Clint Eastwood's ugly turn at Romney show

Clint Eastwood has earned plenty of bad reviews for his latest performance: a bizarre, rambling sketch in which he took aim at an imaginary US President Barack Obama by interviewing an empty chair.

Invisible Obama: Eastwood addresses an empty chair at the Republican National Convention.u00a0Pic/AFP.

The action star and director appeared at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, to throw his weight behind US presidential candidate Mitt Romney.u00a0But while his routine went down a storm with party delegates elsewhere it prompted bemusement, derision and even a witty riposte from the Obama campaign.

Eastwood used the convention stage on Thursday night to interrogate a phantom president, telling him he had failed to deliver on his promises and it was time for Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, to take over.

A Twitter user mocks Clint Eastwood. Pic/AFP.

"Mr President, how do you handle promises that you have made when you were running for election, and how do you handle them? I mean, what do you say to people?" he said at one point to the empty chair.

Twitter was instantly ablaze with comments mocking the Oscar-winning director and iconic star.u00a0By the end of the night, Eastwood-related Internet memes were buzzing across social media and Twitter users began uploading pictures of empty chairs with the hashtag "Eastwooding."

An ‘Invisible Obama' Twitter account garnered more than 32,000 followers by early Friday. "Quick. Turn on MSNBC. I'm going to be all over it right now," @InvisibleObama tweeted. "Well just my chair, unless u have invisible glasses. Or ur Clint Eastwood."

‘This seat's taken'

In an apparent jab at Clint Eastwood's bizarre Republican National Convention speech, President Obama's reelection team tweeted out a photo of the president sitting in his designated Cabinet Room chair, declaring that ‘this seat's taken.'