Clint Eastwood 'ad libs' at RNC - New York News | NYC Breaking News

Clint Eastwood 'ad libs' at RNC

Clint Eastwood's mock interview of President Obama and other provocative words during the final night of the RNC became the dominant topic of discussion on Twitter.

Eastwood spoke for more than 11 minutes Thursday night, ahead of remarks by Sen. Marco Rudio of Florida and then the nominee himself, former Gov. Mitt Romney.

"So I -- so I've got Mr. Obama sitting here. And he's -- I was going to ask him a couple of questions," Eastwood said, gesturing at an empty chair.

"So anyway, we're going to have -- we're going to have to have a little chat about that. And then, I just wondered, all these promises -- I wondered about when the -- what do you want me to tell Romney? I can't tell him to do that. I can't tell him to do that to himself," Eastwood continued.

Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz tweeted: "There is a reason conventions are scripted. Clint's empty chair act weirdest convention moment I have ever seen."

Film critic Roger Ebert, an outspoken liberal, tweeted: "Clint, my hero, is coming across as sad and pathetic. He didn't need to do this to himself. It's unworthy of him."

But the Hollywood legends remarks were not to be considered a "speech," according to the Romney campaign.

"Judging an American icon like Clint Eastwood through a typical political lens doesn't work. His ad libbing was a break from all the political speeches, and the crowd enjoyed it," the campaign said in a statement.

Eastwood remarked that many Americans, including Orpah Winfrey, cried with joy when Obama won the election in 2008 and that even he "was even crying. And then finally -- and I haven't cried that hard since I found out that there is 23 million unemployed people in this country."