Clint Eastwood Mocked for Bizarre Republican National Convention Speech

USMagazine, Friday, August 31, 2012, 6:45am (PDT)

Clint Eastwood came out in support of Mitt Romney at Thursday's Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., delivering a surprise speech directed at an "invisible" President Barack Obama sitting an empty chair.

"I've got Mr. Obama sitting here. I was going to ask him a couple of questions," Eastwood, 82, said in his opening before admitting he cried when Obama got elected in 2008 and cried even harder years later when legions of Americans were without jobs. "It's a national disgrace," Eastwood continued of the unemployment rate.

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"It may be time for someone else to come along and solve the problem. I think if you just step aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over. You can maybe still use a plane," Eastwood said, addressing the empty chair.

Throughout his speech, Eastwood pretended that Obama was objecting to his points of conversation. "What do you want me to tell Romney?" Eastwood implored the chair sitting beside him on stage Thursday. "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 . . . "

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As Eastwood went on, Hollywood quickly took to Twitter to express their outrage and talk about how puzzled they were by the Dirty Harry star's actions. "Clint Eastwood is CRAY," comic Roseanne Barr -- herself running for president on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket -- tweeted Thursday.

"Clint Eastwood has gone f---in' nutterbutters yo," The Voice's Adam Levine concurred. "Clint Eastwood was talking to an empty chair at the RNC," Olivia Munn tweeted to her 300,000-plus followers. "No, that's not the set up to a joke. It's not even a joke."

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Added comedian Patton Oswalt via Twitter: "I love you, Clint. I always will. But you changed the theme of the RNC from 'WE BUILT THIS' to 'I CAN'T WATCH THIS.'"

Said Chris Rock: "Clint Eastwood on the phone with Obama now: 'It all went according to plan, sir.' #RNC #GOP2012"

As Twitter was ablaze with commentary about Eastwood's speech, the real Obama himself chimed in with a succinct response: "This seat's taken," read a message from the President's account, along with an image of the Commander in Chief sitting in a chair clearly designated for "The President."

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This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Clint Eastwood Mocked for Bizarre Republican National Convention Speech