Like Don Draper, Barack Obama Can Never Go Home

In watching the seventh season of AMC's inspired hit series Mad Men unfold, I found myself thinking of the Obama presidency, also in its seventh season.  (No spoilers until article's end).

For those who may not have seen the series, the principal character of Mad Men is a sophisticated and self-possessed creative director for a New York ad agency named Don Draper.  In many ways, Draper fits the mold of the American Adam, a highly competent individualist with no fixed past and no set future.  This archetype has been a staple of American expression, from Cooper's Natty Bumpo to Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby to just about every character Clint Eastwood has ever played, some of whom don't even have a name, let alone a history.

Like Gatsby – and, more to the point, like Barack Obama – Draper has invented himself.  Viewers learn early in the first season that he is not really who he says he is.  He went to Korea as a no-account private from a brutally dysfunctional home and assumed the identity of his lieutenant after a fatal accident that he himself caused.  Although usually confident and self-contained, ad exec Draper lives in terror that he will be exposed.

At this stage in his presidency, Barack Obama no longer lives in terror.  The fact that he reportedly spent $2 million or so on attorney fees to keep his birth certificate sealed suggests that he once did.  I am still not certain what it was that he needed to conceal.  As to Obama's grades and test scores, Jimmy Hoffa's body will be unearthed before those are.

Via: American Thinker

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Hollywood's new financiers make deals with state tax credits

ATLANTA — Ric Reitz makes movies. He helped bankroll the Matt Damon thriller "Contagion," Clint Eastwood's "Trouble With the Curve" and the Robert Downey comedy "Due Date."

Reitz, an energetic 58-year-old, doesn't hang out at the Polo Lounge, red-carpet premieres or swank offices in Century City. Instead, he works out of a former cotton mill near Martin Luther King Jr.'s boyhood home, hustling for business at Chamber of Commerce dinners and Rotary Club lunches. Recently, he was looking forward to attending a meeting of prosperous chicken farmers.

Reitz is one of Hollywood's new financiers. Just about every major movie filmed on location gets a tax incentive, and Reitz is part of an expanding web of brokers, tax attorneys, financial planners and consultants who help filmmakers exploit the patchwork of state programs to attract film and TV production.

ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll

In his case, he takes the tax credits given to Hollywood studios for location filming and sells them to wealthy Georgians looking to shave their tax bills — doctors, pro athletes, seafood suppliers, beer distributors and the like.

"I've got a giant state of people who are potential buyers," he said. "It's the funniest people who are hiding under stones."

The trade benefits both sides. The studios get their money more quickly than if they had to wait for a tax refund from the state, and the buyers get a certificate that enables them to cut their state tax bills as much 15%.

Via: LA Times
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FOXlight: Scott Eastwood Says Integrity As Important To Him As It Is To His Dad

Welcome to the FOXlight - our very FIRST - and hopefully not our last - weekly column. We’ll pull back the curtain and take you backstage and behind the scenes with our firsthand experiences with some of the biggest stars … shows ... anything and everything in show business. Now let’s get down to some business of our own:

In the year since we started In the FOXlight on-air, we’ve talked to Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Hollywood "it" girl Jennifer Lawrence, and pop sensation One Direction – just to drop a few names. But none have elicited the kind of “O-M-G” response from women and yes, more than a few fellas, than this guy: Scott Eastwood.

Get used to the name and face folks, it shouldn’t be tough. His star is on the rise. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance to catch Eastwood shooting the movie Fury with Brad Pitt in London, and sat for a 30-minute interview with the young star.

Promptly arriving at the address of his friend’s Picadilly Circus-area London flat, Eastwood answered the door himself. Asking if we wanted coffee, little did we know he’d run down the street to get it himself! Even carried it back for us, as if he were some intern, rather than the star and “son-of-a-legend” we came to know.

Wearing a navy knit Armani blazer that’s a fashion must, Eastwood said he was honored we had traveled so far to see him. Right out of the gate, he told us we could ask anything.

