‘Dirty’ dishes it!
Clint aims at Bam in Mitt fest
TAMPA — “Dirty Harry” made Mitt Romney’s day — delivering a doublebarreled assault on President Obama in a surprise appearance at the Republican convention.
Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, whose appearance had been kept under wraps, began by recalling the heady days of Obama’s 2008 election.
“They were talking about hope and change and they were talking about ‘Yes we can’ . . . And I just thought, ‘This is great.’ Everyone was crying. Oprah was crying. I was even crying,” he quipped.
“I haven’t cried that hard since I found out that there’s 23 million unemployed people in this country,” he said, calling that a “national disgrace.”
The 82year old star then laced into Obama for not delivering on a promise to close Guantanamo and escalating the war in Afghanistan without checking “with the Russians to see how they did there for 10 years.”
“OK, I thought maybe it was just because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City,” he said to applause.
“Possibly maybe it might be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem,” he said in another droll comment as he continued his 11minute meandering monologue — which continued despite a flashing red light as the TelePrompTer stopped rolling.
Standing next to an empty chair with his gray haired tussled, Eastwood then transitioned into a vaudeville act as if Obama were sitting next to him and throwing out comments.
“What do you mean shut up?” he quipped.
“What do you want me to tell Romney? I can’t tell him to do that to himself. You’re absolutely crazy. You’re getting as bad as Biden.”
“Judging an American icon like Clint Eastwood through a typical political lens doesn’t work,” said a Romney campaign aide, who appeared to be preparing for criticism from the routine. “His adlibbing was a break from all the political speeches, and the crowd enjoyed it.”
“Referring all questions on this to Salvador Dali,” quipped Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt, referencing the infamously eccentric painter.
Eastwood also ripped Obama for traveling a gasguzzling truck and flying around in a big plane despite being an “ecological man.” “When somebody does not do the job, we gotta let ’em go,” he said.
Then, Eastwood gave in to the crowd by concluding with his most famous line: “Go ahead, make my day.”