Quaterly Reports and Senate GOP Motivations

Writing about some non-story concerning George Bush isolating himself in light of recent political troubles, namely Plame and Iraqi War fallout, Matt Yglesias points to a Bill Kristol piece on this week’s Senate vote demanding quarterly updates on progress. Certain Democrats/progressive that I have read, including Yglesias, and heard, on Air America, seem to think this is somehow the GOP losing their grip on power. Conservatives like Kristol argue that GOP Senators are simply lacking “spine.”

Like most things in life, though, the popular binary theories put forth overlook any number of other possible explanations for action, or inaction. Pragmatically, concerns related to the Democrat advanced proposal and a counter proffered by Republicans do carry some weight. They are, however, incomplete.

If one accepts that Republicans actually disagree with Democrats on the chances of victory in Iraq (not an unreasonable theory), then another viable reason behind Senate GOP actions looks like a likely motivation for their actions. Expecting a positive result in next month’s Iraqi elections Republican Senators would be the quarterly progress reports revealing more and better news, repetitive news cycles marching to victory if you will. Each one better than the last.

This may or may not come to fruition, or even be the plan behind this week’s vote. It is, from what I can tell, a better theory than either of the popular binary “reasons” currently populating this meme.