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From this Friday's Real Time With Bill Maher, Bill's annual election reel, "In Memoriam."

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Bill Maher recapped the 2012 presidential election cycle, from the Supreme Court's Citizen United decision, to the Republican primary race and the GOP clown car that Mitt Romney had to run against, to the pick of Ayn Rand fan-boy Paul Ryan as the vice presidential nominee, to the conventions and Clint Eastwood debating an empty chair and last but not least, the debates and Mitt Romney's late attempt to pivot back to the center.

Maher wrapped up his segment with this:

MAHER: So that's it. That's the election. It is your choice America, because for me it is a win-win. If it’s Obama, America wins, and if it’s Romney, comedy wins.

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New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says that the Republican Party has adopted extreme anti-immigrant positions to appeal to their base, "which is, by and large, elderly white people arguing with empty chairs."

During a Sunday panel segment on ABC News, Krugman pointed out that Clint Eastwood's bizarre conversation with an empty chair at the Republican National Convention last month was illustrative of the party's base.

"Arizona is a third Hispanic," conservative columnist George Will noted. "The Republican Party spend 20 debates in the primary competing to see who could build the longest, thickest, tallest, most lethally-electrified fence. And Hispanics said, 'I detect some hostility here.' And it's going to take a long time to undo that."

Krugman agreed that the the GOP's move to the extreme right during the primary had hurt their standing with minority voters.

"The Republican Party is where it is because that's where the base is," Krugman agreed. "You watch that whole primary process, Republican candidates had to appeal to their base, which is, by and large, elderly white people arguing with empty chairs."

Tea party favorite Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) also lamented that the Republican Party had completely given up on winning certain parts of the country.

"So what I keep telling them is, maybe we need some libertarian-type Republicans who might be popular in those areas," he explained. "Maybe a less aggressive, more socially tolerant, but still fiscally conservative policy that that may be more libertarian might do better in California, might do better in Oregon, Washington, New England."

"Our problem in the presidential election is we've given up 150 electoral votes before we get started."

From Late Night with Jimmy Fallon:

At the Democratic National Convention, "James Taylor" debuts "Romney & Bain" - his parody of the classic "Fire & Rain."

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Leave it to Stephen Colbert to make a mockery of Republicans for their claim that President Obama and the Democrats only moved President Obama's speech indoors because they supposedly would not have been able to fill the stadium where they were over-booked by almost 20,000 -- and that they should have "known what the weather was going to be like months ago" instead of being blindsided by the chance of thunder storms.

As Stephen noted, they could have just pulled out that Weather Channel 100 day forecast if they'd wanted to know whether it was going to be raining or not, or at least that's what resident curmudgeon over at ClusterFox, Charles Krauthammer seemed to be suggesting.

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From this Friday evening's The Daily Show, Jon Stewart had some fun with Clint Eastwood's appearance at the Republican National Convention, which he described as the "most joy" he's "gotten from an old man since Dick Cheney non-fatally shot one in the face."

After showing a bit more of Eastwood's performance at the RNC, Stewart proceeded to rip apart Mitt Romney's speech and the reason that Clint Eastwood's speech was so damaging to Republicans.

STEWART: Here's why it hurts. It hurts these Republicans bad because this convention, like all conventions is a scripted and focus group fantasy and the display of Eastwood's Gran Torino id was the very thing Republicans had constructed the entire week to suppress.

This convention was the vision of a perfect America that used to exist, until Barack Obama ruined it and so what if that America had never actually existed.

ROMNEY: To be an American was to assume that all things were possible. That unique brand of optimism, humility... it's that good feeling when you have more time to volunteer to coach your kid's soccer team or help out on school trips. It's when we see that new business opening up downtown, so when we go to work in the morning and see everybody else on the block doing the same thing. My friends cared more about what sports teams we followed than what church we went to.

STEWART: Gee whiz pops, that sounds awesome. That was the uncomplicated America that you remember. I think in the early '60's there are some churches in Alabama that would have disagreed with your sports team versus place of worship anecdote.

But the point is this, when this convention attempted to do is say that we could all live again in this nostalgic paradise, if it weren't for this one f**king guy.

After pointing out that Republicans have invented a complete fiction of a world that never existed and playing a bunch of clips of these Republicans at the convention attacking President Obama, Stewart laid waste to Romney's ridiculous talking point during his speech that he really wanted Obama to succeed.

STEWART: Bull f**king s**t! You... wanted... Obama to succeed? We may not remember that America was never Mayberry, but we sure at s**t can remember back to 2009.

Cue the clips of Fox "News" and rMoney himself hoping for failure from President Obama almost immediately after he got elected and Clint Eastwood giving us more proof that Republicans live in upside down land and a world of projecting their faults onto their opponents, regardless of reality.

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Ann Romney says she appreciates the support of actor Clint Eastwood and the "unique thing" he did during his Thursday speech at the Republican National Convention, but she would have rather seen a video praising her husband, Mitt Romney.

During surprise, rambling speech in which Eastwood interviewed an invisible Barack Obama, the actor shocked observers and set social media on fire.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow called the performance "the weirdest thing I've ever seen at a political convention in my entire life, and it will be the weirdest thing I've ever seen if I live to be 100."

The following morning, CBS host Norah O'Donnell asked Ann Romney if she would have preferred that a biographical video about her husband's childhood had taken Eastwood's primetime spot.

"We appreciated Clint's support, of course," the candidate's wife laughed. "But, yes, I do wish more people had seen those touching moments [in the video]."

"The Clint Eastwood thing, was it a distraction, was it a mistake?" O'Donnell wondered.

"Well, again, we appreciated Clint's support," Ann Romney repeated. "He's a unique guy and he did a unique thing last night."

"I didn't know it was coming," she added. "Again, I can tell you, we're grateful for everyone's support."

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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.

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This one seems really dumb as the National Football League seems to be saying Chrysler infringed on its copyright of "Halftime." Another odd thing about this is that there are plenty of other versions still to be found at YouTube, but the official one at the YouTube Chrysler channel was taken down.

(EDIT: It's working now, probably after someone with some clout rectified the situation.)

Marketwatch has some details and reaction to the ad.

The Clint Eastwood ad during the Super Bowl — catch it here because it’s been blocked by YouTube after the NFL alleged a copyright infringement — could be viewed as a simple celebration of the recovery of bankrupt Chrysler. But the political overtones were easy to see as well: “Halftime in America” could be interpreted as a rallying call for a second term for President Barack Obama, who pushed ahead with a bailout of Chrysler and General Motors (read more on GM’s financial results on WSJ.com) despite objections from Republicans, including his likely presidential opponent, Mitt Romney.

“Saving the America Auto Industry: Something Eminem and Clint Eastwood can agree on,” tweeted Dan Pfeiffer, the White House spokesman. Added David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist: “Powerful spot.” Filmmaker Michael Moore was a bit more direct (and apologies for the Twitterese): “Your sermon seemed 2 b a call 2 give O his ‘second half.’”

The former Republican mayor of Carmel, Calif. wasn’t universally loved. “WTH? Did I just see Clint Eastwood fronting an auto bailout ad???” said Michelle Malkin, the conservative blogger. “I think Clint Eastwood’s credentials as a conservative have been overrated for some time,” added David Limbaugh, the brother of Rush and himself a conservative author.

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