Montanan Pioneered ‘Empty Chair’

Forget Michelle Obama’s speech and dress. Never mind about The Big Dog’s nominating appearance. Ditto Paul Ryan’s thoroughly fact-checked speech and Chris Christie’s “it’s all about me” keynote. Let’s talk some more about Clint and his chair . Dirty Harry probably didn’t know it, but his empty chair routine dates back at least to 1924 when a young, very upstart and very liberal United States Senator from Montana pioneered the use of the empty chair in a quixotic third party effort to unseat an  incumbent president. Calvin Coolidge won that election and the Montana Senator, Burton K. Wheeler , went on to serve 24 often courageous and even more often controversial years in the Senate/ Marc Johnson , The Johnson Report. More here. (AP file photo)

Question: What did you think of Clint Eastwood’s “empty chair” routine?