Romney campaign aides are trying to avoid blame for the campaign’s idea to have Clint Eastwood speak at the Republican National Convention, the New York Times reports, following Eastwood’s peculiar, rambling dialogue with an empty chair meant to represent President Obama.
“Not me,” said an exasperated-looking senior adviser, when asked who was responsible for Mr. Eastwood’s speech. In late-night interviews, aides variously called the speech “strange” and “weird.” One described it as “theater of the absurd.”
At the same time, Romney adviser Stuart Stevens voiced an on-the-record approval of the speech.
“He spoke from the heart with a classic improv sketch which everyone at the convention loved,” Mr. Stevens said, also calling it “an honor that a great American icon would come and talk about the failure of the current president and the promise of the future one.”
