Commentary

Spot Proves Clint Is A Romney 'Stake' Holder, After all

So much for my theory that Clint Eastwood’s empty chair-talking stunt during the Republican National Convention was actually a performance designed to sabotage Mitt Romney’s big moment. While Clint’s WTF act did steal some thunder and created a sense of weirdness leading into Romney’s nomination acceptance speech, he apparently is a genuine Romney supporter, and appears in a new campaign ad to prove it.

The spot, which to me evokes a bit of the tone Clint struck during this brilliant “half-time in America” spot for Chrysler during the Super Bowl (which some Republicans took to be pro-Obama), features Clint’s gravely voiceover discussing key campaign points like unemployment and foreign debt, and notes, “When somebody doesn’t get the job done, you have to hold them accountable” to images of President Obama boarding Air Force One and meeting with Joe Biden.

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“We need someone who can turn it around fast,” Clint continues, “and that man is Mitt Romney.”

The spot ends with a close-up of Clint appealing, “There’s not much time left, and the future of our country is at stake.” It ends by attributing the spot to American Crossroads, the super PAC that is supporting the Romney/Ryan ticket.

According to political blog Politico, the spot, dubbed “At Stake,” was taped at Client’s home in Northern California, and is part of a $12.6 million flight (including two other spots) in key battleground states.

So Clint really is a Romney supporter. Either that, or he felt like he owed them one hell of a makegood.

 

7 comments about "Spot Proves Clint Is A Romney 'Stake' Holder, After all".
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  1. Dan Auito from Next Century Studios, October 24, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.

    Mitt is going to crush this loser!

  2. Brent Skinner from STETrevisions, October 24, 2012 at 2:51 p.m.

    No everyone who receives the MediaPost email is a dopey progressive. It never ceases to amaze me how transparently partisan this e-newsletter is. A good half of business people vote Republican. Start acting like a large contingent of your audience has an opinion different than yours.

  3. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, October 24, 2012 at 3 p.m.

    Joe, don't sound so disappointed. A slight majority of Americans are tired of Obama. They're not sure Romney will be better, but they're confident that the incumbent had his chance and fell short. Of course, I'm still undecided.

  4. Joe Mandese from MediaPost Inc., October 24, 2012 at 3:36 p.m.

    Honestly, we're just trying to cover the media and marketing stories behind the campaign. If anyone reads more than that then, well, you are reading between the lines. If I inadvertently expressed some partisianship for any candidate, I am sorry, because it is not our intention. And for what it is worth, where genuine opinions are concerened, we try to be an equal opportunity platform. Hence the comments I am responding to. But if any readers have a legitimate point-of-view - partisan or otherwise - about the industrial implications of these campaigns (you know, media, advertising, marketing), we would welcome the opportunity to publish them. Otherwise, the only partisan thing I have to say on the matter is that I hope everyone goes out and votes.

  5. Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC, October 24, 2012 at 3:40 p.m.

    That's a big-time make good. And this is a useful media oriented story. Thanks!

    (I'm voting for the other guy. But we should all be studying every move that's made from a strategic and tactical point of view for our own media work.)

  6. John Grono from GAP Research, October 24, 2012 at 3:51 p.m.

    Joe, looking through a lens from afar down here in Australia, I can't sense even a hint of partisanship. But then I am with the rest of the world regarding opinions as to the two candidates.

  7. Cece Forrester from tbd, October 24, 2012 at 5:51 p.m.

    Clint's performance at the Republican convention was crazy like a fox. It was brilliantly subversive improv, channeling Bob Newhart and similar influences. He is too accomplished an actor not to have known what he was doing, even down to the disheveled hair. Part of the effect of the delivery was to keep people off-balance and hanging on his words to catch each one. Another aspect of the surprise sketch was to get the message and symbols spread virally, with even people who didn't get it passing it on to people who would. Do you have any idea how the chair thing caught on across America? The whole thing was communication strategy at its finest, if you ask me. The new spot is more conventional, of course, but it will surely remind them of the other performance and gain additional buzz while it homes in on the key closing points.

    And no, I don't think you were being partisan. Many on the right had the same take--at least before they thought about it some more. If some readers appear hypersensitive, it may be because they run into a lot of people who can't even conceive that anyone they know might hold opposing opinions politically yet not have an evil heart, and they have a tendency to betray this view. As a result some keep their opinions to themselves, others do not, and the former are well aware of the partisan imbalance--some compensation I guess for being unrecognized.

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