It’s hard to feel sorry for Washington, D.C., lawmakers when the complexities of their own rules ensnare, even engulf them. On Friday, Waco Tea Party members and Republicans vying for a shot at U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards’ seat raised a ruckus about his Thursday vote on a resolution that effectively torpedoed GOP efforts to eliminate the so-called “Slaughter rule.” The rule would allow House members to pass the Senate health insurance bill without actually voting for it.

Edwards’ vote must have baffled even his supporters, considering that this week he came out against both the Senate health care bill and any procedural motion that would allow the dreaded “deem and pass” rule.

Tea Party officials, who rallied in support of Edwards at his downtown Waco office on Tuesday, were back at high noon Friday, enraged that he had apparently gone back on his word. Rival candidate Bill Flores lost no time lambasting the congressman.

When we contacted Edwards on Friday afternoon, he dismissed the protests, saying in a statement it was “a shame that some are so desperate to misrepresent my position on the health care bill that they will say anything. That is the kind of gotcha politics that people are sick and tired of.”

The vote, Edwards said, was only a procedural vote to allow the House to proceed on to other, non-controversial business.

“I will vote ‘no’ on the Slaughter rule, ‘no’ on using reconciliation and ‘no’ on the final health care bill,” he said in conclusion.

We suspect this is yet another vote over yet another procedural nicety that, on most days, would be overlooked. Parliamentary rules on Capitol Hill are a complicated science. For the record, 17 other Democrats certain or likely to vote against health care reform sided with Edwards on Thursday.

Constituents shouldn’t jump to conclusions just because certain groups and some politicians are trying to put a bur under the proverbial saddle — not yet. We share some of their concerns, but let’s wait till the actual votes on “deem and pass” and the legislation itself arise before we go off and indict others — even if they do happen to be politicians.

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• Opponents attack U.S. Rep. Edwards' procedural vote on health care bill