So now that Reid has got us one of those fancy media war rooms, next we need to get some training facilities. You can't fight a war without well trained troops. I think with a little work we could vastly improve the quality of our on air spokespeople. We could at least put as much effort into this as a football team puts into a game. They have coaches, film sessions, practices, game plans, etc. They also are very careful about who they put on the field. So here is what we should do:
- Centralized decision making. We need to decide who goes on the air (not the networks). If you are representing the Democrats, you should not go on the air unless the Democratic leadership thinks you will represent us well. No more boneheads or unprepared people. They are killing us.
- Game plan. Everyone that goes on the air must know the few key points the need to make. Get everyone on the same page and tell them exactly what their primary objective is. If they don't like it, they don't represent us.
More below the fold
- Performance evaluation. Everytime someone goes on the air, they should be evaluated. Did they make the main points? Did they improvise well? Did they avoid slipping in right-wing talking points? Tell them what they did wrong and how to improve. If people repeatedly perform badly, they are done. No more airtime. People who do well--they get to represent us again. Just because 51% of the voters in your district like you does not qualify you to speak for all of us on national television. We must locate better spokespeople.
- Practice sessions. If someone is going on Meet the Press, have them do a practice interview with a Russert stand in. He likes to pull out those darn quotes--it should not be a surprise when he does. Be prepared. Make the practice sessions tough. Better to screw up in practice then on air.
- Counter strategy. Make sure everyone knows the Republican talking points for whatever issue is being discussed. They are not hard to find. Make sure people know how to destroy these.
Any others? Am I naive to think it is possible to plan and prepare for interviews? The right seems pretty good at it.