Could the new era of civility come crashing down as a result of one embarrassing rejection? House Majority Leader Eric Cantor invited Former Speaker of the House and current House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to sit with him for tonight’s State of the Union Address, but Pelosi has made it clear she already has other plans.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann always knows how to deliver an eye-catching sound bite and today on the floor of the House of Representatives she did not disappoint by declaring that “Obamacare as we know it is the crown jewel of socialism – it is socialized medicine.” Bachmann also attempted to argue that taking steps towards repeal is not merely a symbolic act.

Newly-appointed Chairman of the Reform and Oversight Committee Darrell Issa has been causing commotion about using his subpoena power to investigate corruption in the White House, calling the Obama administration “one of the most corrupt administrations in history” and promising a deluge of investigations. Challenged on the use of the word “corruption” by CNN’s John King, the Congressman went after the entire network and, namely, their understanding of the word.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews seemed to be somewhere between moderately and extremely miffed that his colleague Joe Scarborough, a former congressperson, decided to walk across the House floor, shaking hands with various members of the Democratic party. Oh, everyone’s just walking and shaking hands and laughing and riding and cornholing except Chris Matthews!

Today Congressman John Boehner was formally elected the new Speaker of the House of Representatives. Outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi passed a very large gavel off to Boehner, and now the House is officially under new leadership. Pelosi thanked her colleagues for the opportunity to serve and congratulated Boehner and wished him success. Those expecting tears from the typically emotional Boehner were satisfied as Boehner’s tears began to flow before he even got to the podium to speak.

Bill O’Reilly‘s “body language” readers are vintage Factor by now, but while many times they’re trotted out to investigate the latest mystery hand signs from Nancy Pelosi or whatever it is your favorite member of the liberal elite is trying to say with that suspicious nod, today’s body language analysis was all about tears– the newsworthy, seemingly endless tears of soon-to-be Speaker of the House John Boehner.

William Shakespeare once famously wrote in The Tempest “misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows,” which has later been bastardized to its more common elocution “politics makes for strange bedfellows.” There is no more apt example of this notion than Rep. Peter King, the firebrand Republican from Long Island, NY, who just now gave a passionate and articulate defense of his fellow New Yorker and ideological foe Charlie Rangel.

I met Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for the first and only time about a month before the 2010 mid-term elections. What struck me most was her smile. I don’t mean it struck me in the sexist, “my what a nice smile that female politician has” kind of way, as though the next thing I noticed was her shoes. I was struck that her warm and toothy grin, which I’d seen a million times on television, still managed to seem genuine mere weeks before her party’s predicted shellacking. Then I realized that she still has a lot to smile about.

Part of the Republican surge this year stemmed from the GOP’s censure of President Obama—who once promised to make his administration to be the “most open and transparent in history”—for not being open and transparent enough, particularly regarding healthcare reform. As such, C-SPAN’s current proposal to presumptive House Speaker John Boehner should be an offer Republicans can’t refuse: an increase in the number and scope of press cameras in the House chamber.

Since the Republicans won control of the House of Representatives this past week, Representative Darrell Issa, who will be the next Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has been making the media rounds. Many have been asking what Issa’s plans will be when he takes charge of Oversight, and what investigations he will focus on driving forward. This morning he discussed his plans with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

With the House of Representatives now in Republican hands, many are wondering whether the dynamics between Congress and the President will change significantly, and to what extent there will be conflict. While most are concerned that very few helpful bills will be passed, Bill Maher took it a step further, taking advantage of having access to a Republican legislator to ask whether the GOP is looking to impeach President Obama.

Last night’s election results were probably more painful to her than anyone else, even the President, but Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi put her best foot forward for a sit-down interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer today, insisting that her sadness was for the American people, not herself, and that she still had hope in her colleagues and in the possibility of President Obama having a second term.

