Artwork by RICK FORTSON
CLINT EASTWOOD: I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, what’s a movie tradesman doing out here? You know they are all left wingers out there, left of Lenin. At least that is what people think. That is not really the case. There are a lot of conservative people, a lot of moderate people, Republicans, Democrats, in Hollywood. It is just that the conservative people by the nature of the word itself play closer to the vest. They do not go around hot dogging it. (APPLAUSE) So — but they are there, believe me, they are there. I just think, in fact, some of them around town, I saw Jon Voigt, a lot of people around. (APPLAUSE) Jon’s here, an academy award winner. A terrific guy. These people are all like-minded, like all of us. MORE
“T his is a letter I wrote and I’d like to read it for the American people, so let me just say. In one year, the American people are witnessing the greatest lie that is cleverly orchestrated by President Obama and his whole administration, the lie is impotent aggression, that feeds the needs of people, who either have not educated themselves enough to understand the assault upon us all, and the very poor and needy who lived to be taken care of. President Obama feeds these people poison, giving them the idea that they are entitled to take from the wealthier who have lived and worked in a democracy that understands that capitalism is the only truth that keeps the nation healthy and fed. Now the lie goes very deep, and President Obama has been cleverly trained in the Alinsky Method[Lay, or community, participation in the decision making process, for the education of our children is an illusion – in
fact lay citizens are being squeezed], and it would be very important that every American knows what that Method is, it is a socialistic Marxist teaching and with it, little by little, [Obama] rapes this Nation, taking down our defenses, making a new language for the Islamic Extremists. The world who looked up to us as a symbol of hope and prosperity, now, wonders what will become of the entire world, if America is losing it’s power. The American people who understand exactly what is taking place have come together in the thousands vowing to try to stay together as a unit of love and freedom for all men and women from all walks of life, shivering to think that this once great Nation will be a third world company, country. This will be the first President to ever weaken the United States Of America. President Obama he uses his aggression and arrogance for his own agenda against the will of the American people when he should be using his will and aggression against our enemies. Every loving American for peace, and truth, and the security of our nation, must come out and join the Tea Parties in their States. The opposition will continue their tactics they will lie and plant their own bullies amongst us, everyone must pay close attention to who stands next to them, we can weed out the liars and agitators, let us all stand in God’s light. Let no man put us under, we can and we will prevail. God Bless Us All.” — Jon Voight, on the Mike Huckabee Show, April 10th, 2010
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LOS ANGELES TIMES: He is the last of what was always a very rare breed, a man of conviction with an unassailable reputation. Which is why the organizers of the Republican National Convention felt perfectly safe putting Eastwood up on stage minutes before Mitt Romney was to accept his nomination. He’s Clint Eastwood, for heaven’s sake; what could go wrong? Well, now we know. He could come out, hair askew, and ramble his way through what was no doubt conceived as a bit of light comedy with political bite but played like the strangely hostile wanderings of a man not quite himself. So not himself did Eastwood appear, as he put profanities in the mouth of the president (a man known mostly for never uttering profanities), that many wondered if the star was somehow promoting his new film, in which he plays a crusty old coot hacking his way through 
the disorienting forest of age. Except that Eastwood isn’t that kind of guy either; one of his most revered qualities has been his air of humility, his lack of self-promotion. Then what exactly were we seeing? Clint just being Clint and not caring what anyone thought? A comedy bit that just needed a little editing? An 82-year-old man in need of a new prescription? Or the ultimate subversive act by a conservative who has secretly become an Obama supporter? MORE
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: To be charitable, it was unique. That’s the word the Romney camp is going with. Ann Romney told CBS News this morning that Eastwood “is a unique guy and he did a unique thing.” It’s possible that Eastwood’s evident emotion appealed to independent voters who have previously judged Romney too stiff. But lots of other people would use a descriptor other than “unique” for Eastwood’s approach. “Bizarre,” maybe. “Disjointed.” “Unfathomable.” “Worst performance since last Michael Moore movie.” “It was entertaining, but it was weird,” wrote conservative Erick Erickson on his RedState blog, going on to defend the speech as an “unscripted conversation of an independent voter coming to terms with the end of the Obama love affair.” Then there were the really negative reviews. “Clint, my hero, is coming across as sad and pathetic,” tweeted movie critic and Twitter star Roger Ebert as Eastwood spoke. Washington Post political blogger Chris Cillizza judged Eastwood the biggest loser of the night. MORE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: It’s hard to tell who had a looser grip on reality as the Republican National Convention wrapped up; Clint Eastwood or Mitt Romney’s spin doctors. Who thought it would be a brilliant idea to put the “Dirty Harry” star, his hair reminiscent of the wild-eyed scientist from “Back to the Future,” on live TV without notes? As much as it pains some of President Barack Obama’s critics to acknowledge it, sometimes a teleprompter is a good idea. I’ll give Eastwood a break, but there’s no excuse for the fantasies repeated by myth-building politicians, like the evening’s star speaker, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, even after nonpartisan media fact checkers have found the statements to be untrue. […] Both parties spin some whoppers, of course. But the most significant quote last week, in my view, came from Romney’s pollster Neil Newhouse at an ABC News/Yahoo panel in Tampa. “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers,” he said, because fact checkers bring their own “thoughts and beliefs” to the process. MORE
Ah, those were the days, palling around with Jane Fonda circa 1978.