I've always liked Clint Eastwood. If he screwed things up for Mitt Romney's big night -- well, all the more reason to like him. When he addressed an "Obama" who exists only in his imagination, he encapsulated the entire Republican act.

In the words of this tweet:

Yesterday, upon a chair
Clint met a man who wasn’t there
How sad it is that Rowdy Yates
Has ended up as Orly Taitz

Given the surrealism of the occasion, it was a little hard to tell -- did Clint (or did Clint not) instruct the ObamaChair that we have no business in Afghanistan? And did Clint say these words in a room filled with Muslim-hating neo-cons nominating a man who says he wants to stay in Afghanistan -- like, forever? And did Clint Eastwood also take the traditionally liberal position that Obama should have closed the prison at Gitmo? If so, the award-winning director managed to pull off an astonishing coup de theatre: What he said was not only right on the money but cringe-inducing for both Republicans and Democrats. Awesome!

Given the choice between Obama, Romney and an empty chair, I might be tempted to vote for the chair. But since we're restricted to Obama and Romney, I'm going to have to hold my nose and endorse Obama. Eastwood was right to be angry about our current high unemployment figures, but nobody in his right mind should expect the CEO of Offshore International to do much to improve the situation.

By the way: The people who scheduled Eastwood for the RNC gig are probably too young to recall the first time Clint presented an award during an Oscar telecast. 1969, I think it was. A much younger Clint Eastwood spoke incoherently for a minute or so, then apologized to the audience: "Hey, this ain't my bag."