Via: FOXlight

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The Empty Chair Strikes Back: Obama Doesn’t “Consult” With Congress On Syria, Meets With Magic Johnson Instead

There has been a lot of discussion that the President hasn’t even spoken to Congress on Syria, let alone brought the matter to Congress for approval, as is required by the Constitution. Remember this tweet from Ted Cruz yesterday?

So last night there was an administration conference call with several Congressional leaders to “consult”.

Oh, invitation-only, by the way. Here is a list of the 26 people invited to the Friends of Barack meeting

Even the most basic of town hall meetings is required to follow the Sunshine Law. The discussion was unclassified. So why is this not before the rest of Congress in a open public meeting?

We have discussion of how we will strke, leaking like a sieve, but discussion about why, being conducted in the dark. Even Britain realized the necessity of bringing the matter to Parliament for an open discussion. And they don’t have our Constitution.

Susan Rice, with all her usual aplomb, tweeted about it.

Via: Weasel Zippers

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Chairs, Debates, Hurricanes and The Man Who Never Was

After many months of campaigning, Mitt Romney has finally taken the lead in polling for the election.  But why has it taken so long for the American people to catch onto the Mittmentum?  It begins with two key events:  the Republican National Convention and the Presidential debates.  And interestingly, Hurricane Sandy also shows us some interesting insights about how the mainstream media has dealt with Barack Obama – The Man Who Never Was.

One of the seminal events of the election season was Clint Eastwood’s appearance at the RNC.  Granted, the Eastwood “speech” was a bit odd.  But something happened in those moments that had previously not been seen by most Americans:  the mocking of Barack Obama.  Prior to that moment, the American media had a slobbering lovefest with the President and has consistently and steadfastly refused to expose his weaknesses.  But the appearance of Eastwood at the biggest political event to date was something they could not ignore.  And Eastwood delivered a stunning blow to the media’s narrative.  He depicted Obama as “the empty chair“.

So I — so I’ve got Mr. Obama sitting here. And he’s – I just was going to ask him a couple of questions. But, you know about, I remember three and a half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election. And though I wasn’t a big supporter, I was watching that night when he was having that thing and they were talking about hope and change and they were talking about, yes we can, and it was dark outdoors, and it was nice, and people were lighting candles. And they were saying, you know, I just thought, this is great. Everybody’s crying. Oprah was crying.

I was even crying. And then finally – I haven’t cried that hard since I found out that there’s 23 million unemployed people in this country.

Now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we haven’t done enough, obviously – this administration hasn’t done enough to cure that. Whatever interest they have is not strong enough, and I think possibly now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.

So, so, Mr. President, how do you, how do you handle, how do you handle promises that you’ve made when you were running for election and how do you handle, how do you handle it?

I mean, what do you say to people? Do you just — you know — I know — people were wondering. You don’t? You don’t handle it.

Well, I know even some of the people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn’t close Gitmo. And I thought, well closing Gitmo — why close that, we spent so much money on it. But, I thought maybe as an excuse.

Oh, What do you mean shut up?

OK, I thought it was just because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City. Maybe that was it.

Prior to Eastwood’s Obama “interview”, had we seen that kind of public ridicule of Barack Obama?  Of course the MSM did their sworn duty and tried to write it off as Eastwood being crazy and senile.  But people heard it.  They were watching the convention to see the mystery guest.  And he delivered. The press couldn’t bury this one on page C6. It was front and center, in front of millions of voters.

Via: Red State

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Biden says 'I' more than any convention speaker

BIDEN SPEAKS “I,” “I’ve,” “I’m,” “I’ll,” “my,” “mine” and “me.”

Over the past two weeks, politicians at both the Democratic and Republican conventions spoke of health care policy, taxation and every other hot-button issue under the sun.

They also, it turns out, talked about themselves. A lot

Using the transcripts produced by Federal News Service, POLITICO examined the speeches of the conventions’ most prominent speakers and counted the number of instances the following words were employed: “I,” “I’ve,” “I’m,” “I’ll,” “my,” “mine” and “me.”

