After Clint Eastwood's bizarre performance at the Republican National Convention this Thursday night, Rachel Maddow read the Romney campaign's response to his speech:

Judging an American icon like Clint Eastwood through a typical political lens doesn't work. His ad libbing was a break from all the political speeches, and the crowd enjoyed it. He rightly pointed out that 23 million Americans out of work or underemployed is a national disgrace and it's time for a change.

Following some of the other pundits reactions as to why the Romney campaign thought putting Eastwood on stage was a good idea and what the fallout might be, former McCain adviser Steve Schmidt added this:

I'm just saying, he's an 82 year old man, we should give him a break.

The problem is not Eastwood. It's whoever made the decision from the Romney campaign to bring him out there.