Clint Eastwood On RNC Speech: Message Was Simple ' Don't Idolize Politicians, They Work For You

» 63 comments

Speaking with CNN in his first televised interview since his much talked about RNC speech, Clint Eastwood was asked what sort of feedback he received after his 'empty chair routine.'

RELATED: Mitt Romney: 'I Was Laughing At' Clint Eastwood's 'Great Thrill' Of A Speech

'One advantage of being my age,' Eastwood shared, 'is that, you know, what can they do? You just have fun and do what you think and you can say what you think and not have to edit yourself.'

When asked if he regretted his speech, Eastwood shook his head. Then, when told that Mitt Romney had enjoyed the speech, Eastwood shared that the GOP nominee has a much better sense of humor than he's often given credit for.

Eastwood was he hadn't meant to be disrespectful in his speech ' a criticism that keeps popping up in discussions of his presentation ' but noted that people often end up insulting one another in politics. His message, he said, is that you don't have to 'idolize' people in politics ' they're here to work for you. He dismissed the idea of having 'movie actors playing politicians' (presumably speaking figuratively, as Eastwood himself is both an actor and a former mayor) adding that there needs to be 'more work and less talk' overall in politics.

Watch, courtesy of CNN:

• He could have just articulated that in a simple coherent speech. The DNC got Kal Penn to speak at their convention and he's a comedian. Yet, he managed to get laughs without embarrassing the candidate or the party.

• Clint, if you're telling the far left not to idolize Obama, that ship has sailed.

• Tell that to the Reagan cultists

• The DNC convention in summary: abortion, abortion, free contraceptives, Republicans are evil, abortion, abortion, boo God and Israel, abortion, abortion, free contraceptives, Republicans are evil, free contraception, sexual harasser and womanizer adored by crowd and media

• you mean like the cons deify Palin? how they put the face of W on the body of Christ? you mean like that?
  difference between cons and dems..
  dems have respect'cons idolize..
  dems feel things are earned -cons feel they are ordained
  dems look at deeds-cons look at feelings
  dems like Obama because he is smart and honest-cons like their fools because they exploit their flawed faith
  dems offer facts to prove their arguments-cons distort facts and logic to support their agenda
  there are clear differences..
  dems work from a factual empirical world and cons rely on a faith they know nothing about, based on a book they have never read and on words they really have no desire in obeying.

• Sounds like an awesome party.

• Yes, honest. Like attending Wright's church for twenty years, then saying he wasn't that familiar with Wright's beliefs.

• Clint is awesome. Love his movies. Admire him for speaking his mind. He just seems like he is someone who loves his country and is sick and tired of sitting around and watching our country down down the tubes. Alot of people have these same feelings and you will see it in November. We cannot continue on this path.

• Hard concept for the left to understand when they worship the ground the Food Stamp President walks on

• I can give Eastwood a pass because he is a senile angry old white guy (GOP base) but if Mittens really thought it funny and appropriate that tells all you need to know his fitness for office.

• Some people have to be spoon fed. And it obviously worked. His message got through' as opposed to the example you offered. Kal Penn' who??? And what did he say???

• Bigot

• Clint Eastwood to limp-wristed, latte-sipping lamestream low-life liberals: 'Feel lucky today? Well, do ya, punks?'

• 'or actors because they are trained monkeys.

  You sir made you living scowling at the screen, you are no Pachino, De Niro, etc.

• Yeah, you just feel like, Hey man where do we enlist? I sure go for that booing of non-existent flying sky monsters, my gaming guild is big on that; plus, oh. how. shock. ing. to. think. sex. is. hap. pen. ing. at. a. con. ven. tion., just ooo gross me out, where's the free contraception booth, does the mandatory abortion come with parking validation, can I redeem my unlimited forced gay marriage when I get back to Springfield or is it only valid on site, and I sure wish they'd reschedule so the Sodom and Gomorrah panels aren't on simultaneously.

• How so? What part of that is not true? Even the GOP admits they are the party of angry old white guys.