The results? Joe Biden took first place by a wide margin. With his primetime — and personal — speech, the vice president racked up 135 mentions of himself. He was followed by first lady Michelle Obama, with 112. Mitt Romney took top honors among Republicans with 91 mentions of himself, as compared to 103 for his opponent, President Barack Obama.

Other notable speakers — and top self-mentioners — included Chris Christie (73), Ann Romney (67), Clint Eastwood (63), Paul Ryan (62), Mike Huckabee (56) and Marco Rubio (47), Julian Castro (43), Elizabeth Warren (37), Charlie Crist (33) and Lilly Ledbetter (32).

Despite Bill Clinton’s stem-winding speech in Charlotte, he clocked in with a relatively modest 30 mentions of self.

Via: POLITICO

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Eastwood says his convention appearance was 'mission accomplished'

AFTER A week as topic No. 1 in American politics, former Carmel Mayor Clint Eastwood said the outpouring of criticism from left-wing reporters and liberal politicians after his appearance at the Republican National Convention last Thursday night, followed by an avalanche of support on Twitter and in the blogosphere, is all the proof anybody needs that his 12-minute discourse achieved exactly what he intended it to.

“President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” Eastwood told The Pine Cone this week. “Romney and Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that’s what everybody needs to know. I may have irritated a lot of the lefties, but I was aiming for people in the middle.”

Breaking his silence
For five days after he thrilled or horrified the nation by talking to an empty chair representing Obama on the night Mitt Romney accepted the Republican nomination for president, Eastwood remained silent while pundits and critics debated whether his remarks, and the rambling way he made them, had helped or hurt Romney’s chances of winning in November.
But in a wide-ranging interview with The Pine Cone Tuesday from his home in Pebble Beach, he said he had conveyed the messages he wanted to convey, and that the spontaneous nature of his presentation was intentional, too.

“I had three points I wanted to make,” Eastwood said. “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.”

Eastwood’s appearance at the convention came after a personal request from Romney in August, soon after Eastwood endorsed the former Massachusetts governor at a fundraiser in Sun Valley, Idaho. But it was finalized only in the last week before the convention, along with an agreement to build suspense by keeping it secret until the last moment.
Meanwhile, Romney’s campaign aides asked for details about what Eastwood would say to the convention.
 
“They vet most of the people, but I told them, ‘You can’t do that with me, because I don’t know what I’m going to say,’” Eastwood recalled.
And while the Hollywood superstar has plenty of experience being adored by crowds, he said he hasn’t given a lot of speeches and admitted that, “I really don’t know how to.” He also hates using a teleprompter, so it was settled in his mind that when he spoke to the 10,000 people in the convention hall, and the millions more watching on television, he would do it extemporaneously.

“It was supposed to be a contrast with all the scripted speeches, because I’m Joe Citizen,” Eastwood said. “I’m a movie maker, but I have the same feelings as the average guy out there.”
Eastwood is a liberal on social issues such as gay marriage and abortion, but he has strongly conservative opinions about the colossal national debt that has accumulated while Obama has been president, his failure to get unemployment below 6 percent, and a host of other economic issues. 
“Even people on the liberal side are starting to worry about going off a fiscal cliff,” Eastwood said

Via: The Carmel Pine Cone

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Democrats Proudly Declare We All Belong to the Government. Ditch God From Their Platform.

In a statement right out of a communist state, the Democrats started their convention with a bit of propaganda declaring we all belong to the government. Seriously. They started their convention with this video:

This is unreal. The founders must be rolling over in their grave. The constitution starts with “We the People,” not we the government. The government belongs to us, we do not belong to the government. The government is our servant. We do not serve government. We are Americans. We are not all wards or property of the state, despite Barack Obama’s best efforts.

I think we can say the Democrats are fulling embracing Barack Obama’s claim that “you didn’t build that.” It’s clear from this we did not take Barack Obama out of context. The Democrats really do believe government built it all.

