I don't expect wry, folksy wisdom from Andy Rooney. In fact, ten times out of ten, I find his segment on 60 minutes little more than cantankerous prattle over some strawman he's conjured to while away the time. Predictably, as I sit through his segment, I mutter something nasty about this very practice. If the man would only leave his grinding for nonsense subjects such as the presents people send him or the number of orphaned socks in his drawer, I'd leave it at that.

In tonight's segment, he posed the question of why national political conventions like the RNC are held these-a-days since they don't boost the local economy, don't present party platform debate, and don't come down to selecting a presidential candidate.

He's apparently missed the point that the convention, like any sort of industry conference, is about insider networking. The party is mobilizing for a final electioneering effort. Its members are building up momentum, as well as wheeling and dealing -- calling in favors, granting favors, making introductions, and whatever else it is professionals in a field do over their iced drinks with name badges on.

The convention serves an external function as well, from the party's point of view: public relations. The speeches given, the sound bites trasmitted, the images relayed are about building a particular vision of the party and its candidate for the electorate. It's about getting out the message and putting some sympathetic faces behind it.

One might argue that our national political conventions provide no public service, given that the two functions I've mentioned serve the parties themselves. However, the conventions' electioneering efforts do grant the public the opportunity to see a consolidation of the campaign efforts, to study the spin, to familiarize themselves with the players, and to take in more of this democratic political spectacle than they otherwise might. That's why it's newsworthy: Not because we see new and unexpected action--a disappointingly simplistic expectation on Rooney's part--but because we discover how the party and its major players intend to present their message.

It's all about the spin, Baby.