Every politician wants the endorsement of Hollywood stars.  They're so glaaaamorous.  The problem is, most stars are Democrats.  So the GOP has to settle for whomever they can get.  In this case, they got Clint Eastwood, and a bit more than they bargained for.
    With a long string of iconic American films to his credit, many of which he directed beautifully, it's easy to forget that Clint Eastwood isn't much of an actor.  Never was.  When "the outlaw Josie Wales" climbs effortlessly onto his horse and rides off into the sunset, the effect is pretty powerful.  What you don't see is the previous five takes in which Eastwood steps in horse shit and misses the stirrup.  Last night the GOP was treated to the horse shit take.  Eastwood, with his hair messed up and looking less like Harry Callahan and more like an old man who just got out of bed, mumbled his way through an unscripted, unedited conversation with an imaginary President Obama sitting in an empty chair.  The audience applauded, but I think they were fairly shocked.   Pee Wee Herman would have been more effective.
    The closer for the evening was, of course, the candidate, Mitt Romney.  His entrance was choreographed to look like the president entering the House for the State of the Union speech.  From a distance it looked pretty good, but with today's modern, light weight cameras no more than six feet away, you could see that his greetings to the conventioneers along the rope line were about as real and heartfelt as Jay Leno's nightly entrance on The Tonight Show.
    His speech was ... not bad.  He isn't a comfortable speaker.  It was obviously well rehearsed and I think he probably accomplished what he set out to do.  Like his wife, he spent a lot of time pandering to women.  He noted how many women had held top positions in his Massachusetts administration.  He did not mention the plank in the GOP platform which dictates the behavior of those women should they become pregnant.
    He spoke glowingly of his family, whom he obviously loves, and moved on to sharply criticize the president's policies.  I noticed that at the end of every phrase he tilted his head to one side and made a you-know-I'm right face.  It's as if he were saying, "Come on, we were fair, we gave the colored guy a chance and he just didn't work out.  Now let's get serious."  I'll bet it's the same face he made to his high school class mates when he held one of them down and cut off his hair.  "Come on,  the guy's a fag.  You know I'm right."
    Lost in the excitement of Clint Eastwood and the hoop-la of Mitt Romney was a very effective speech by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.  As he walked through his talking points, you couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if Carl Rove had met him instead of George W.
    Let's take a week off and then gird our loins for the Democratic Convention.  I hope George Clooney doesn't talk to an empty chair.