Rush Limbaugh isn’t making Clint Eastwood’s day.

The conservative talker spent a second straight broadcast mocking Eastwood’s now infamous “Halftime in America” Chrysler ad that aired on Super Bowl Sunday. Today, Limbaugh played a parody on his popular radio show to keep the story alive despite Eastwood’s protest that the commercial wasn’t meant to support President Obama’s auto bailout policies.

When somebody tells me Clint Eastwood did a halftime commercial for Chrysler, I expect it to be something like this,” Limbaugh told his 20 million listeners before audio of an Eastwood impersonator began:

Limbaugh’s is audio only, but video parodies from other sources were created for the Internet, including one from the Second City Network that appears to be a subtle attack on GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Small wonder the White House has tweeted approval of Clint Eastwood’s Super Bowl Chrysler commercial. From its calls for America to “be as one,” one wouldn’t know that Eastwood doesn’t approve of the Obama administration.

One also wouldn’t know that Eastwood calls himself a libertarian. For Eastwood’s speech, with its calls for unity and marching together from halftime to what I take to be a touchdown, is precisely the kind of collectivism libertarians shy away from.

This is at odds with Eastwood’s maverick persona. As a consistent Republican voter, he stands apart from the Hollywood liberal herd. When the country was cheerleading for an Iraq invasion, Eastwood opposed it on “practical considerations.” While Hollywood emptied their wallets for Obama, Eastwood criticized him.

Eastwood’s libertarianism has always slipped through via his film canon. With the sheriff bashing unarmed citizens in “Unforgiven,” Eastwood sounded a warning against gun control, then and now. In last year’s “J.Edgar,” Eastwood revealed that there was a decided terrorist threat from leftists in the post-World War I period, while at the same time showing the civil liberty abuses of Hoover.

But now, the actor’s message has moved from the honor of being one against the herd to urging us all to join one.

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***ADDED: Fascinating read on how, contrary to Obama/media spin, the auto bailouts failed and cost the taxpayers billions.

How did Clint Eastwood and the people around him not see the partisan storm coming with this ad? Eastwood’s a smart guy, as a Hollywood survivor and former mayor, he understands how politics works.

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Because Obama’s decided to eliminate moral hazard and socialize losses for anyone who employs the unions who fund his campaigns, Chrysler obviously wrote a thinly veiled thank you in the form of a reelection ad for their benefactor, and convinced a Republican icon to deliver  it.

Reuters:

Before he emerged in a controversial Super Bowl ad as the gravelly voice of Chrysler’s resurgence, Clint Eastwood was a critic of the government bailout that saved the U.S. automaker.

“We shouldn’t be bailing out the banks and car companies,” actor, director and Academy Award winner Eastwood told the Los Angeles Times in November 2011. “If a CEO can’t figure out how to make his company profitable, then he shouldn’t be the CEO.”

The two-minute Chrysler ad “Halftime in America” won attention for its focus on American resilience, but raised eyebrows for the way critics said it echoed one of the central themes of President Barack Obama’s reelection bid.

Eastwood, a longtime Republican who now describes himself as a libertarian, told Fox News on Monday he was “certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama.”

The ad was meant as a message “about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it,” Eastwood said, according to a transcript on Foxnews.com.

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Acting legend Clint Eastwood has already tried clearing the air regarding any political fallout from his two-minute Chrysler Super Bowl ad.

Now, it’s Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne’s turn.

Marchionne told WJR radio in Detroit this morning “politics had nothing to do” with the instantly controversial clip.

Democrats and the White House embraced the ad narrated by actor Clint Eastwood that said the United States could learn from the Motor City’s economic woes, while a former adviser to President George W. Bush criticized it….

“It has zero political content,” Marchionne said. “It was not intended to be any type of political overture on our part. We are as apolitical as you can make us… I wasn’t expressing a view and certainly nobody inside Chrysler was attempting to influence decisions.

Actor Clint Eastwood’s Super Bowl ad for Chrysler got a quick and hearty welcome from Obama administration officials who saw it as an unofficial endorsement for the president’s auto bailout.

But the 81-year-old screen icon worked nearly as fast to shut down the notion his ad was meant to be taken that way.

Here’s the erstwhile Dirty Harry setting the record straight to a producer from Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor”:

I just want to say that the spin stops with you guys, and there is no spin in that ad. On this I am certain.

l am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK.

I am not supporting any politician at this time.

Chrysler to their credit didn’t even have cars in the ad.

Anything they gave me for it went for charity.

If any Obama or any other politician wants to run with the spirit of that ad, go for it.

Judge for yourself:

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***ADDED: Would Dirty Harry ask for a handout?

“The Obama reelection campaign couldn’t buy a better endorsement.”

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THR:

The Super Bowl is televised advertising’s equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival, so White House political strategists must have been smiling when what’s generally being hailed as this year’s best spot — the Chrysler “Halftime in America” commercial — subtly echoed the themes of President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.

Just to ice the cake, the gritty two-minute spot featured actor/director Clint Eastwood, whose politics usually put him on the Republican side of the aisle. In the spot, Eastwood’s voice narrates an account of Detroit’s comeback and, then, when his unmistakably craggy face appears on screen, talks of how America has arrived at half-time in its struggle back from the financial precipice with good things to follow in the coming second half.

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On Dec. 12, 1974, my grandparents were driving home when a vehicle traveling 50 miles per hour hit them. On March 17, 2002, I was driving home when a vehicle driving traveling 50 miles per hour hit me.

My grandparents were killed instantly. I lived.  My grandparents were driving an AMC Gremlin. I was driving a Dodge 3500 diesel dually pickup truck.

AMC is now out of business. Dodge Trucks are still selling well. The free market decided that we didn’t need AMC Gremlins.

I still drive a Dodge dually. We factor in safety versus miles per gallon on every automobile purchase that my wife and I make. Devo could not have said it better: “Freedom of Choice…It’s what you want!” Freedom to choose is a basic American right. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are guaranteed to me and 299,999,999 other Americans by the Constitution. (more…)

I find it incredible in America that a regulatory agency thinks it has jurisdiction to probe an independent business.  Oh, but I forget about Chrysler, GM, and our banking system.  Foolish me.  What the Federal Communications Commission is doing is outlandish and smacks of tyranny in the making.  We should brace ourselves because the implications for free speech in America are grave.  Your right to hear what you want to hear when you want to hear it is something our government doesn’t give a damn about.  The free marketplace of ideas is something that is evil to them.

The FCC has announced it will probe Arbitron’s new audience measurement system for radio stations – it’s called the Portable People Meter.  Arbitron is an independent company and the FCC has no jurisdiction over it.  But, acting FCC Commissioner Michael Copps and his fellow Democrat Jonathan Adelstein disagree.  Adelstein has been quoted as stating the commission has “clear authority” over broadcast signals, and “legitimate questions” to ask about Arbitron’s system, which relies on these signals, and operates as a currency for the industry.  (more…)

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: Obama at Notre Dame, Nancy Pelosi, Waterboarding, Code Pink, Terrorist Prisoners, Pro-Life, Chrysler, Donald Trump, Carrie Prejean, Perez Hilton, Playboy Magazine, Vanessa Hudgens, and Zac Efron.
 

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In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: Swine Flu, Mexico, Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Arlen Specter, President Obama’s press conference, Chrysler, George Stephanopoulos, Sean Penn, and Daily Show Host Jon Stewart.

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In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: Iraq War Protestors, GM, Chrysler, Zac Efron, Obama’s Budget, John Mellencamp, Sean Penn, Three Stooges, and Gwyneth Paltrow

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