"the expression evaluates to true if both return True, but then why is the result thrown out"

Actually, the result is not thrown out: the && operator produces the value of its first operand if the first operand is falsy, otherwise it produces the value of the second operand.

For what it's worth, there's also a procedural reading of "foo() && bar()" along the lines of "fill out this form AND win a prize!".