House Reps Clashed Over S-CHIP

An item on Politico and featured on The Drudge Report, details the utter chaos taking place behind closed doors in the House of Representatives.

During the failed S-CHIP veto override attempt, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer faced an irate cadre of Republican Representatives that were unhappy with Hoyer's delay in approaching them to change their votes. The Republicans were also angry that Representative Rahm Emanuel, who chairs the Democratic Caucus, didn't keep certain organizations from running attack ads in their districts.
The writer of the piece, Patrick O'Connor, notes that after this episode "only one Republican switched his vote - to oppose the measure."

The narrative that emerges from the piece, which is probably why Drudge ran it, is that the Democratic majority is more interested in appeasing their liberal base and launching vicious partisan broadsides than they are in compromise and collegial cooperation. O'Connor, however, also points out that the White House isn't helping the cause of bipartisanship. According to House Democrats, Bush has threatened 35 different vetoes.

It's official. Washington has descended into gridlock. As some bloggers have pointed out that may not be a bad thing.