C-SPAN, Baby

I'm in total agreement with the Boston Globe on this one. If you want to see the Democratic convention, get thee to the C-SPAN channel. Absent all of the mindless, meaningless commentary of the talking heads, you actually get a pretty clear picture of what the Democrats are proposing, the stark contrast between them and the GOP, and the vision Obama has for this country.

The best way to watch a political convention is on C-Span. That way Americans can make their own judgments unfiltered, without being told what to think by the nattering nabobs of TV commentary. The latest "narrative" making its way around the Democratic convention here is that the Obama campaign hasn't learned the lesson of John Kerry's 2004 convention, in which the nominee failed to directly attack President Bush. CNN commentator Soledad O'Brien even asked late Monday night whether Michelle Obama's introductory speech shouldn't have been tougher on the Republicans.

Of course, if the early days of the convention had presented a more negative tone, the talking heads would be complaining that the Democrats can only say what they are against, not what they are for.

Had the commentators not been so busy filling airspace and paid closer attention to what was happening on the podium, they might have had a different take.

Indeed. And Politico reports that Obama had the same realization:

Obama grabbed a remote control to switch from MSNBC which had the camera on former President Clinton sitting in the Denver audience to CSPAN which was carrying Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer's speech live.

Schweitzer's speech was fantastic, and ignored by MSBC and given light coverage by CNN. If you want to really know what's being said and proposed, as opposed to knowing what the traditional media deems it important for you to know, do yourself a favor and watch the unfiltered C-SPAN coverage. At least you'll see the speeches. And there have been a lot of good speeches given (but not broadcast by the traditional news organizations) in just the first couple of days. Anyone watching them wouldn't be accusing the Democrats of holding their fire. Hardly.

In fact, if you'd like to see what the Democrats "holding their fire on McCain" looks like, I'd suggest checking out this diary over at DKos (with helpful links to video of the actual speeches). It's pretty impressive.