WOODSTOCK, Vt. - Mitt Romney for the first time since the Republican National Convention offered his review of actor Clint Eastwood's performance, referring to the celebrity as a "character" who "expresses his own views in the way he thinks best."

"You know, everybody has their own way of expressing things," Romney said in an interview with ABC News' Charlotte, N.C., affiliate WSOC.

It was the first time Romney has spoken about Eastwood's bizarre appearance at the RNC last week, in which the actor spent more than 10 minutes speaking to an empty chair, pretending that President Obama was sitting in it. His monologue included several obscene jokes, and was one that Romney advisers later said they weren't expecting.

"Clint's obviously a character that expresses his own views in the way he thinks best," said Romney of Eastwood's appearance. "I think one of the things he said very well is that we own this country, that we the people are this country."

"The government belongs to us as the people, and Clint said it in his way," said Romney. "I'll say it in my way."