Minus Palin, Convention’s TV Ratings Plunge Whoda Thunk it?
|
Friday, August 31, 2012
Eastwood for Palin WTF?
16 comments:
-
Rodger the Real King of France said...
-
Oh shit, I have embarrassed myself by saying some of the same things as the Obama media about Eastwood's speech. I am obviously mistaken; have to be. Sepaku here. *blood squirting*
-
8/31/12, 9:41 AM
-
Helly said...
-
Rodger, I am here to tell you that I, for one, was not the least bit uncomfortable with Clint's performance.
Art shows us what we cannot see. Sometimes I write about these things when I notice them. Sometimes I get excited about them. That's why I stayed up last night.
Here's the vid. It's deeper than it 1st appears, because Clint has such an engaging personality. I got much more out of it with 2nd viewing. But I know what you're thinking: Is it Art?
With his uncombed hair and hesitating, confused demeanor, Clint portrays himself as a soft-spoken dotty elder, concerned with a situation that doesn't seem to make sense. He teases us by letting the message and wisdom seep out slowly, to contrast with the bold confidence exuded by every other speaker.
He invokes Obama's presence with an empty chair. That's a powerful metaphor right out of the gate. And then it gets worse. Throughout this imaginary dialog, Clint turns to look down on Obama as a small man. And then it gets much worse. He reduces Obama to The Invisible Man, and I don't mean the H.G. Wells version. Don't think for a minute that someone with Clint's knowledge of performing arts doesn't know the difference. And then it gets really ferocious: Obama becomes nothing more than an invisible/muted ventriloquist's puppet. You won't see it in Clint's face or hear it in his voice, but this is an expression of raw outrage.
But then you do hear it as Clint delivers hard-edged, condescending mockery in gentle tones. He calls Obama "stupid" and "crazy," and goes so far as to name Biden as his intellectual superior.
This is the thing that politicians cannot do. We will always hear R&R refer to Obama as a "nice guy" who just didn't have the right experience to be an effective leader. Clint showed us something more inciteful. He indicted Obama as a failed president and a filthy shameless liar and a vulgar petty creep unfit for polite company.
I call it Art. And that is what a "movie tradesman" designed to do at a political convention. -
8/31/12, 10:56 AM
-
macweave said...
-
My thoughts were that Clint was Acting. James Stewart in Mr. Smith goes to Washington. Same Speech patterns. Mocked and attacked with the truth the opponents of a free America and the corrupt. So a standing ovation for great man and an inspiring performance!
-
8/31/12, 11:08 AM
-
Anonymous said...
-
Helly - Exactly!! Beautiful explanation *clap*clap*clap!!!!
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick -
8/31/12, 11:20 AM
-
Rodger the Real King of France said...
-
As I stated earlier, my discomfort manifests an obvious personality flaw. I know that's true because all the LWMFCS this morning are saying the same thing. Of course they said those things after Palin's speech in 2008, but I do plead nolo conndre.
-
8/31/12, 11:55 AM
-
Anonymous said...
-
Clint came off the bench, and advanced the runner. What more can you ask?
Casca -
8/31/12, 12:50 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
Actually, Helly was right to watch it twice. As Rush is breaking it down today, the brilliance is shining through. Telling Obama to go fuck himself? PRICELESS!
There are a dozen great lines in the piece, not least of which is: "When someone doesn't work... ya gotta let 'em go." Hell, he calls him lazy and incompetent in one line.
Casca -
8/31/12, 1:27 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
I loved it!
thoR~ -
8/31/12, 1:33 PM
-
toadold said...
-
Some people always want to see a political speech so they can pick up the physical clues with the speech. For some reason I prefer to read transcripts. When I read the transcript of Clint's speech the slicing and knife twisting kind of leaps out at me.
When I saw Clint walk onto the stage the first, I got distracted by his hair. I was thinking how in the hell did a professional come out looking like that. My only excuse was that I was tired. It took me about 12 hours to realize what he had done. Elwood take a baseball bat to the Rabbit.
-
8/31/12, 1:44 PM
-
Rodger the Real King of France said...
-
Let me suggest that a political speech that has to be broken down and analyzed to discover its brilliance, isn't.
-
8/31/12, 1:49 PM
-
Sid said...
-
I hooted and hollered when Mr. Eastwood motioned to the empty chair. I loved it and I loved even more when I switched channels to CBS and heard Bob Schieffer and fellow moonbats howling at the speech. Rubio's speech was awesome and it's easy to see why he was considered a potential VP. Romney's speech made me like him even more. Cardinal Dolan's closing prayer was very good and loud Amen from the crowd was inspiring. However, Boner looked and sounded lost.
-
8/31/12, 2:05 PM
-
Helly said...
-
"… a political speech that has to be broken down and analyzed to discover its brilliance, isn't. "
Rodger sweetie, it wasn't a political speech. So let the non sequitur go. It was a work of art, and all such creations are accessible to different people at different levels. Clint, establishing himself here as a genius, provides something for everyone. Like a flare, it attracts heat-seekers too. R&R emerged looking so competent, so energized, so American.
As much as I delight in exploring your many personality flaws, this is not the source of your discomfort here. A political convention presents a lot of risk and the stakes are high. You're stressed, as are we all. Otherwise, something would really be wrong with you. More and sharper invective would have been cathartic. Instead, we got a program designed to win the election. Just slip into that.
And remember Ann Romney's words: This man will not let us down. I believe her. -
8/31/12, 4:09 PM
-
I-RIGHT-I said...
-
Clint is 82. I tuned in someplace in the middle. I had no idea what he was trying to say but I felt so bad for him I had to turn it off. Then I fell asleep and missed Mittens. All in all it was a pretty good evening.
-
8/31/12, 6:31 PM
-
Alear said...
-
I'm with Helly, but more importantly is the great Mark Steyn. Impressive, Helly, is that your writing matches up nicely with Steyn's. Well done. (I'm referring to your first comment.)
-
8/31/12, 7:43 PM
-
Anonymous said...
-
I thought it was great and was not at all uncomfortable. It was entertainment, with a message. And he got away with a hell of a lot more than any politician would.
I remember seeing Clint Eastwood, on TV, speaking at some function years ago. And last night he was really no different now than he was then.
It's not age, it's just Clint Eastwood. -
9/1/12, 1:07 AM
-
Anonymous said...
-
I tuned in on the radio (Mark Levin) on my way home from work. It was already going on and I just caught the "talking to an empty chair" concept. I had no idea who was speaking and at first thought he was just a caller to the show. I thought, "Who is this geezer?" By the end of it I was thinking, "I don't know who this old guy is, but I like him."
GrinfilledCelt -
9/1/12, 3:21 AM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)