Eastwood’s speech did what he intended
Clint Eastwood said the idea to use an empty seat as a prop at the Republican National Convention was a spur-of-the-moment decision when someone backstage asked him if he wanted to sit down.
In his first interview since he attended the convention to pledge his support for Mitt Romney, Eastwood told the Carmel Pine Cone, a small California weekly newspaper, that his speech was not only unscripted, it was pretty much spontaneous.
“There was a stool there, and some fella kept asking me if I wanted to sit down,” Eastwood told the newspaper, which published the article Friday. “When I saw the stool sitting there, it gave me the idea. I’ll just put the stool out there and I’ll talk to Mr. Obama and ask him why he didn’t keep all of the promises he made to everybody.”
Eastwood’s peculiar, sometimes rambling conversation with an imaginary President Barack Obama in an empty chair set the blogosphere and social media ablaze. His appearance was intended to be a ringing endorsement for Romney, but the esteemed 82-year-old actor and director opened himself up to ridicule.
Eastwood said he achieved what he set out to do.
Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, began a four-month combat tour Friday in Afghanistan as a gunner on an Apache attack helicopter.
It was the second tour in Afghanistan for Harry, 27, who will start flying missions within 10 days in the country’s restive Helmand province, the British military said. In 2007-’08, he served in Helmand as an air traffic controller.
Looking relaxed if slightly tired, Harry gave a thumbs-up Friday after a long journey on a troop carrier flight from England to Britain’s Camp Bastion, a sprawling desert base near the southern Afghan town of Lashkar Gah.
Capt. Harry Wales, as he is known in the military, wore his combat uniform and joined his 100-strong unit – the 662 Squadron, 3 Regiment Army Air Corps.
As part of the Apache’s two-man crew, Harry will be both a co-pilot and the gunner responsible for firing the Apache’s wing-mounted aerial rockets, Hellfire laser-guided missiles and 30mm machine gun.
The birthday bunch
Comedian Sid Caesar is 90. Ventriloquist Willie Tyler is 72. Gospel singer Darlene Zschech is 47. Alternative country singer Neko Case is 42. Actor Martin Freeman is 41. Actor Henry Thomas is 41. Actor David Arquette is 41. Singer Pink is 33. Actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas is 31.