Why Clint Eastwood And His Empty Chair Was Political Genius

As I'm sure the gentle reader is already aware of, the Republicans made a bold move to have a special guest speaker on the last night of their convention. The guest speaker was Clint Eastwood who did a peculiar routine with an empty chair and a make believe President Barack Obama. Here is an abridged version of his stunt:



If you really want to see the full 12-minute version, click here.

The reactions were mixed, but trended to the negative.

The people that did like it were the socially and emotionally disfunctional ones like Dad29, who also thinks the answer to everything is to buy more ammo.

Another fan of Eastwood's performance is the Las Vegas Badger, who also thinks that actors and actresses shouldn't be allowed to have an opinion. Of course, since he only has this issue when it comes to liberal women, it could be that he is simply a hypocritical misogynist.

Scott Walker thought that the stunt was cringe-worthy. Other Republicans also wasted no time in backpedaling from Eastwood's bizarre routine.

But for all their hair-pulling and teeth-gnashing, the undeniable truth is that they all gave him a standing ovation when he was done. Not exactly what you would call a thumbs down.

The Democrats and liberals, which aren't always the same thing, were having a field day panning the routine.

Zach Wisniewski opined that Eastwood won a bet on how badly he screwed over Mitt Romney, and said, "started out as a train wreck and quickly turned into an unmitigated disaster,and his speech tonight will likely go down in history as one of the worst nominee lead-ins of all time."

I respectfully disagree with Zach and others who think that Eastwood hurt Romney. If anything, I think it helped him. Reince Priebus probably new that it would take a crazy old man yelling at an empty chair to make Romney look normal.

Too bad for them that even this attempt at boosting Romney's normalcy didn't pan out. The whole convention, a week of pomp and circumstance to anoint their chosen one, failed to give him even the slightest of bumps in the polls.

Hell, if it wasn't for Eastwood, Romney probably would have continued to lose ground as he's been doing since he doubled down on dumb by selecting Ryan as a running mate. And no, not that kind of running, mate.

Walkergate: You Don't Suppose...

I received an email from a faithful reader today that got me musing over the latest bit of news to come from the ongoing saga of Walkergate in which Tim Russell's fourth attorney, Dennis Krueger, opened the door for Attorney #5 by getting a job as a state prosecutor in Fond du Lac County.

The question is just how did he swing that deal?

Now, Fond du Lac County's District Attorney's Office has been known to make some boneheaded moves, so Krueger might fit in, although if incompetence is a standard for them, Krueger just might be overqualified. After all, he is the one that helped former Waukesha County DA Paul Bucher blow the case against Mark Chmura:

Earlier in the day, Boyle tried to raise questions of misconduct when he questioned an assistant prosecutor.

Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Dennis Krueger, who was removed from Chmura's case last month so he could testify as a witness, said that he moved parts of a defense exhibit and he has watched parts of other testimony on television in alleged violation of a court order.

"I am offended," Boyle told the judge, after a heated cross-examination. "I think it goes to his motive, his bias and his involvement."

Bucher told the judge that Krueger had done nothing wrong.

"Mr. Boyle feels he has the right to trash anyone's reputation in the defense of his client. He's playing for the cameras," Bucher said.

"Let's bring it down a notch, both of you," Gempeler said.

Krueger was a prosecutor assigned to Chmura's case, but Gempeler removed him from the team so that he could testify about a meeting with key defense witness Michael Kleber.

Krueger testified that he and Bucher never coerced Kleber, a high school football star who attended the post-prom party, to change his original statement.

Kleber initially told police that he saw Chmura's accuser go into the bathroom with a smile. He later changed his statement to say he remembered little about the night because he had been drinking. On the stand last week, he gave an account similar to his original statement.

But did Krueger have any help getting that state job?

Frankly, I don't know.

But if he did, it would require someone who would want Russell's trial delayed and the pull to make the hiring happen to accomplish the delay.

And there's only one person who fits that description. And that same person already has a certain level of familiarity with Krueger and has helped him in the past:

Republican Waukesha County District Attorney Candidate Dennis Krueger has officially filed his nomination papers at the State Elections Board and also picked up a major endorsement from Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker.

And if one reads the press release further, they would see a lot of familiar names who have been of note lately for their allegiance to Walker and the Kochs:

In addition to Scott Walker and Republican Representative Gundrum and Waukesha County Executive Vrakas, Krueger has also been endorsed by Republican State Senators Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield), and Neil Kedzie (R-Elkorn), and State Representatives Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc), Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa), Ann Nischke (R-Waukesha), and Don Pridemore (R-Hartford). Former Congressman Mark Neumann, his wife Sue, Hartland Police Chief Robert Rosch and many other law enforcement officials are supporting Dennis in his bid to replace Paul Bucher.

But I'm sure that's all just coincidence, right?

Walkergate: The Movie!

OK, maybe not a movie.  Heck, it wouldn't even qualify as a movie trailer. But it is a hard-hitting thirty second commercial from the Democrats.



And yes, I do take a little bit of pride in being one of the first to use the term Walkergate.

Oh, and the Nixon comparison? Yeah, I did that one too.

What Did Liberals Do That Was So Offensive To The Republican Party?

Just sayin'.

Biddle For Chairman!

With Lee Holloway retiring at the end of this term, about half of the supervisors on the Milwaukee County Board have already been eyeing up the Chairman of the Board's seat.

Unfortunately, this is not something that the people get to vote for.  It is decided by the supervisors on who gets this prestigious position.

But I think the supervisors could do a helluva a lot worse than going with Eyon Biddle, especially when he shows common sense in regards of what the people want and need to keep Milwaukee County afloat, much less moving forward.

I'd say he should run for county executive, but sadly, no one will be able to run against Chris Abele and his ability to buy his reelection until they figure out he's no better than Scott Walker was.