_NC

Fill in the blank up there with either a D or an R. Doesn't really matter to me which one you prefer. I've watched about as much of the Democratic National Convention as I did the Republican National Convention. One to watch what the other side is cooking up and the other to watch in hope that my team steps up their game a bit. You may have done the same thing.

But, honestly, it all seems like a bunch of bullshit to me.

The Republican challengers get to go first and outline their attack game-plan against their adversary. The Democrats get to afterwards, attacking those attacks. None of that really interests me, and the discussion of actual issues seems pretty damned sparse.

So the President will accept his nomination tonight. Great. Did we need a three-day dog and pony show to get that done? The party would never allow it, but wouldn't it be wonderful if he just made his acceptance speech from the White House Press Room and concluded with "Now, let me get back to the business of running this country the best possible way I know how, and I look forward to your support in November." Three days of bullshit could be wiped off the ledger if the party allowed it.

I mean, I guess I understand the need for the challenging party to hold a convention. Not that there were any surprises in order. The Republican candidate was decided months ago. Seems to me that these convention are multimillion dollar boondoggles for the delegates, analysts and whomever else benefits from these things. And who, exactly, is paying for all of this? I've read that it comes from donations to the parties themselves. But what does that mean? I can't help but feel that somehow these things are screwing somebody over somewhere.

In this day of the the 24-hour news cycle and the Internet, do we really need these conventions anymore?