U.S. Congress

Linguist Geoff Nunberg says the compromises we refuse to make say the most about our character. "Sometimes we stand on principle for the heady satisfaction of showing that we can't be pushed around," he says.

Vanity Fair's Todd Purdum followed President Obama and his advisers around for a day this summer. He says the modern-day presidency would be unrecognizable to previous chief executives -- "thanks to the enormous bureaucracy, congressional paralysis, systematic corruption and disintegrating media."

The longest-serving U.S. Senator in history died Monday. He was 92. In a 2004 interview on Fresh Air, Byrd discussed his 50-year Senate career with Terry Gross — and talked about the noteworthy votes he cast over the years.

Rep. Charlie Wilson died this week at 76. Fresh Air remembers the brash Texas Democrat, who was best known for secretly arming the Afghan mujahedeen against Soviet troops in the 1980s. In 2003, both Wilson and George Crile, author of Charlie Wilson's War, spoke to Fresh Air about the covert operation.

Max Cleland served in Vietnam — where he lost both legs and his right arm — before being elected to the U.S. Senate. His new memoir is Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove.

Investigative journalist Jane Mayer discusses a secret CIA counterterrorism program that was reportedly concealed from Congress under direct orders from then Vice President Dick Cheney.

Lincoln Chafee, former U.S. senator from Rhode Island, was often called the most liberal Republican in the Senate. In office, he bucked his party on a number of hot-button issues, including same-sex marriage and the war in Iraq. His book Against the Tide challenges the Republican Party on its rightward drift.

It's been a busy congressional season — contentious hearings with Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez in the hot seat, revisions to the nation's domestic-eavesdropping laws, major ethics-reform moves and, of course, debate about what to do about Iraq. Journalist Carl Hulse, who reports on Congress for The New York Times, reviews the legislative session.

Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) is serving out his term after being ousted by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in the midterm elections. Considered to be the most liberal Republican in the Senate, Chafee is the only one to have voted against the war in Iraq. He made another notable split with the GOP when he opposed the nomination of John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations.

For 17 years, former Vice President Al Gore has been on the forefront of warning against global warming. But in his new documentary, The Inconvenient Truth, he says that he "failed to get the message out." He's now getting the message out with his documentary and new book of the same name. The Washington Post calls the book "downright chilling." The documentary has been critically acclaimed.

Former Washington Post Congressional correspondent Juliet Eilperin says warlike tactics, manipulation and strategic takeovers have replaced compromise in the House. She drives home the point in her new book, Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship is Poisoning the U.S. House of Representatives.

In his new book, Character Is Destiny Sen. John McCain passes along the stories of heroes — both famous and obscure — whose values exemplify the best of the human spirit.

Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, has a lot of experience
rounding upevotes for Republican legislation. He's the former Senate majority
leader and former House and Senate whip. He's also the author of a new memoir,
"Herding Cats."

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Good Night, and Good Luck, a new film about Edward R. Murrow, tells the story of the famed newsman's clash with Sen. Joe McCarthy. The film, with David Strathairn in the title role, was directed by George Clooney.

Dubose is co-author (with Jan Reid) of a new book about House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Delay's nickname — and the name of the book — is The Hammer. DeLay was a small-town Texas exterminator who rose to be the most powerful man in Congress. Dubose was the editor of The Texas Observer for 11 years. He is also co-author, with Molly Ivins of Bushwhacked and Shrub.

The daughter of former presidential candidate, Vice President Al Gore, Kristin Gore has just written her first novel, Sammy's Hill. It's about a young health care analyst who is trying to balance her personal life with her work for a U.S. senator. Gore has been a TV writer since she graduated from Harvard, where she wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. She has written for Saturday Night Live and Futurama

Obama, an Illinois state senator, is considered the party's rising star. He is currently running against Republican Alan Keyes for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Obama's keynote address at the Democratic National Convention brought him to the attention of many Americans. He talks about the race and his memoir, Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.

Republicans in Illinois have asked Alan Keyes to run against Barack Obama for the U.S. Senate. Keyes, a resident of Maryland, has served in a number of government posts, including U.S. ambassador to the United Nations economic and social council and assistant secretary of state for international organizations. He also hosted his own radio show.

He's the creator and producer of NBC's new series Mr. Sterling, about a freshman senator on Capitol Hill. O'Donnell was a writer and producer for the first two seasons of NBC's The West Wing. Before his television career, O'Donnell was in politics himself. He was Democratic chief of staff of the United States Senate Committee on Finance from 1993 to 1995. Prior to that he was senior advisor to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan D-NY from 1989 to 1992. Currently O'Donnell is also senior political analyst for MSNBC.

In her 40 years of public service she worked for civil rights, helped write the guidelines that are now established in the Sexual Harrassment Act, worked for reform in South Africa and has argued before the Supreme Court. She has been the Commissioner on Human Rights in New York, the first woman appointed to head the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a law professor. Holmes Norton is the subject of the new biography Fire in My Soul, written by a long-time friend, Joan Steinau Lester.