GOP Senators Joining Effort to Undermine Bush

Two GOP Senators, Chuck Hagel and Olympia Snowe, have joined the Dems in an effort to undermine the "surge" and prevent the president's plan for Iraq from going forward:

WASHINGTON - A second Republican signed onto a Senate resolution on Wednesday opposing President Bush's 21,500-troop buildup in Iraq, setting a marker for a major clash between the White House and Congress over the unpopular war.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, a moderate from Maine, said she would support a nonbinding resolution that would put the Senate on record as saying the U.S. commitment in Iraq can be sustained only with support from the American public and Congress.

Snowe's decision to join the effort came as the White House and GOP leaders struggled to keep Republicans from endorsing the resolution, and raised questions about how many more defections there might be.

"Now is time for the Congress to make its voice heard on a policy that has such significant implications for the nation, the Middle East and the world," Snowe said in a written statement.

Earlier, Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican and potential 2008 presidential candidate, joined Democrats at a news conference announcing the resolution.

"I will do everything I can to stop the president's policy as he outlined it Wednesday night," Hagel said. "I think it is dangerously irresponsible."

Chuck Hagel wants to be president and thinks the way to curry favor with the press is to go along with the Dems wacky ideas. That might endear him to the pressies, but the Dem voters don't care and there's no way that conservatives will look fondly on these actions, and you have to have conservatives to win the primaries.

In regards to his presidential ambitions, I just have this to say: Dead on Arrival. No Chance. No Way Jose. Ain't Gonna Happen. Sayonara Chuckie. Not in a Million Years.

Mark Daniels has some thoughts on Hagel's future here. He's a little more generous in his assessment of Hagel than I am.

UPDATE: Scrappleface adds this:

(2007-01-18) — Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-NB, today introduced a bill with several of his Democrat colleagues that would cap the number of Republican Senators at current levels and begin negotiations with Democrats for a phased GOP withdrawal from the Senate.

The measure comes as the Senate prepares to debate a Hagel-sponsored resolution opposing President George Bush’s move to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.

...

“We admire Chuck Hagel,” said Sen. Clinton, “because when he reaches across the aisle, it never seems like a stretch.”