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Why did Republicans let Clint Eastwood make dirty jokes to a chair right before Mitt Romney accepted the presidential nomination? Like so many train wrecks, this one was set in motion long before the spectacular crash, seemingly insignificant actions building with unstoppable momentum to spectacular fireball. Here's how far back this thing goes:

August 3. Eastwood attends a Romney fundraiser in Sun Valley, Idaho. He joked to reporters that he hadn't endorsed the Republican on the way into the event, but later, Romney asked the actor on stage. Romney said Eastwood was someone "who has pursued his dreams in a very unusual way" and who "stood up to the industry and did things his own way." That, my friends, is foreshadowing. Eastwood told the audience he would vote for Romney.

Later August 3. Romney personally asked Eastwood to attend the Republican National Convention, The New York Times' Michael Barbaro and Jeremy W. Peters report.

Sometime mid-August. Two Romney aides (Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens) cleared Eastwood's appearance.

Sometime mid-August. Several top aides reviewed Eastwood's talking points. "Convention planners had assumed the Hollywood legend would reprise the powerful and typically gruff/charming performance he delivered" at the Idaho fundraiser, Time's Mark Halperin reports.