updated 1:17 PM EDT, Fri August 31, 2012
Tampa, Florida (CNN) -- Actor and director Clint Eastwood made the day of the GOP faithful at the Republican National Convention when he gave a surprise speech Thursday night in which he laid out what he sees as the good, the bad and the ugly state of American political affairs.
And he did it all while addressing an "invisible" President Barack Obama sitting in an empty chair. Eastwood,
who played the iconic tough guy character "Dirty Harry" during his long
career in Hollywood, fired up the party base when he said he cried when
Obama was elected and cried even harder years later when millions were
out of work.
"It's a national disgrace," Eastwood said. "It may be time for someone else to come along and solve the problem."
At times, Eastwood sent the crowd into laughing fits when he pretended Obama was offering colorful objections.
"What do you want me to
tell Romney?" Eastwood asked the empty chair. "I can't tell him to do
that to himself ... you're getting as bad as Biden ... of course we all
know Biden is the intellect of the Democratic Party. Kind of a grin with
a body behind it ..."
The RNC had left room for
a "mystery guest" on its Thursday schedule and announced Thursday that
Eastwood would speak. Late Thursday afternoon, Eastwood walked through
the convention floor for a brief rundown of the night's events.
His ad-libbed speech later in the evening was decidedly political, bitingly satirical and more than a bit, well....rambling.
"I think if you just step aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over. You can maybe still use a plane," Eastwood said.
Seconds after Eastwood finished his speech, the Twittersphere was buzzing with response.
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics tweeted:
"I'd feel better if I knew for sure that Clint doesn't see anyone in the chair. :)"
Comedian Roseanne Barr tweeted: "clint eastwood is CRAY"
Actor George Takei tweeted that he could use the Eastwood tactic at next week's Democratic National Convention.
"I'm drafting a DNC speech to imaginary Romney in an empty factory," Takei's tweet said.
Actress Mia Farrow
tweeted that she thought Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who introduced Mitt
Romney later in the evening, was the night's best speaker -- with one
problem: "Rude to ignore invisible Obama sitting right there."
The Twitter handle
"Invisible Obama," which said it was sitting "Stage left of Clint
Eastwood," quipped that "The GOP built me." An hour after Eastwood's
speech, it already had 20,000 followers. The move spawned a new trend
with people posting photos of themselves pointing at empty chairs with
the hashtag "eastwooding."
Comedy Central's
Indecision Tumblr posted a summary that read: "I was talking to Barack
Obama the other day. ... Potato. Sneaker. Fish. Pizza. Algebra.
Racecar."
Comedic takes on
Eastwood's speech went viral and all of a sudden, what might have been
for some younger viewers a ho-hum speech by an octogenarian actor became
both a national joke and a means to engage in the political process,
political experts said.
"It was campaign
malpractice that the Romney managers sent out a dithering, clueless
Clint Eastwood. The Romney campaign will be lucky if Eastwood's antics
don't linger as a national punch line," Sabato wrote on his "Crystal
Ball" blog.
Sabato also noted that
fallout from Eastwood's vaudevillian like schtick overshadowed "Sen.
Marco Rubio, whose dazzling speech to his home state conclave might end
up being as nationally invisible as the imaginary Barack Obama sitting
in Clint's stage chair."
A Romney campaign aide
addressed Romney's appearance later, saying, "Judging an American icon
like Clint Eastwood through a typical political lens doesn't work. His
ad-libbing was a break from all the political speeches, and the crowd
enjoyed it. He rightly pointed out that 23 million Americans out of work
or underemployed is a national disgrace and it's time for a change."
But political fact checkers immediately pounced on the 23 million unemployment figure.
The U.S. Labor Department, says there are 12.8 million unemployed people—not 23 million.
Eastwood, a longtime Republican, endorsed Romney
at an Idaho fundraiser at the beginning of August, where he told
reporters that he was backing the GOP presidential candidate "because I
think the country needs a boost somewhere."
He endorsed Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.
Earlier this year during
in an ad that aired during the Super Bowl, Eastwood's familiar,
sandpaper voice spoke to Americans about the nation's economic woes. The
ad featured close-up shots of factory workers and black-and-white
photos of Midwest families -- images some political watchers flagged as
subtly political.
"It's halftime in
America, too," said the 81-year-old Hollywood legend. "People are out of
work, and they're hurting. And they're all wondering what they're gonna
do to make a comeback. And we're all scared because this isn't a game.
The people of Detroit know a little something about this. They almost
lost everything. But we all pulled together, now Motor City is fighting
again."
Eastwood said any implication of politics was baseless.
Stars react to Clint Eastwood
Stars react to Clint Eastwood
Photo: nbcnews.com/
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