When seasoned actor and director Clint Eastwood was announced on Thursday as the Republican National Convention's "mystery speaker," nobody could have predicted that what would later unfold could stand as one of the strangest moments in the history of political pageantry.

That is, unless you guessed the 82-year-old movie star would take the stage and end up speaking for three times longer than he was supposed to, mostly to an empty chair. You didn't, so we'll just rule that out.

And while the empty chair-as-invisible president stunt probably didn't go over as planned -- unless Eastwood intended to spawn an internet meme and distract people instead of building up GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's big night -- it could have been a lot worse, all things considered. Here's how:

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  • He Pulled A Kanye

    Eastwood could have instead unleashed his surprise in the middle of Mitt Romney's acceptance speech: "Yo Mitt, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but Ronald Reagan had one of the best RNC acceptance speeches of all time. One of the best speeches of all time!" [<em>Shrugs, walks off stage</em>] (See: <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/kanye-interrupts-imma-let-you-finish" target="_hplink">Kanye West at 2009 Video Music Awards</a>)

  • He Endorsed Obama

    Eastwood could have told invisible Obama/empty chair that he actually supported his reelection: "I know that if you are elected in November, which I hope that you are, you can maybe still use a plane." (See: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/jan-brewer-obama-endorsement_n_1842559.html" target="_hplink">Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer</a>)

  • He Displayed Rick Perry-Like Memory Loss

    Eastwood could have excitedly given his audience the Dirty Harry movie quote it so desperately wanted, only to realize he couldn't quite put his finger on that darn last thing: "Go ahead, make my -- uhh, umm, errr...oops?" (See: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uvmKnFY4uk" target="_hplink">Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry</a>)

  • He Biden'd It

    Eastwood could have done his best Joe Biden impression and asked para-olympian Chris Devlin-Young, who is paralyzed from the waist down and spoke earlier at the RNC, to stand up and be recognized. (See: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2mzbuRgnI4" target="_hplink">Joe Biden to Missouri State Senator Chuck Graham in 2008</a>)

  • He Had A Wardrobe Malfunction

    Eastwood could have let a little too much hang out as he addressed the convention: "You want to make my day? How about I make yours!"[<em>Flashes nipple</em>] (See:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XXXVIII_halftime_show_controversy" target="_hplink">Janet Jackson's Super Bowl half-time show</a>)

  • He Channeled A Young Angelina Jolie

    Eastwood could have introduced his speech with an unexpected and awkward announcement of his affection toward Romney: "Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm so in love with Mitt Romney right now. He just held me and said he loved me." (See: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPWpHWr1L7s" target="_hplink">Angelina Jolie's Oscar acceptance speech in 1999</a>)

  • He Had Complete Meltdown & Brainfart

    Eastwood could have subjected the audience to a few befuddled comments, followed by a prolonged period of silence: "We have, uh, done, uh, nothing since Obama took office, and, um, [<em>10 seconds of silence, followed by awkward laugh and loud exhale</em>] we have did the wrong stuff for America." (See: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuttmYM6fZM" target="_hplink">Brewer, again.</a>)

  • He Tom Cruise-d The Empty Chair

    Eastwood could have gone all Tom Cruise on the empty chair, instead of just talking to it: "I'm not gonna pretend." [<em>Drops to a knee, pumps fist, proceeds to jump up and down on chair</em>] "Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you have made when you were running for election?" [<em>More jumping</em>] "How do you handle them?" (See: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znsXA2aTXCE" target="_hplink">Tom Cruise on Oprah in 2005</a>)

  • He Embarked On An Anti-Semitic Rant

    Eastwood could have come completely unhinged and started blaming Jewish people for the world's problems: "I know you were against the war in Iraq, and that's okay. But you thought the war in Afghanistan was OK. By the way, did I mention the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." (See: <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2006/07/28/gibsons-anti-semitic-tirade-alleged-cover-up/" target="_hplink">Mel Gibson in 2006</a>)

  • He Climbed The Rafters

    Eastwood could have scaled up the rafters behind the podium as Romney delivered his acceptance speech, heckling the GOP presidential candidate from his perch as he tried to address the audience. (See: <a href="http://newsroom.mtv.com/2010/09/03/rage-against-the-machine-2000-vmas/" target="_hplink">Rage Against the Machine bassist Tim Commerford at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards)</a>

For the 10 best lines from Eastwood's speech, click here.

Eastwood's entire RNC speech: