Rule Change Confuses Many Americans

The story of the day yesterday was that House Republicans were changing their rules. It was to protect House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) from his leadership post over a possible indictment. Pure and simple. However, at TalkLeft.com this was a discussion thread that was discussed at length.

The following excerpt is an example of the inept back and forth banter:

[..] the winners always change the rules. If we didn't lose so many elections,we wouldnt have to do all this whining. Maybe next time Michael Moore...

At the end of the day it was reported on CNN last night where two U.S. Congressman, one from each party, discussed this issue. What some people didn't realize according to the Republican congressman, was this is only a change for the Republican Party caucus, and not for the entire House of Representatives - see today's Washington Post story.

While it's no secret each caucus sets its own rules, some people in the nation thought the Republican Party was 'pulling a fast one' on them. Perhaps the media wanted it that way?

As an aside, what happened to the days when journalists would do a little research on their own before the news would hit the wires? Why are the media in such a hurry to get their stories out in front of everyone else? Is this a result of the blogs transmitting information, true, false, or otherwise, at lightening speed?

(Back on topic) For those want to do a little research this is a great historical perspective of how the House of Representative operates. click link For those who elect not to research this further you would have found this on page 4:

Each party caucus adopted its rules, elected its candidate for speaker, approved its committee list, and in the case of the majority party, approved rules for the House.

And this is on page 28 (next to last paragraph):

The Democratic Caucus Rules read like a body of parliamentary law, the Republican Conference Rules read like an operations manual for a civic league. But both give definition to their respective organizations.

Now, don't get confused here. In addition to their own Caucus rules there are House procedural rules, ethicical rules, committee rules, and a host of other rules. What changed yesterday were the House Republican Caucus Rules. Inspite of everything life does go on... Reference Link