Responding to a week of non-stop attacks on his speech to the Republican National Convention last Thursday, Hollywood superstar Clint Eastwood blasted his critics, saying they were “obviously on the left” and that they couldn’t bear to hear him tell the truth about their hero, President Barack Obama.
“President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” Eastwood told the Carmel Pine Cone, the local newspaper in his hometown of Carmel, California. “Romney and Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that’s what everybody needs to know. I may have irritated a lot of the lefties, but I was aiming for people in the middle.”
In the interview, Eastwood revealed that his speech, which was delivered without a teleprompter or script, was unplanned until almost the last minute:
It was only after a quick nap in his hotel room a few blocks from the convention site, Eastwood said, that he mapped out his remarks — starting with his observation about politics in Hollywood, then challenging the president about the failure of his economic policies, and wrapping up by telling the public “they don’t have to worship politicians, like they were royalty or something.”
But even then, with just an hour before he appeared on stage, it still hadn’t occurred to Eastwood to use an empty chair as a stand-in for the president.
“I got to the convention site just 15 or 20 minutes before I was scheduled to go on,” he said. “That was fine, because everything was very well organized.”
After a quick trip through airport-style security, he was taken to a Green Room, where Archbishop Dolan of New York sought him out to say hello. Then he was taken backstage to wait for his cue. And that was when inspiration struck.
“There was a stool there, and some fella kept asking me if I wanted to sit down,” Eastwood said. “When I saw the stool sitting there, it gave me the idea. I’ll just put the stool out there and I’ll talk to Mr. Obama and ask him why he didn’t keep all of the promises he made to everybody.”
He asked a stagehand to take it out to the lectern while he was being announced.
“The guy said, ‘You mean you want it at the podium?’ and I said, ‘No, just put it right there next to it.’”
Eastwood did admit that he stumbled a bit in his delivery, saying “that’s what happens when you don’t have a written-out speech.” With that said, the actor told the paper that he felt like he accomplished what he set out to do which was to focus on three key 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.”
As a refresher, here is Eastwood's speech in full:
