What struck me most is how unprepared Eastwood was. It was as if he came to a formal dinner party wearing a bathing suit and a wet towel. He was so casual he was saying he really didn't give a shit.
He had everyone imagine the president telling Romney to "Go fuck yourself." It's OK in many circumstances to imagine the president using foul language and have fun with that. It doesn't really matter. But this was the night that one of the country's great parties (ymmv) was presenting to America the man they regard as the next president. Only one speaker separated Eastwood from their nominee. His demeanor, his language, his lack of preparation were what his appearance was about and all of these aspects displayed his unbridled contempt for the political process.
I know that as a nation we have moved away from formality. In many ways it's not bad that ordinary life has become more relaxed. But there's a reason that at certain times we maintain a sense of what's right to do and what isn't. We're electing a president. It matters, it's serious, regardless of what the laughing fools at the convention think, our planet is at stake. There's also a lot of tradition behind it. It's an extended national ritual with certain set pieces. A convention is one of them.
Eastwood set out to undermine the importance of the process. He was deliberately subversive. This whole nominating and electing bit is crap, he said. It's his cynicism that's so hard to tolerate. Cynicism and despair are too close.
Realistically it's Rove, the Koch Brothers, the Republican governors, Grover Norquist, the Supreme Court and Romney himself who are the cynics. They have much more contempt for the process than Eastwood could ever muster. And infinitely more power. Eastwood just acted out the contempt they harbor. I feel cynicism too but perhaps seeing it enacted on this occasion unsettled me. I wasn't prepared to see a great institution toppled last night.
It's interesting that the party that loves to chant USA USA hosted a speaker who did nothing less than wave his middle finger like an aggressive teenager at the whole country.