Unforgiven: Rove Denounces Eastwood Super Bowl Commercial

Conservatives are lining up to take shots at another Hollywood celebrity. But this time it is movie icon (and Republican) Clint Eastwood for his role in Chrysler’s “Halftime in America” Super Bowl ad below. In our previous discussion of the best commercials many people picked the ad and I put it in the top four. Frankly, as a Cowboy film nut and Eastwood fan, I loved it. Eastwood, however, was left unforgiven by that paragon of good politics: Karl Rove. Rove (who runs a huge Super PAC and pumps millions into campaigns from undisclosed contributions) denounced the commercial as
“corporate advertising” of the worst kind . . . in other words, corporate money that could be viewed as supporting President Obama. Ironically, Eastwood was a critic of the bailout, but the segment praises American workers not federal bailouts.

Rove lashed out at the commercial yesterday: “I was, frankly, offended by it. I’m a huge fan of Clint Eastwood, I thought it was an extremely well-done ad, but it is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the president of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising.”

I can hardly improve on that statement, so I won’t.

Rove however may have gotten lost in the excitement. I suggest he watch this clip before giving another interview: