Tweeters mock Clint Eastwood's rambling, jaw-dropping performance

By BILL SANDERSON

With POST WIRES

Last Updated: 7:58 AM, September 1, 2012

Posted: 1:14 AM, September 1, 2012

UPI

Actor Clint Eastwood motions to a chair that represents President Obama during his speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention Thursday.

His unconventional speech made everyone’s day.
Clint Eastwood’s rambling, jaw-dropping performance at the Republican convention’s closing night spawned a national buzzfest yesterday even as GOPers griped it pushed Mitt Romney out of the spotlight.
The star, best known for his role as “Dirty Harry,” held a conversation with an imaginary President Obama — played by a chair — that became fodder for a torrent of tweets poking fun at the routine.
“Clint Eastwood on the phone with Obama now: ‘It all went according to plan, sir,’ ” tweeted an account under the name of comedian Chris Rock.
“After watching Clint Eastwood’s speech last night at the RNC, I’m voting for the chair,” tweeted “Star Trek” actor Brent Spiner.
Other tweeters joked that Eastwood’s chair had gotten a four-picture deal from Warner Bros., and that they’d like to invite Eastwood to their Passover seders, which traditionally have an empty chair.
The speech inspired the newest Twitter craze, "Eastwooding" — hurling pent-up angst at empty chairs, then posting the photos online.
Some users "Eastwooded" with beach chairs. Others got angry at patio furniture and baby seats. Benches and rocking chairs were also blamed — for the economy, for everyday problems, for anything, really.

Publicly, Romney and his staff laughed off the iconic 82-year-old actor’s spontaneous talk.
“Listen, the guy went out and did what actors do. He did a little improv,” senior Romney aide Stuart Stevens told reporters.
“If someone wants to say this wasn’t Clint Eastwood’s greatest performance, have at it,” Stevens said. “Some people didn’t like ‘Dirty Harry,’ some people didn’t like ‘Gran Torino.’ That’s OK.”
But that wasn’t the initial reaction of Romney’s aides — backstage, they winced as Eastwood rambled on.
And even though the speech drew hearty cheers from convention-goers, some GOP stars said it simply wasn’t Eastwood’s place to grab the spotlight on what was supposed to be their presidential nominee’s big night.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he “cringed” at Eastwood’s speech.
Asked about Eastwood’s appearance — which lasted more than twice as long as the five minutes he was supposed to speak — Ann Romney said: “He’s a unique guy and he did a unique thing last night.”
“I didn’t know it was coming,” she added, during an interview yesterday with “CBS This Morning.”
Eastwood wasn’t talking about the speech yesterday. “I didn’t know he was doing it,” said his agent, Leonard Hirshan.
Social media picked up on his unscripted speech with lightning speed.
Even before Eastwood finished his talk, someone started a Twitter account called @InvisibleObama, featuring a photo of a chair, which racked up more than 40,000 followers before vanishing yesterday.
Obama’s campaign got in on the act, tweeting a picture of the back of the president’s chair, along with the line: “This seat’s taken.”

Twitter.com

President Obama tweeted this photo following Clint Eastwood's speech.

Not all the reviews were negative.
“I loved watching Clint Eastwood last night — he was terrific!” tweeted Donald Trump.
bsanderson@nypost.com

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