Stop the presses. Walter Cronkite, the most revered figure in American television news history, offers a solution to the Democratic Party’s political difficulties in time for 2006. The idea is not to “concentrate on the Bush administration’s failures” but to offer “alternative programs to fix” what is “wrong with the Republican agenda.”

But how can the party “command the greatest public attention for its positive agenda”? Easy. “It could within weeks call an extraordinary midterm convention to draw up its platform.”

There’s goods news here for McCain fans too: “The convention would not need to be expensive.” Indeed, “the delegates could be those who attended the 2004 convention. Their meeting would be open to the public and of course the press.” Of course.

Uncle Walter has long been a player at political conventions. Remember 1980, when he was ready to broker a co-presidency deal between Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford?