McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate certainly demonstrates one thing: living through the decadent phase of the American empire is going to be REALLY EXCITING. It could only have been more surprising if McCain had chosen a polyp from his large intestine.

A well-functioning empire would produce presidential and vice-presidential candidates for both parties who (1) are experienced in running the empire, and (2) operate predictably within a narrow framework. And indeed, the US empire used to be like that. Eisenhower-Nixon gave way to Kennedy-LBJ. When Goldwater captured the nomination in 1964 with some real psycho vibes, the liberal imperial mainstream could easily crush him—because the empire, then at its height, had the breathing room to offer lots of inducements to regular Americans. Then it was back to Nixon, a competent imperial manager.

The ascendancy of Reagan, who was just slightly less insane than Goldwater, indicated the system was under stress. Still, he was surrounded by people like George H.W. Bush and James Baker, who kept him from going off the deep end. Bush-Quayle and Clinton-Gore supervised a period of needed imperial retrenchment.

But over the past eight years, things have truly gone off the rails. In previous times, destructive nutjobs like Cheney might have been in the room when decisions were made, but they certainly never had the final word. Yet there he is, cackling with glee as he sets fire to one after another of the empire’s supporting columns. And the sane imperial managers haven’t been able to do anything about it.

The failure of the sane imperial managers—*cough* Kerry *cough* New York Times—isn’t due to their own personal faults. It’s because there’s much less slack in the system than there used to be. The empire no longer has the means to keep itself running in a rational way while simultaneously buying lots of people off.

Bush-Cheney have screwed up so badly there might be one last, small opening for sane managers like Obama-Biden. “Vote for us, and we’ll give you a better-run empire, and, and…gay marriage!” However, while there is a long-term constituency for this, it’s a pretty small one.

So before long, there will only be two options for the people who want to run things. First, they could organize a rational liquidation of much of the empire, which would free up enough resources to create a long-term winning coalition. Second, they could go completely bugfuck nuts, and try to maintain the empire while cutting back on all social benefits and counting on the thrills of military triumph and chialism to keep them in power. What won’t be possible is the Obama-Biden approach.

In other words, the days of a rational American empire are drawing to a close. We’ll be forced to discard either the empire part, or the rational part. And based on 10,000 years of human history, I’m guessing it’s the rational part that will go.

Whether McCain wins or not, Sarah Palin is a harbinger of the future. The fact there was no one able to prevent McCain from choosing such an obviously inadequate imperial manager, and choosing her in such a bizarre, panicked way, indicates that—as during the decline of Rome, or the last years of Saddam’s regime—everyone sane has already been eliminated from the power structure. And thus we’re left with nothing but the whim of whoever’s clambered to the top of the Crazy Pole.

Welcome to the Terrordome!

A long travel day, nice to be home. Don’t know yet how it played on tv, but the Invesco stadium was an astonishing place to be in person.

Photos and thoughts to follow in more depth, but one quick note. I hear the commentariat have been babbling on about the Greek columns behind Obama. Maybe somebody has already figured this one out — as I have noted previously it’s hard to keep up with the media babble when you’re in the center of the media storm — but the set behind Obama was clearly meant to invoke the White House, not Greek gods. There were windows and doors on the thing, for chrissakes. (Pix to follow, too tired tonight.)

I mean, come on. Get a fucking clue, pundits.

(PS: anybody’s got one of those cool vari-vue passes the public had that you’re willing to part with, email me. We’ll figure out a good trade.)

The eight most dreaded words in the English language are “the vice presidents office is on the phone”?

Really??

After Clinton ’s speech the band plays “addicted to love”?

Really??

. .. Seems to be some confusion about this. Here’s what happened: beautiful day segued into addicted to love. Band cut off before refrain but the crowd sang it out. Maybe it got cut from the tv feed, I don’t know. But in the venue it was unmistakable.

I’ve uncovered conclusive proof that Joe Biden engaged in egregious plagiarism during his 2007 announcement that he was running for president. The extensive, horrifying details are available at my site.

Got a bunch of posts up over at the Advocate, including an interview with Tom Hayden. Note that the Advocate blog format only displays one post at a time, so be sure to click through the navigational links on the right hand side of the page.

I was standing at a crosswalk when an SUV drove by with a SWAT team hanging off the sides in military formation. A woman next to me made some remark about the oppressive security presence, and I said, “Have you been to one of these things before?” Which of course she had not, which is why the presence of an occupying army in the city struck her as noteworthy. This is the fourth one I’ve covered, and not much surprises me anymore. A fundamental celebration of our democratic process being run like a third world security state? Of course! What else would you expect?

Read the rest over at the Advocate.

My latest compilation will be released in a month or so, and is available for pre-order at Amazon. Ignore the strange description, which was apparently pasted in from a very rough early draft of the book’s back ad copy by someone who was not paying close attention to their work. I’ve requested that it be updated, and hopefully sometime this century it will be, but in the meantime, all you really need to know is that this is the end product of another two years’ worth of banging my head against the wall to bring you people Fine Cartoon Entertainment, and I gotta say, I remain extremely proud of the work. Times were hard, but the cartoons were good, and they hold up well. (This book also features a few pieces which weren’t syndicated out with the weekly strip, including Bill O’Reilly’s Extremely Helpful Advice for Young People.)

Just a reminder: the bulk of my convention blogging is over at the New Haven Advocate site. (Click on the Sparky logo, and click “previous posts” to read everything — only one post shows up at a time.)

McCain defends himself:

I am grateful for the fact that I have a wonderful life. I spent some years without a kitchen table, without a chair, and I know what it’s like to be blessed by the opportunities of this great nation. Cindy’s father, who barely finished high school, went off and distinguished himself in World War II in a B-17 and came back with practically nothing and realized the American dream, and I am proud and grateful for that, and I think he is a role model to many young Americans who serve in the military and come back and succeed.

I didn’t realize the American Dream included being a mobbed-up convicted felon.

But seriously, usually it’s the Democrats who are mobbed-up. Most Republicans have the money to engage in organized crime so high level that it’s called “foreign policy.”