Wordcruncher

Rising From the Wreckage

As I posted yesterday, some good can certainly come from Tuesday’s loss. Steve Soto scanned the dark clouds and found at least a small silver lining:

...it is true that the GOP now claims 55 seats in the Senate, and the GOP majority is already threatening the Democrats to play ball. But what is more important is that the GOP not only doesn’t have the votes to shut off filibusters, but the exit of southern, Zell Miller-type Democrats deprives Bush and Rove of finding the five necessary Democratic votes to shut off those filibusters. There is also still a moderate block of GOP Senators who can be appealed to on issue-by-issue means by the Democratic caucus. The new Democratic caucus in the Senate, with Miller and John Breaux now gone, will be far more cohesive in opposing Bush than in Bush’s first term. Furthermore, there are fewer Democrats up for reelection in 2006 from swing or border states that can be threatened by Rove to play along with Bush.

To this I will add that new leadership for the Democrats will only help – and it will energize our own base. The united support of disparate groups behind Kerry shows the base is ready to follow, just as the GOP’s has been doing for years.

Howard Dean’s name is frequently mentioned as a replacement for Terry McAuliff as DNC chair. While I love the idea, I don’t know if he’d be the party leader we need. However, I do like the way he and his organizers tapped into the Internet’s potential for fundraising, information dissemination and “meetups.”

We also need someone strong with message discipline – and someone who doesn’t mind mixing it up with Republican shouting heads on cable news channels (jeez, “Enron” Ed Gillespie is everywhere). That, it seems to me, is how the Republicans disseminate their own message to the masses. There should be a strong, telegenic Democrat who comes armed with Democratic soundbites to fight the GOP message at its source.