Clint Eastwood Breaks Silence On His Republican Convention Speech: ‘Mission Accomplished’

Clint Eastwood wants you to know that he doesn’t care if he “irritated a lot of lefties” with his Republican National Convention empty chair monologue last Thursday night because he “was aiming for the people in the middle.”

In an interview with the Carmel (Calif.) Pine Cone about the empty chair speech, Eastwood said “President Obama is the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. Romney and Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that’s what everybody needs to know.”

Eastwood, who was the mayor of Carmel from 1986 to 1988, said he wanted to make three points in his convention appearance:

“That not everybody in Hollywood is on the left, that Obama has broken a lot of the promises he made when he took office, and that the people should feel free to get rid of any politician who’s not doing a good job. But I didn’t make up my mind exactly what I was going to say until I said it.”

The actor/director explained the Romney campaign couldn’t vett his speech because he himself didn’t know what he was going to say, and that he also hates using a teleprompter. Even the decision to bring the now-famous empty chair on stage was made at the last minute.

In the interview, he conceded that his rambling presentation was “unorthodox” but had no idea until the next day that the Twittersphere and other social media had erupted over what became to be known as “Eastwooding.”

Most of the criticism of his presentation was politically motivated, Eastwood maintains:

Eastwood said people, including reporters, who were shocked by his remarks “are obviously on the left,” and he maintained that, while many Americans didn’t like the way he handled his convention appearance, millions more have something else on their minds.

“A lot of people are realizing they had the wool pulled over their eyes by Obama,” Eastwood said.

Eastwood’s speech even prompted a National Empty Chair Day on Labor Day.

Do you think that Clint Eastwood’s extemporaneous speech at the Republican Convention will help Mitt Romney win the presidency?