This is what the Soviets did in their propaganda. They portrayed the people in service to the state. The collective overrode the individuals. The Democrats are finally embracing their inner marxists. Consistent with this, they’ve ditched God from their platform. Religion is, after all, the opiate of the people and is unnecessary when we are all collectively creatures of the state.

By the way, you’ve now heard the Democrats’ audio that “we all belong to the government.” I’ll see you that and raise you Clint Eastwood. Listen to what he had to say on this topic and tell me who is more in touch with America?

Via: Red State

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PHOTO: DEMS TO USE TRICK PHOTOGRAPHY TO FILL CONVENTION HALL?

Call it "The Empty Chair Convention."

Rick Klein, Senior Washington Editor of ABC News, just tweeted out this photo of the stage the Democrat convention will be held on (posted above).

As you can see, Klein's photo reveals the screens that will serve as the television backdrop behind whomever's speaking -- and it looks to me as though the Democrats intend to show an artificial sea of faces in order to make the convention hall look a whole lot fuller than it might be.

If you look closely, they have three tiers of adoring, enraptured Obama-worshippers at the ready should they need them.

There's a lot of talk and concern amongst Democrats and their Media Palace Guards  that for his big acceptance speech Thursday night, President Obama might not be able to fill the Bank of America stadium. There are also reports that Democrat operatives have been reduced to handing out free tickets to the event at bars and elsewhere -- probably in a frantic last minute attempt to fill seats.

There's no question that, like most failed incumbents, Obama has an enthusiasm gap to deal with this year. Long before Clint Eastwood forever branded Obama an "empty chair," the President has been plagued by the disturbing optics of a one-time political rock star no longer able to pack a house. Most memorably, this all started with Obama's disastrous reelection kick-off event.

Ever since, Team Obama has been forced to save face and not risk a repeat of that calamity with the hilarious spin that President Greek Columns has now chosen to campaign before smaller, more intimate crowds.

Whatever.

Thankfully for Obama, though, he need not worry about filling his convention hall. After all, we live in a magic age of illusion -- one manufactured by Democrats and their media allies who constantly tell us that a failed president currently sitting with an approval rating of 43% is still popular.

Via: Breitbart

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Right rallies for 'Empty Chair Day'

The right rallied on Labor Day to celebrate “National Empty Chair Day,” a show of solidarity with Clint Eastwood after his infamous address to an invisible President Barack Obama at the Republican National Convention last week.

The action picked up steam on Twitter, where the hashtag #emptychairday began trending on Monday morning as users tweeted pictures of empty chairs in various poses.

Notable conservatives like Michelle Malkin and writers at Breitbart.com, as well blogger Prof. Glenn Reynolds, kicked off the trend, according to the conservative blog Legal Insurrection.

(PHOTOS: 5 'empty chair' incidents)

The blog, which had asked readers to send in photos of empty chairs, updated its post midday to say that the response had been so overwhelming — and the backlog of photos so great — that they were forced to close submissions.

(Scroll down for POLITICO’s top #EmptyChairDay tweets)

Meanwhile, #Eastwooding — which was trending on Twitter last week after the Hollywood icon’s speech, and refers to an address to an empty chair — has arrived at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

AFSCME president Lee Saunders, capping off a fiery speech to the Wisconsin delegation Monday morning, held a conversation with an invisible Eastwood.

An empty chair had been brought on stage before Saunders started speaking, but he ignored it for most of his speech.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but you see this chair? I don’t know if you noticed that he actually walked in with me. He’s invisible, he’s sitting right here. He’s been listening to everything I had to say,” Saunders said. “So I want you to welcome Clint Eastwood.”

Via: Politico

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Obama to Eastwood: ‘This Chair is Taken’

*President Barack Obama – or at least someone in his camp – tweeted a response to Clint Eastwood’s mocking of him with an interesting, cheeky response.

“This chair is taken,” said the tweet that came with a picture of himself in a chair. The president’s Twitter account, by the way, has 19 million followers.

