Eastwood, Empty Chair Hijack Republican Media Coverage

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

Eastwood, empty chair hijack Republican media coverage

LOS ANGELES | Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:34pm EDT

By Jill Serjeant and Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Months of careful planning for the Republican National Convention were hijacked by actor Clint Eastwood as traditional and social media erupted in a frenzy of scratched heads and parodies that experts said largely overshadowed presidential contender Mitt Romney's moment in the spotlight.

Eastwood's rambling, unscripted address at Thursday's convention to an absent President Barack Obama in an empty chair inspired an instant satirical Twitter account, @InvisibleObama, that quickly went viral, demonstrating the power of social media to upset tightly scripted image control.

- snip -

I by Friday, it was "Dirty Harry" star Eastwood's performance that was capturing the popular attention. The Twitter hashtag #eastwooding - mostly pictures of empty chairs - was also one of the top-trending topics on the microblogging site on Friday morning.

Paul Levinson, professor of media and communication studies at Fordham University and author of the book "New New Media," thought Eastwood's performance was "the biggest story by far from the convention, including Romney's speechg

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE87U10P20120831

[bemildred]

1. A fitting end to the convention, I thought.

Perfect for the party of making things up as you go.

[byeya]

2. Anyone remember The Chairs by Ionesco? I bet Clint does.

[yellerpup]

7. You so hit on it!

The Orator well played, don't you think?

Edit to add Link: http://www.shmoop.com/the-chairs/summary.html

[byeya]

23. It was a compelling performance if seen in this light. Not as flattering

if seen as a political speech in favor of the Romulan.

[yellerpup]

24. I'll call it performance.

If not, his friends would have called an ambulance.

[byeya]

25. Post of the day!!!

[yellerpup]

32. ....

[phantom power]

3. If they'd really been doing "careful planning" that wouldn't have happened.

[TrollBuster9090]

17. Put it this way: It was about as well planned as their invasion of Iraq.

ie-they spent all of their time planning how they'd reap the bump in the polls AFTER the convention, and how they and their financial cronies could make money off it, and very little planning what would actually happen DURING the convention.


It was the political equivalent of "Yeah, we'll invade Iraq and install Ahmed Chalabi. It'll only only take six months and cost $50 billion, tops.'


I have to say that I was always surprised by how organized Republicans were when it came to winning elections, and then how inept they were at running the government. It didn't make any sense.

But now I'm glad to see that they're starting to show the same degree of ineptitude at running elections as they do at running government.

[krkaufman]

35. similar to what I was thinking..

Romney can't even lead a coherent party convention, how the heck will he manage the entire US Federal government? (of course, his plan may be to simply finalize the leveraged buyout of the US, on behalf of China)

[SoapBox]

4. Hilarious!

(...however, DEMS, hello DEMS...don't make the same form of mistake...HUGE lesson learned?)

[valerief]

5. Republicans would rather talk to empty chairs than to real people.

That way they can control the conversation.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. Upstaged by an empty chair.

You've got to love that. I know I do.

[1GirlieGirl]

8. I didn't see it

Because I refused to watch one second of the RNCircus, but I love anything that shows what a bunch of clowns they all are. Poor Clint, this is his new defining moment. But it was his decision. And now he has to live with it.

[burrowowl]

37. But do see

Jon Stewart last night, yes, on a Friday, was an absolute must see

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/fri-august-31-2012-

[Voice for Peace]

9. months of careful planning?

[Coyotl]

11. They wish!

[TrollBuster9090]

15. Is that a Cayman Islands flag? nt

[Coyotl]

22. Yes it is. It is the flag they sail their flagship big tent, the H.M.S. Bullshit, under

H.M.S. meaning "Hot Mound of Steaming" of course.

[onehandle]

10. 'Old man yells at cloud.'

[eqfan592]

28. Here, somebody fixed it for ya...

[Javaman]

12. Years from now what will people remember...

and empty chair and an empty shirt repuke candidate.

[Iliyah]

13. Who manufactured the chair?

Inquirer minds want to know!

