In the wake of Senator Kennedy's death, Democratic voices are getting loud about changing a Massachusetts state law that calls for a special election to replace a vacant senate seat about five months after the seat is vacated, but gives no power to anyone to appoint an interim replacement prior to the special election.

The Dems now want the Democratic governor to be able to appoint an interim replacement in advance of the special election. The law was changed to its current form by Massachusetts Dems in 2004...in case John Kerry was elected president, they didn't want then-Gov. Romney to have the power to appoint an interim replacement for Kerry's seat.

But times have changed, and the Dems don't want to be short one Senate seat in the coming months. Under the banner of "the people of Mass deserve to have full representation" the Dems are screaming for the gov to have the power to appoint an interim replacement immediately. Many of these same folks didn't give a fig about "full representation for the people of Massachusetts" when there was a *chance* that a republican governor would appoint a republican to a seat vacated by Kerry in 2004.

This delicious absurdity is why my respect for politicians seems to decrease a little bit more every year. The Mass Dems are saying "the rules we created should only apply to others, not to us." Sort of like the parade of proposed cabinet officials for the Obama administration who had tax problems. Especially galling were people who had helped write and influence tax policy, like Tom Daschle. "What, me pay taxes? No, taxes are for the little people." (Didn't Leona Helmsley say that?) It's disgusting in the extreme, and while today's examples are Dems, the other side performs similarly when they get a chance...and guys like Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff paid dearly for their sins.