How would a staged attack on/in the U.S. help the Republicans? Wouldn't it be just as easy to demonstrate that W's failed policies were responsible or that an incompetent Commander-in-Chief was to blame for choosing incompetent subordinates? A massive terrorist attack somewhere other than the US might scare people in the US enough to perceive the need for a strong, manly, ex-military, ex-POW leader to defend them from evildoers.
Staged terrorist attacks seem too desperate a move to take seriously however deliberate negligence with regards to intel concerning planned events elsewhere in the world seems plausible. Information travels so quickly today and Americans value money over ideology to such an extent that another Reichstag fire seems unlikely in this time and place.
John Thornton