According to every conservative blogger, pundit, and talking head you can find on the intertubes, Clint Eastwood's empty-chair lecture was awesome! But apparently Team Romney doesn't agree, and they've cut Eastwood from their RNC video montage.
A video mash-up of speakers from last week's Republican National Convention does not include an appearance from the " mystery RNC speaker," Clint Eastwood.
The two-and-a-half minute video posted today to the Romney campaign's YouTube account features former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, VP nominee Paul Ryan and of course, Romney himself, but it leaves out Eastwood's controversial speech.
Eastwood caused a stir at the convention and on Twitter with a rambling speech Thursday night, in which he interviewed an invisible President Obama in a wooden prop chair.
Democrats have the next three days to prove me wrong, but I am doubtful that anyone will embarrass the party to the degree that they're cut from the recap.
The reason this matters is because Eastwood was featured during the opening prime-time speaking slot, meaning he was the first thing people saw when they turned on the TV. Considering that, it shouldn't come as a shock that Romney's speech that followed was the lowest rated speech since Bob Dole in 1996.
Romney's acceptance speech this year scored low by comparison to previous convention speeches going back to 1996. Thirty-eight percent of Americans rated the speech as excellent or good, while 16% rated it as poor or terrible. The 38% who rated the speech as excellent or good is the lowest rating of any of the eight speeches Gallup has tested since Bob Dole's GOP acceptance speech in 1996.
In hindsight, Eastwood's chair stunt may have been the highlight of the night not just for Democrats, but for Republicans too.
This is why there has been no post-convention bump in polling for the GOP. They're simply awful.