The Assassination of Clint Eastwood by the Coward Mitt Romney

Is there anyone this campaign won’t sell out? 

 By Tom Scocca Posted Friday, Aug. 31, 2012, at 7:14 PM ET

The Mitt Romney campaign had two things to convey about the candidate at the Republican convention: his steadfast likability as a human being, and his hyper-competence as an executive. Whatever progress they made on either front was gone by Friday afternoon, as aides tried to spin away the halting, awkward endorsement-cum-comedy sketch Clint Eastwood had delivered on Romney's behalf.

Even if you don't like Romney or support his politics, you're supposed to acknowledge that he knows what he's doing. He could have acted like he knew what he was doing. "I liked the speech," he could have said. "I thank Clint for giving it." Instead, we get a panicky and mean-spirited organizational freakout, with anonymous staff trying to deflect responsibility.

Regardless of whether or not you believe corporations are people, the president of the United States is a corporate entity—a staff, acting together on behalf of the orders and principles from the top.

And based on this 24 hours, Mitt Romney, Inc., is a bungling, blame-shifting mess.