LOS ANGELES — Clint Eastwood steps into murky waters in his first interview since he attended the Republican National Convention to pledge his support for Mitt Romney in what can only be described as 15 minutes of bewildering incoherency. The 80-something actor told a regional rag, the Carmel Pine Cone, that “President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.” “Romney and [Paul] Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that’s what everybody needs to know,” Eastwood said. “I may have irritated a lot of the lefties, but I was aiming for people in the middle.”
Eastwood’s Republican National Convention conversation with an imaginary President Obama in an empty chair set the blogosphere and social media ablaze. His appearance was intended to be a ringing endorsement for Romney, but the hitherto esteemed actor and director opened himself up to ridicule. But Eastwood stands his ground. He said he achieved what he set out to do and got across three points.
“That not everybody in Hollywood is on the left, that Obama has broken a lot of the promises he made when he took office, and that the people should feel free to get rid of any politician who’s not doing a good job,” Eastwood said. “But I didn’t make up my mind exactly what I was going to say until I said it.”
Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, later came backstage to thank him. “They were very enthusiastic, and we were all laughing,” Eastwood said.
Eastwood’s longtime manager, Leonard Hirshan, told The Associated Press he was not aware of the Pine Cone newspaper article. “You’re telling me something for the first time,” he said. Hirshan stressed that as a manager, he wouldn’t necessarily know about Eastwood’s dealings with the media. The actor has no publicist.
Eastwood, who stars in the upcoming movie “Trouble with the Curve,” maintains Obama doesn’t deserve a second term as president.