Wolf Uses Iraq Study Group for Partisan Political Purposes

This story offers insight into what makes Frank Wolf really tick. First, we have a dash of incompetence, just as we see on other important matters like the (crucial but nearly dead) Metro to Dulles project:

Two House Republicans, Reps. Frank Wolf (Va.) and Christopher Shays (Conn.), took the lead in placing a little-noticed provision in the fiscal 2008 omnibus spending bill calling for the rebirth of the Iraq Study Group. The problem is no one from Congress bothered telling members of the Iraq Study Group, raising questions over how much support the proposal has among congressional leaders.

[...]

“The puzzle is that you’ve got the money and the joint explanation and nothing’s happened,” said Hamilton, a former House Democrat, referring to the instructions Congress appended to the spending bill asking for the group to be reconstituted.

“There’s been no contact of me by anyone associated with the Congress that I have not initiated myself,” said Hamilton. “That’s my puzzle. Nobody’s been in touch with me.”

Brilliant, eh? Heckuva job by Frank Wolf. But wait, it gets worse!

Hamilton said he wants the study group to issue its recommendations after the election to spare its work from becoming overly politicized.

[...]

Wolf said in an interview that he believed a second investigation would validate the Bush administration’s claims that the situation in Iraq has improved dramatically. He also said that he has pressed for the group to publish its findings well before the election, which could help diminish voters’ desire to see the withdrawal of U.S. forces. That would help the likely Republican nominee, McCain, who supports maintaining a strong troop presence.

“They would validate there’s been tremendous improvement,” said Wolf, predicting what the study group would conclude.

Well, well, well...Frank Wolf, using the Iraq Study Group for blatantly partisan political purposes. Gee, what happened to Wolf's media-propulgated image as "moderate" and not particularly partisan? Looks like it has about as much validity as anything else Wolf promises. Not much, in other words.