I find it ironic, considering the flack Stephanie Cutter received as Kerry's Communications Director (not entirely undeserved) what an unabashed success her war room for Harry Reid has been. Of course, a Senate war room seemed to me long overdue, if anything to counteract the massive rapid response capabilities of Ken Mehlman and the RNC.
Well, Bill Frist has certainly taken note.
From today's Roll Call (thank God it is finally moving back to regular circulation):
Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), seeking to rebound from several high-profile setbacks in his message battle with Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), is beginning his last year as Majority Leader with a newly assembled rapid-response and message-development team that's designed to enhance the Republican Conference's existing policy and messaging efforts.
The project -- which Republican aides informally dubbed the "peace room," in a jibe at Reid's "war room" -- will be run by Amy Call, whom Frist recently promoted to deputy communications director.
Well, I'm tickled, but here's why it's not going to work...
First of all, I'm amused as hell by the crocodile tears about Harry Reid using taxpayer money to set up a war room just because he's effective.
Throughout the winter and much of the spring, Frist resisted pressure from within the Conference and from outside groups to launch a counteroffensive, allowing only Call, Chief of Staff Eric Ueland and a handful of leadership aides to launch the Advise and Consent operation after months of attacks by Reid.
Conference members, outside organizations and even some veteran GOP aides close to the leadership team were frustrated through much of last year by the seeming lack of coordination on most other message efforts, particularly in the face of Reid's attacks. While sources close to Frist have acknowledged the leader's calculating nature delayed a direct response to Reid's war room, many Senate Republicans have privately blamed the White House for essentially abandoning the Conference on Social Security, judicial nominations and other high-profile issues.
I wish to remind the viewing public that the Advise and Consent Project led to a major disappointment for the GOP when the Gang of 14 short-circuited the Nuclear Option, and in my eyes was one of the major causes of Frist's popularity drop. He has never regained his clout. And his response to said lack of organization is to put the same people in charge and launch a similar operation?
Okay.
Bring it.
But thanks for acknowledging that Reid kicked your ass last year. Means a lot to me.
Here's the thing, part of the problem is that Frist is running for president and Reid is not. Therefore, Frist is much more beholden to GOP primary interests, often at the expense of the Senate Caucuses message....cough, cough, stem cell research. By putting his own people in charge of a war room instead of hiring outside campaign staff, like Reid did with Cutter, he's putting them in a bad spot, and blocking out the needs of his Caucus.
Next, it's hard to come out swinging when you're dead wrong and you know it. Has it occurred at all to the GOP that the lack of message discipline has more to do with the fact that the GOP was wrong? After all, there was very little dissent on the Terri Schiavo controversy. That was streamlined nicely, and how did that turn out again? Maybe this is partially the White House's fault. They certainly are on the loser's side of many issues (Pro-Torture???), but unless you're prepared to ditch the White House, which you don't seem ready to do, and create your own agenda at their expense, you're not going to recover much ground. You're still on that sinking ship. And as long as its sinking, and Abramoff has guaranteed it will be sinking for awhile, people are going to bail themselves out.
Speaking of ethics: is now, during the K-Street demise, the best time to create a new strong-arming organization? Just throwing that out there.....
Lastly, you're the majority party, it's not going to work so well for you. You have other branches to think about, my friend, which is why the RNC is a better place for message development and deployment. Furthermore, when you have every capability to accomplish any initiative you want due to your majority, it's much harder to hold the minority accountable, especially when you're on the defensive and have yet to prove you can effectively govern a nation.
How many organizations does a party need to create a bunch of parrots? The innovation on Reid's part was that Democrats are notoriously difficult to control, wheareas Republicans, well, do you ever get the sense that Conryn has complete day's worth of conversations inserted into his brain by Ken Mehlman?