A Great Headline

The Albuquerque Tribune runs an AP article this morning with the headline "Bush tries to limit GOP dissent." Not only does Bush try to stifle the opinions of anyone who has the audacity to contradict his benevolent thoughtfulness and foresight, but he has now been reduced to herding his own cats in the Senate minority. Of the Senate resolution against Bush's Iraq escalation plan, the article notes:

They [the Bush administration] also herded GOP skeptics to the White House Wednesday, where they tried to allay the concerns of Republican lawmakers including Sens. John Warner of Virginia, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Susan Collins of Maine.

So Bush is personally leaning on Warner, Coleman, and Collins to stick with him. With some Republicans already signing on and most Democrats seemingly behind the measure, the resolution will likely pass. The only question is how many vulnerable Republicans will further stick their neck out and side with Bush's unpopular strategy? Does Coleman want to confirm electoral defeat? Does Collins want to give Tom Allen yet another issue to run on if he gets in against her? Does Warner plan on retiring anyway and just doesn't care anymore? And why isn't Bush leaning on John Sununu of New Hampshire? Is he already on board against the resolution, furthering endangering his own re-election chances in 2008? The policy implications are pretty straightforward - it will be very interesting, however, to see how the political implications shake out.

UPDATE (12:19pm): Blue Hampshire answers that question about Sununu.