"You win some, and some get stolen"

I'm finding the Conservative Kos site to be quite entertaining.

Tacitus, one of the site's founders, has quite a few posts up, including this one about the potential for a delayed national election. Unlike my local conservative radio talk show host, Tacitus is opposed to the idea. But what caught my eye was not Tac's willingness to condemn the idea of delayed elections. Rather it was his quaint notion that the parameters of elections are sacrosanct. Tacitus noted, in passing, the "the near-criminal extension of polling hours by judicial fiat in St Louis" in the 2000 presidential election. Methinks Tacitus didn't get the GOP memo. Playing fast and loose with voting rules is de rigueur in Republican circles these days.

Tom DeLay and his wrestle-mania marionette Denny Hastert have, on at least two recent occasions, availed themselves of the privileges of power as they've altered the rules to suit their purposes:

The effort to defy Bush and bridle the law's powers lost by 210-210, with a majority needed to prevail. The amendment appeared on its way to victory as the roll call's normal 15-minute time limit expired, but GOP leaders kept the vote open for 23 more minutes as they persuaded about 10 Republicans who initially supported the provision to change their votes.

"Shame, shame, shame," Democrats chanted as the minutes passed and votes were switched. The tactic was reminiscent of last year's House passage of the Medicare overhaul measure, when GOP leaders held the vote open for an extra three hours until they got the votes they needed.

I'm glad to see Tacitus take such a strong position on the question of whether national elections ought ever be delayed. I look forward to his strong denunciations of rule tampering from which ever side of the aisle they originate.

Update: It's worth noting that 23 minutes was more than enough time to demonstrate that two Colorado congressional representatives -- Tom Tancredo and Marilyn Musgrave -- lack spines and principles. They are, however, quite good are following orders. Also, don't look for this story in The Denver Post or The Rocky Mountain News because the vote reversals of two Colorado representatives doesn't seem to qualify as news. The Coloradoan at least has half of the story.