Clint Eastwood at the GOP convention: An enormous mistake.

I like Clint's movies, as actor and director.  I collect every Western he's ever done.  But having him talk on stage at the convention, was a mistake.

This was not the old Clint who'd talk carefully with measured words.

Of course he wouldn't do a script; it was all ad-lib.  But it was impossible to follow along with his disjointed stuttering, filled with an "uh" in every five words, in a very weird, imagined dialog with President Obama.

I feel embarrassed for Clint, that he agreed to speak, only to come so unprepared.  The crowd was searching for something - anything - to cheer about, and towards the end, they did get some very solid cheers in there, albeit over trite rhetoric that both sides routinely use...government works for us...fire the clowns...yada yada.

I think the TV journalists were too stunned to find quite the right words to praise his speech.