After suffering through the Republican National Convention last week (Dateline: Tampa) and no doubt dreading the Democratic National Convention this week, Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby has this message for the two political parties:
Scrap the conventions
To elaborate:
The conventions, by contrast, deprived of their essential purpose, have been reduced to an exercise in mutual self-aggrandizement. The two major parties garner obsessive press attention — media organizations sent 15,000 employees to Tampa for the Republican convention — without generating any real news. The media, in turn, make a great show of being eyewitnesses to history, when all they’re really witnessing is an immense infomercial.
Why perpetuate the charade?
The Boston Herald’s Rachelle Cohen has an answer:
New stars shine in GOP galaxy
TAMPA, Fla. — The balloons have been popped, the confetti swept, Mitt Romney has departed in his newly painted presidential campaign plane and former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, a prominent Romney surrogate, is predicting this convention — estimated to have cost $100 million — may be the last of its kind.
And maybe that would be OK. After all, the broadcast networks have minimized their coverage — although as it turned out Thursday night not minimized enough to save the nation the ramblings of a doddering 82-year-old actor.
But conventions aren’t just about TV. They’re about revving up the delegates, especially from those key swing states, for the tough job ahead. And they are about showcasing the party’s future stars.
Is that worth all the worthless media coverage?
You tell us.
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 
[…] Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby and Boston Herald columnist Rachelle Cohen have very different takes on the value of the GOP and Democratic political conventions. Details at IGTLTDT. […]