• Can our absent president please step up and address the nation on this full blown crisis we are in. He has had one press conference, spoke for 5 minutes, answered no questions from the press and then went back to campaigning.

  Obama 2007: The Day I'm Inaugurated Muslim Hostility will Ease
  Hope & Change

• He proved how much he loved his country when he acknowledged Obama's saving of Chrysler when he proclaimed'

  'This country can't be knocked out with one punch. We get right back up again and when we do the world is going to hear the roar of our engines.'

  And what was Willard's take on that? 'Let Detroit Go Bankrupt'

• I LIKE Clint and all, but he's such a stiff as an actor, he actually makes John Wayne seem animated. He's shown lots of daring with his subject matter on the films he's produced and directed, but not many of them have received the care required to make them truly interesting. I'd put him as a B minus artistic director, but he gets a half a gold star for effort.

• That is like Mittens being raised in the Mormon Church and pretending he is not racists.

• Dont really have much of an issue with clint, if anything he contributed to Obama's re-election efforts, with that bizarre performance a few weeks ago.

• The three people who lost the election for Mitt Romney:

  Clint Eastwood, Bill Clinton and Amb. Stevens.

• Yes. He should be like Rev. Wright and be right up front about it.

• Well, you're certainly entitled to live in your own personal conceit and share it with the full range of white Merkins from A to D, but there's a full alphabet soup of three hundred plus folks out there making up 'the citizenry', and a lot of them are hurting, for jobs, for shelter, for food even, and if it's your idea to let them all gets cups and pencils and beg on street corners or die of starvation and their families and kids with them, I'm gonna have to dissent because that's just nutty, pointless, cruel, stupid, and inhumane. I mean, if those are the parameters of your value system, fine, go ahead and vote for pols who'll make your dream come true, but forget your blathering about jeebus and gawd and charity and all that crap about VALUES, the rest of us know exactly what you are, which is a raging hypocrite with a religiotic gold-boogering 'intellectual' erection. Me, I'm working and voting for the other guy.

• Exactly!

  At least I know where I stand with Reverend Wright. He is man enough to stand by his convictions.

• At last. Someone on the left who admits that Obama spent twenty years in an openly racist church. The Mormons wimped out in the seventies and changed their racial policies. But not Obama's church. Stick to those racist guns!

• Typical color blind lib. Categorize everyone like farm animals. Divide and conquer. And then act like nothing is amiss with their thinking. You're a racist bigot and you act like you don't know it. You're either stupid or you're a liar.

• Deal with it.

• @yahoo-VIE76EWK2OJCM6JO7KRUZCQVBE:disqus is a troll.

  Best ignored. I guess you probably figured that out when he uses the word bigot and it has absolutely no relation to the post at all.

• Hey, congrats. So many of your leftist brethren won't admit they hate white people. Your honesty is a breath of fresh air.

• In your mind.

• Got a problem with white people? That kinda stuff really shows up in lib thought again and again. Blithe stereotypes based on race. Sad really.

• Thanks for the funny post. Color blind means that race doesn't matter. That would then make you the bigot because race clearly does matter to you. I venture to guess that you are one of those angry and senile old white men.

• Sure pal. What negative stereotypes do actual rather than imaginary ethnic groups admit to? What about the NHL? What's their racial agenda? Or 4 white guys in a car?

• You're a stereotyping idiot. Why WOULDN'T you vote for Obama. That's what he's all about? Got your racist merch yet? https://store.barackobama.com/obama-2012-store-collections/obama-2012-store-african-americans-for-obama/african-americans-for-obama-button-combo.html

• You must not read the news. I believe we've been kept pretty up to date on what's been going on.

• Hahahaha. Says a disciple of 'da won.' In an empirical world, y'know, one with principles, having black folks for Obama buttons is racist if having white folks for Romney buttons is racist. In an empirical world, there are no such double standards. In your world, there is. https://store.barackobama.com/obama-2012-store-collections/obama-2012-store-african-americans-for-obama/african-americans-for-obama-button-combo.html

• Show us video of Mormons stomping and clapping over anti-black remarks. They don't exist.

• So you point out race to point out that other people point out race.

