay a fair share of the monies that they hoover up in taxes? Ttheir demands that there be some sort of sane regulation of the rampant and rapacious multi-national industries that pollute our nation and the world’s air, water and soil? Their demands that there be ANY sort of regulation of the firearms business and its customers?
Are those the things that the EXTREME LEFT have forced the Dems to do? Or did you have something else in mind? If so, wtf is it?
“One of the problems with the 24 x 7 news channels is that they overwork their reporters.”.
As stated by Southern Beale, they don’t HAVE reporters, nor do most of the media. They rely on press releases and wire stories for the bulk of their news (except FuckTheNew’sCorpse and a number of reiKKKwing talkingshitheads who simply make stuff up). What they have are a bunch of people who try to look good on camera while repeating shit that they have been told or reading it off of a teleprompter with, in most cases, no actual knowledge of the facts on the ground,. Here’s a hint, it’s not fucking journalism that they’re doing.
I knew he was Republican , but he disgusted me when I watched him slicing his throat. I didn’t know he was such a right-wing a**hole. Disgusting old man. he should watch himself doing that over and over again.
I was offended by the “Go **** yourself” reference. Extremely poor taste.
The sniggering republicans licked it up like gravy.
Yes especially since Obama has been so NOT like that. He’s been gracious to a fault, while the Republicans have rallied behind Snarky Sarah with her patented insults and that boor Chris Christie.
Really poor taste.