In his hotel, Eastwood was listening to an oldies station and heard Neil Diamond’s “I Am…I Said,” which features a line about talking to aĬhair, the authors write. But Schriefer was confident that Eastwood could wing it without a script. Russ Schriefer, in charge of programming the convention for the Romney campaign, tried to give him suggestions for what he should say. Other convention speakers ran their remarks by the campaign. 3 fundraiser in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he gave a shorter speech to donors that was enough of a hit with the crowd that Romney instructed his staff to try to get him for the convention.Īccording to “Double Down,” some on the Romney staff had reservations about Eastwood, then 82, and that his remarks weren’t being vetted beforehand. Halperin and Heilemann give a simple explanation for how Eastwood came to be invited in the first place:Ī month before the late August appearance, Eastwood and his wife, Dina, had dinner with Mitt and Ann Romney in Carmel, Calif., and it soon led to the candidate asking for his help.Įastwood showed up at an Aug.

Eastwood’s imaginary conversation with Obama instantly generated a storm of Twitter quips and a few parody handles, but the real damage may have been that much of the aftermath focused on the incident and not Romney’s speech later in the evening.

Double down game change 2012