• He's also an ignorant racist so nice to know where you stand. Knew it already. I have principles ' I don't have to guess.

• On CNN no less ' some of the biggest adorers of Obama on that network. They love him, lie for him, cover up for him and claim the attacks on the anniversary of 9/11 were the result of a 'movie'.
  The people are smarter than the press, thank God. Diane, Brian and Scott look like idiots reading Obama taking points on the air.

  Clint is right ' he sees how the media and the liberal left personalities adore Obama, they treat him like a cult leader, and that is a very dangerous circumstance ' think Germany. When the German press started to notice and write about our US press and their adulation for the One, you know this country is in a world of hurt.
  R&R in November.

• You talk as if your personal opinion is science.

• I thought you tea baggers were proud of your aryan heritage?

• Brigham Young ordered the killings of 120 men, women and children at the Mountain Meadows in Utah

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre

  This explains Romeny:

  The Mormans also believe in lying for the Lord

  Lying for the Lord refers to the practice of lying to protect the image of and belief in the Mormon religion, a practice which Mormonism itself fosters in various ways.

• Lying for the Lord refers to the practice of lying to protect the image of and belief in the Mormon religion, a practice which Mormonism itself fosters in various ways

• The media is not our president. Would love to know what he is going to do besides appease and take the video off youtube and take away first amendment rights.

  PS ' video is not why they are invading us. http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/video-didn-t-do-it_652387.html

• He dismissed the idea of having 'movie actors playing politicians'

  Who has a history of doing this? Why, that would be the Republicans, who elected a B-movie actor to play the role of president for two terms.

• Poor Clint. Again and again he has to explain exactly what he meant.

• Only because so many people are too stupid to understand it.

• 'There was a message?

• Yes indeed, our genius leader has placed 100% of the blame on some guy who made a video.

• Get off my lawn!

• Yes that Detroit deal was great for the unions. But ask the 20,000 non union employee's who lost everything what they think of it. Ask the dealership owners (mostly Republicans) who lost everything what they think of it. It should of gone through bankruptcy court not the feds. If people really knew the details of that whole deal no dem would be talking about it just like they wont talk about Obamacare.

• Thanks for the history lesson. Dept. of Justice crime stats today say the biggest threat to black men is other black men. Care to expound on that?

• I'll pass on the Weekly Standard, just the same.

  And the denial of the video not being the catalyst in all of this belies the reality of the situation. There are other reasons, no doubt. The terrorists really don't like the fact that our supposedly weak President has taken out tens of thousands of them including a couple of thousand of their leaders, but the kick off for this little 'showing of Muslim ass' was the video.

  Four have died. Hopefully that's all that will die this time, but you can bet your ass some other dipwad is in the process of beginning to exercise his first amendment rights, and get more people killed.

• Dude you only hear what you want to hear.

  The President placed the blame squarely on the f'king terrorists. That's why the CIA, Marines and God only knows who and what else are in the process of bombarding Libya to actually find the people responsible.

  Now, you dumbass do you seriously think that we would be doing all of that if the only person responsible was the jackass who made the freaking video?

  If you have any active braincells left, see if you can get them to focus on reality for a minute.

• I don't understand the old man in the park who yells at the pigeons either. Guess I'm just too stupid.

• I agree that they have many more reasons besides a youtube video. But why is this administration going around and claiming that this has nothing to do with American policy.

  Carney made it clear that the protests across the Muslim world
  targeting U.S. embassies and consulates, is in no way directed at the
  policies of President Obama's administration.

  Carney said that the protests were EXCLUSIVELY aimed at a video which
  is highly critical of Islam that a U.S.-based filmmaker put online in
  June.

  So let's take down the video and agree to any other demands they request. And in no time at all we will all be praising to Allah at gun point.

• Coherence and premeditation are akin to spoon-feeding? That explains a lot, actually.

• You talk as if science is a personal opinion (with a leftwing agenda).

• President W. Bush?

• 'What? What do you want me to tell HopeyChangey? I can't tell him to do that to himself. You're absolutely crazy!'

• Ford Fairlane wasn't such a stretch.