[TrollBuster9090]

14. I just saw a 20 minute segment on CBC Prime Time News about how Eastwoods "Dada Performance Art"

has completely squashed the message that Romney wanted to get out about women and latinos. If the Canadian media is talking about it, I wonder if the American media will follow suit.

[Hissyspit]

21. No love for this post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021241550

The Canadians get it?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. Robbin' people with a six-gun,

[PMcDee]

18. Eastwood's "Obama Commercial"

After seeing Clint's "Obama commercial" (it was actually a Chrysler commercial but Republicans complained that it made Obama look good), I thought maybe he supports Obama. After seeing his performance at the Republican National Convention last night, I'm sure of it.

[XemaSab]

29. +1

And welcome to DU!

[magic59]

19. Dirty Harry last night is a sad case of viagra overdose

Too much blood rushing from the brain to another part of the body leaves them confused and oxygen deprived, or a more scientific name for it, old, angry white man syndrome.

[Cha]

20. Thanks Hissyspit..

"Eastwood's rambling, unscripted address at Thursday's convention to an absent President Barack Obama in an empty chair inspired an instant satirical Twitter account, @InvisibleObama, that quickly went viral, demonstrating the power of social media to upset tightly scripted image control"

Tightly Scripted LIES... That image is still intact. I like this part, though.."..Demonstrating the power of social media to upset thightly scripted image control".

The Social Media upset the narrative!

[The Second Stone]

26. I have a client who is Eastwood's biggest fan

and generally apolitical, but listens to right wing radio. I happened to talk to him today, and he thought Eastwood had a bit of dementia.

[lib2DaBone]

27. Don't be so sure that Clint's Rant didn't do irreversible damage...

Clint's rant fired a shot across the bow of Obama... especially the comment about ""Candle light convention for hope and change in 2008........causing Opra to cry"

But when he said..., " I cried when I learned that 28 million Americans have no jobs".. you could have heard a pin drop.

The media heard it.. the people in the auditorium heard it... millions of Americans HEARD it.

Do as you will.. but don't be so foolish as the whistle past the graveyard of Clint Eastwood comments.. and think all is OK.

It is not... Clint Eastwood did heavy duty damage to Obama...body blows and more.

[magical thyme]

31. while overconfidence would be a mistake, any attack is hardly irreversible.

I doubt there is anything that was said that cannot be re-framed next week to show the bigger picture.

How many were unemployed 4 years ago? 4 years ago the economy was in free fall. Right now it is on a very slow track to improvement, in spite of heavy republican obstructionism and early mistakes by Obama.

Furthermore, it's not like the economy has been some deep dark secret. Everybody either is, has been, fears, or knows somebody suffering from unemployment.

The choice is pretty clear. Somebody who likes firing people, made his fortune by destroying other people's lives,and refuses to show his finances to "you people" versus somebody who walked into a disaster, did some things very right, made some major mistakes but appears to be the kind of person capable of learning from mistakes.

[pangaia]

33. I agree with you 100% !

I don't think I have seen one comment anywhere, on any website that agrees with me that Eastwood actually did exactly what he set out to do and did it to perfection...except yours.

I have always been a big fan of his, with little interest in his politics, although I knew he was a 'republican' and once the mayor of Carmel, CA.. But I do NOT think he looked at all the fool. I too think his performance has the chance to be very damaging, in spite of all the distortions and gross, outright lies. But then lies work given the dumbing down of American society...

[magical thyme]

30. Romney support fell during his own speech, lol!

Although Romney notched up the most tweets during his keynote address to the convention in Tampa, Florida - more than 14,289 tweets per minute - his Twitter Political Index (Twindex), which measures how tweeters feel about a candidate on a scale of 1 to 100, fell from 46 to 38 following his speech.

[krkaufman]

34. Well, it was truth in advertising.

They'd promised a "mystery guest" for Thursday night, and it remains a mystery as to what the heck they were thinking.

[bkkyosemite]

36. Got a big smile on my face tonight

When I saw the ad for Clint Eastwoods new movie that opens on Sept 21st...about a ball scout who maybe will be looking at retirement after he does this last job with his daughter. His name is Gus....I think Mr. Eastwood knew exactly what he was doing and has no dementia.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

38. I bet Rove wasn't pleased