Clint Eastwood has a career that spans six decades. He survived the fall of Old Hollywood, the rise and fall of New Hollywood, and the economic rise and moral fall of Corporate Hollywood. He starred in a silly western TV series, an insane Italian western trilogy, and a series of serious revisionist westerns. He has deconstructed himself on multiple occasions. He directed a film in Japanese. He sang the freaking theme to Gran Torino, and who cares if his singing voice sounds kind of like Kirk Van Houten singing “Can I Borrow a Feeling?” He’s Clint Motherf—ing Eastwood. He does what he wants, and we can all only dream of having his batting average.

That’s why it’s always fun, every four years, to see what Eastwood has to say about the current political scene. Since the former Mayor of Carmel, Calif. is essentially a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, everyone has something to love and despise about the Oscar winner’s recent interview with the Los Angeles Times. Eastwood — who has never voted Democrat, besides a 1998 gubernatorial vote for iconic milquetoast Gray Davis — is a big fan of pizza tycoon Herman Cain. “I love Cain’s story,” Eastwood tells the Times. “He’s a guy who came from nowhere and did well, obviously against heavy odds. He’s a doer and a straight-talker, which I don’t see enough of from either party.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly given that “straight-talker” comment, Eastwood is less a fan of ex-Governor and luxury flip-flop model Mitt Romney. “If you were casting a movie where you needed someone to play president, you’d definitely pick him,” says Eastwood, which, Hello Mitt Romney, you just got burned by Dirty Harry.

Eastwood also doesn’t seem too invested in Rick Perry. For some reason, this image just popped into my head: Rick Perry is trying to be friends with Clint Eastwood, but Clint Eastwood leaves Rick Perry hanging — literally, Rick Perry’s head is through a noose and he’s standing on top of an unmarked gravestone — and then Clint Eastwood rides away on his horse, then turns around and shoots the rope with perfect aim, and then Rick Perry yells across the valley, “Hey, Clint! You know what you are? Just a dirty son of a bi-AA-YAA-YAA.” And then Clint Eastwood rides away and remains awesome forever. Anyhow, politics is chaos.

Follow Darren on Twitter: @EWDarrenFranich