Well, here’s an interesting twist of events: Russell Berman of The Hill is reporting that despite claims to the contrary, House Minority Leader John Boehner votes with Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi a majority of the time—52 percent of the time, to be exact.

After successfully defending his turf in yesterday’s Democratic primary, Rep. Charlie Rangel told his district that “President Obama needs people like me more than ever.” “And why do I say this?” asked Rangel, who has been consistently dogged by a variety of congressional ethics investigations. Apparently assuming that nobody else knew the answer, he immediately responded to himself

House Minority Leader John Boehner spent a fair amount of time talking policy on today’s episode of Meet the Press, but he also gave his take on November’s elections, and the chances that the Republicans could take over the House of Representatives and promote him to House Speaker. He says it’s a “challenge,” but it can definitely be done.

A barely-noticed milestone occurred in the House of Representatives today: Rep. Jim Langevin of Rhode Island became the first person in a wheelchair to preside over the House of Representatives, as he presided over the passing of a resolution honoring the anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act. A series of lifts were installed in the chamber to help him reach the top of the room.

It seems that every time Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson takes the podium in the House, he makes a headline. Today he spoke in favor of extending unemployment benefits, but instead of trying to persuade Republicans that this was the right course of action, he argued that the GOP is actively “trying to revive” the America of the Great Depression, and mocked them for their yachts and art collections.

This past weekend on Meet the Press, WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs “stated the obvious” when he claimed that there “are enough seats in play” for the GOP to take the House this November. This, in turn, lead to House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi to reportedly call Gibbs “political inept” for the untoward remark. This story came up on Good Morning America, and Democratic strategist James Carville revealed that the Dems may need to rely on a higher authority to maintain a majority in the house.

Today was not shaping out to be a great day for Republicans in the House. First, a video was released of Iowa Rep. Steve King making what sounds suspiciously like a birther joke. Then there was Rep. Louie Gohmert, who read out a column comparing the BP escrow account to, uh, Hitler, on the House floor. And then Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski noted that the people benefitting from the finance bill were not “minorities or defective people.”

The fallout from Texas Republican Congressman Joe Barton continues, and now some of his Republican colleagues are asking for him to step down from his ranking position on the House Energy and Commerce committee. The Congressman leading the charge, Rep. Jo Bonner of Alabama, represents a district that has been affected significantly by incoming oil on their shores.

Sitting before Congress as if standing before a firing squad, it only took about five minutes of the House committee’s opening statements for BP CEO Tony Hayward to stop looking like the sort of man who has the will to live. But amid the barrage of scolding and stark reminders of his company’s negligence, someone threw Hayward a lifeboat: an apology.

BP CEO Tony Hayward has proven to be the kind of spokesman that the company can’t let veer too far off-message. Tomorrow, Hayward will stand before the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce to explain the Congress what happened and what his company is doing to solve the problem and, in opening statements published recently by CNN, Hayward is sticking to the original script of his PSA fairly strictly.

Last night’s “Worst Person in the World” segment on Countdown wasn’t notable for anything host Keith Olbermann said in particular, or for the relative egregiousness of the crimes he accused his “worsts” of committing. The interesting thing about this attack is that the takedown instead came from a Republican Congressman who used the words “pinhead” and “weeny” on the House floor to attack Fox News host Megyn Kelly.

Controversial Florida Congressman Alan Grayson delivered one of his signature posterboard slideshows on the House floor yesterday, though this time he didn’t accuse the Republicans of wanting anyone to die. Instead, he discussed auditing the Federal Reserve, on which he is negotiating for bipartisan legislation with libertarian Rep. Ron Paul. And yesterday, he was the bearer of good news to Americans: congratulations, you now own the Red Roof Inn!

In an attempt to get in on all that social networking has to offer, House Republicans are staging their first Congressional New Media Challenge, a competition modeled after NCAA March Madness in which representatives vie for the largest number of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube followers. Round one, on Twitter, begins today. Time to fire up the Congressional Blackberries!