Saw Clint Eastwood's performance at the Republican convention last night. All I can say was "Wow!" and not in the good sense.

I used to know Eastwood from my Warner Bros. days. That was not the same guy last night. I'm positive the only reason he was there was because he has a movie opening in a few weeks and publicity (Good or bad) never hurts. On that point: Mission Accomplished.

However the image of Clint Eastwood, rugged outlaw hero is gone forever. He blew that guy up last night. What we saw was a sad display of someone who was completely out of his league and comfort zone. It was embarrassing to watch. He lost his train of thought a few times and his inference to vulgarities aimed at and by the President was shameful.

Yes, I know what he was trying to do, portray President Obama as an empty suit. It may have rocked the delegates in the hall who were just star-struck by his presence, but it fell flat on TV. He looked like an angry white male, the prototype of the Romney voter and he probably scared off anybody who wasn't angry, white or male.

The purpose of the last night of the convention is to showcase the nominee. Nothing, NOTHING should get in the way of that messaging. This was probably the biggest audience Romney had or will have this fall. What should have happened was at ten pm on the dot, a designated speaker should have made brief comments as they introduced the autobiographical film piece on the candidate. After the film ends, the candidate makes his entrance and delivers his speech to an awe struck audience and he becomes the main topic of conversation the next day. Apparently the film, which ran before the networks went on the air was pretty good. However replacing the film with Eastwood's star turn was a disaster. Instead of everybody talking about Romney all the buzz on the internet and around the water coolers is about crazy, demented Eastwood.

There are a few stories coming out today saying that the people in charge of the GOP were too star-struck and intimidated by Eastwood's presence to go over his "speech." If that's true, then shame on them. If these people can't run a tightly scripted convention, I shudder to think how they will run a country like ours.