I want to retract what I said yesterday about Clint Eastwood at the Republican convention. I was clearly wrong.
That evening, I had C-SPAN on in the living room and listened to the convention while working on the computer in my office. When Eastwood came on, I dropped what I was doing and went out to watch. But I guess I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for his schtick, and I didn’t really get it. Apparently, plenty of other people did.
Based on the praise of Eastwood on talk radio and numerous conservative/libertarian websites, the positive reaction of some of my co-workers and friends, and the negative reaction of the Socialist Democrats and their media sycophants, I thought maybe I should watch it again. So I did, here. This time I got it.
Although surely not scripted, this was a carefully planned and well-executed comedic performance. It hit the mark. Read some of the comments at that Belmont Club post where I watched it. Eastwood reminded various people of Jimmy Stewart, Bob Newhart, Will Rogers, and his own role as Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino — and they’re all right! As Richard Fernandez suggested, it was Everyman quietly and simply poking fun at Obama and Biden (really, all the politicians who desire to rule over us), reminding us and them that “they are our employees” and that they’ve earned a poor job performance evaluation.
It was also very politically effective, as Belmont Club commenter Dworking Bariman observed:
This proves that Clint’s gambit was utterly successful and devastating. President Thin Skin just revealed a tell. Clint masterfully deployed Alinsky Rule #5 (RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.) The GOP must keep hammering at this chink in his armor relentlessly. Keep it funny and self-deprecating like Clint did, and you will also fulfill Rule 6 (RULE 6: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.). That’s why Breitbart was the ultimate happy warrior. He lived and breathed this stuff.
What he said.
Boy, do I miss Breitbart.
(HT: Instapundit via Life’s Better Ideas)