So…where were you during Clint’s convention meltdown?
Am I wrong in presuming this will become one of the great unfortunate, unintentional defining moments of an American icon’s life?
First and foremost: Respect! (And happy props to Adam Ant, who had serious game in his short prime):
Let’s not get carried away: on artistic and cultural levels, Clint has so much goodwill in the bank, so many classic movies and moments, it really does seem almost unkind to scoff at him. But scoff we must; after all, he obliges us to. He was not forced to put on that farce last night, and it was his choice to undercut his credibility with a rambling, incoherent (and occasionally offensive) diatribe. Imagine how both the GOP and the media at large would react if any Hollywood legend disrespected a sitting Republican president so brazenly? I’m neither offended nor outraged: even if his delivery had been intelligible it’s just one dude’s opinion. Mostly I’m grateful that, like so many of today’s Republicans (Hello Akin! I’m looking at you, Christie!) he did much of our heavy lifting for us. How can you effectively mock someone when they do it so forcefully, themselves?
This is what I wrote, in real time, as it was going down: What’s up with Katherine Hepburn…I mean Clint Eastwood. Boy is this embarrassing on multiple levels.
Clint’s best actor for a comedic role almost blew up the Internet. The best (of the myriad) tweets I saw came courtesy of Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie), who wrote: This is a perfect representation of the campaign: an old white man arguing with an imaginary Barack Obama.
And that’s the thing: all punchlines aside, Eastwood’s performance art was really the apotheosis of the boogeyman the GOP have tried to create not merely during this convention, but for the past four years. Little fact-checking is necessary to counter the reality that virtually every unhinged claim these clowns make is false. Obama can be –and has been– accused of many things, but being an American-hating Socialist is not among them.
In this regard it’s delightful to see a party so accustomed to bloviating about how only they can keep America safe have to essentially swallow a super-sized cup of shut the fuck up since Obama dealt with OBL and, knock wood, there have been 0.0 terrorist attacks on American soil. (Yes, it was amusing to see Condoleeza Rice –Condoleeza Rice!!!– who had that whole 9/11 thing and Iraq adventure go down on her watch, grasp at any opportunity to impugn Obama’s national security bona fides. It was futile, and it was more than a little appalling. But what else have they got?)
Did you hear the names Bush or Cheney a single time this week? I didn’t. And there’s a good reason why: aside from the cognitive dissonance it requires to be a Republican these days, even the most blissfully belligerent denial freaks understand that 2001-2008 is verboten. Just because all Romney/Ryan are offering is an aggressive, shameless return (retreat?) to the same policies that wrecked the country, doesn’t mean they are dumb enough to actually reveal the blueprint. (It speaks volumes that Ryan boasted about wanting to have this debate about his Rand-inspired roadmap, and yet he has hastily retreated from practically every position he has espoused the last decade, whether it’s abortion or Medicare or how deficits are created in the first place). Despite the typical tough talking, these little boys still don’t have the cowardice of their convictions to turn the spotlight, even for a second, on what actually happened and who was at the wheel when it did.
Still, these cretins have a ton of money to burn, and the attack ads aren’t going to get less negative or profusive. They will continue to pollute the airwaves, and I can scarcely imagine –at least without gagging– how ubiquitous and disgusting the commercials will be toward the end of October.
Let’s hope the Dems bring their A-game to Charlotte. There is a lot of spurious and potentially damaging spin to unspool, and a clear, compelling case to lay out before the undecided voters. (Let’s not linger on the fact that there are undecided voters; that there are people for whom 2001-2008 was not sufficient evidence of what to avoid, and let’s definitely not call out the vitriol and resistance to Obama –the best conservative president of the last quarter-century– for what it is: straight-up bigotry. Period, end of story. That the hastily debunked welfare ads even had a chance at being successful illustrates how brutally backwards huge chunks of our country remain, and the strides we still need to make. A lot more needs to happen if we aspire to live up to those blithely-invoked precepts Republicans are so programmed to repeat. This nation is exceptional in so many ways, but that American Dream should be applicable to more than those happy fools born on third base.)
Let’s laugh today, Clint Eastwood gave us a gift last night. But let’s also do our parts to counter the ill communication and mendacity that currently props up the GOP platform. I’m happy to laugh today, but I’m not trying to be crying in November.
And Clint, I guess it’s safe to say that the “right turns” were easier to pull off back in the day.