As you can imagine, Eastwood’s strange attempt to “make the GOP’s Day” had Twitter and social media on fire Thursday evening.

As we reported, his rambling, sometimes confusing remarks pretended that Obama (depicted as an empty chair) was cursing Mitt Romney (and him) as he critiqued Obama’s policies. His deadpan delivery worked sometimes, but for the most part it didn’t and one was left wondering what the hell they were witnessing. In other words, it added up to one giant FAIL.

Within minutes Twitter was flooded with remarks in favor and making fun of the 82-year-old actor-director, reports The Wrap.

On top of that, a new Twitter account, “Invisible Obama,” was launched and quickly gathered 20,000 followers and counting.

Via: EurWeb.com

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The RNC and DNC big difference: They Got Clinton, We Got Clint

The footnote to the Republican National Convention (RNC) in light of the upcoming Democratic National Convention (DNC) is—they got Clinton and we got Clint.

Clint Eastwood got off the best line in last night’s RNC when directing imaginary questions to an angry at being questioned Barack Obama symbolized by an empty chair:  “I can’t do that to myself!” and later, “Romney can’t do that to himself either.”

Eastwood’s attempt to personify an empty chair as Obama was more realistic than what the DNC will try to do with keynote speaker former President William Jefferson Clinton: a keynote speaker,  who has stated outside the venue that “Obama doesn’t know how to be president.  I mean, he doesn’t even know how the world works.  He’s incompetent.” (Rush Limbaugh), now trying to sell a failed president to a hurting America.

But trying to fashion a Socialist reality with no truth has been the Obama administration’s mission for the last 1,319 and still counting days of our lives. (CFP Countdown clock until Obama Leaves Office).
Obama purportedly wasn’t watching RNC speakers, including mighty Mitt Romney last night.

But this is the email, subject “Their Night” he sent out last night:

From: Barack Obama info@barackobama.com
Subject: Their night
Date: 31 August, 2012 12:16:11 AM EDT
To:       cfp@canadafreepress.com
Reply-To: info@barackobama.com
Friend—
Tonight was their night.
But our focus must be on tomorrow.
The fundraising deadline tomorrow is one of the last we get to build the campaign it takes to win.
Will you donate $5 or more right now?
I’m proud to be on this team.
Let’s go.
Barack
P.S.—With 68 days to go, I’m counting on you to help us keep pace in spite of unprecedented spending on the other side. Pitch in before the big deadline tomorrow.

Via: Canada Free Press

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Confirmed: Clint Eastwood Is the 'Mystery Speaker' at the RNC Tonight

A Romney campaign source has told FOX News that the much-buzzed about topic of who Thursday night’s mystery guest would be can now come to a halt. It has been confirmed that the Academy Award-winner and former Carmel, Calif. mayor Clint Eastwood will take the stage and speak at the Republican National Convention tonight.

Moments ago, Carl Cameron said that while the Romney campaign has been doing everything they could to deny the rumors that began circulating earlier in the day and week — and while they still aren’t confirming the news — Cameron said, “we can tell you … it’s Clint Eastwood.”

Via: Fox Insider

Clint Eastwood endorses Mitt Romney (Updated)

"Dirty Harry" star Clint Eastwood, who made waves when he appeared in the "it's halftime in America" Super Bowl ad, was at a Mitt Romney fundraiser tonight, per a pool report flagged by POLITICO's Ginger Gibson.

Per Gibson's pool report, Eastwood deadpanned, "I haven't endorsed Gov. Romney," and then laughed.  He later added he was kidding. "I think the country needs a boost somewhere," he added.

UPDATE: Romney appeared pleased by the endorsement from Eastwood, whose Chrysler ad during the Super Bowl earlier this year was widely seen as a tacit nod to President Obama, even though he never said anything specifically about the campaign.

From Gibson's report, a transcription of Eastwood's ode to his film Mystic River and how it brought him to Romney:

Romney: "There is a guy here from the world of acting, who has pursed his dreams in a very unsuual way, he stood up to the industry and did things his own way."

Via: Politico

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