Sometimes businesses act against the best interests of the US public and there need to be representatives to realize this.

As long as the insurance companies have to keep costs high enough to get their share of profits, for example, we can never have decent health care in this country.

a member of any organized political party; I'm a Democrat."

Will Rogers and me, too.

it is called democracy.

You took the words out of my mouth. The far left likes to walk as lock step as much as the far right.

Communists shot my uncle something like, oh, 60 years ago. But even my parents would think that is one stupid position you are taking, even back during the height of Cold War rhetoric.

YOU ARE AN AMERICAN NOW AND IT IS 2009. Grow up.

infighting? bickering?

it is called democracy.

Yeah, but a lot of people forgot what it looks like after that 8 year hiatus.

This way we don't seem like a mindless blob that is following every order from the leadership.

I say we have more of it honestly. Passing bills because "we are in power" is exactly what we didn't like for the past 8 years.

I want to believe that Democrats hold themselves to higher standards that Republicans, but I have yet to see much of it. This is promising though.

Once the Republicans are successfully marginalized, the Democratic Party could split between conservative and liberal branches. Maybe we'll end up with the Green party taking up the slack on the liberal end.

The GOP can still be the party of batshit-crazy conservatives.

Needs to get politically slapped around a bit. I have no patience for that man.

four to (possibly) six members are "infighting"? Wow, 1.9%! Definitely a story there.

Congressional Quarterly needs to publish annually if this is the best they got.

It's called "debate" and "free discourse"....not infighting and bickering. Maybe you forgot after 8 years of GOP lockstep-ism.

you can go ahead and consider me highly insulted by the title of this item. "Dogged" indeed. These dems. have only been trying to work together for a few months, after being chained outside in the weather for a really long time in dogs' years, many are newbies, and they're just at the sniffing butts and swapping stories stage. The bigger dogs and alpha bitch will have them sorted out and howling in harmony soon enough. At least they'd better.