Many Democrats insist they like the Pugnacious Pelosi. She keeps a tight, disciplined ship focused on liberal goals and isn’t afraid to punish dissenters. “Nancy is one of the few leaders who has the courage to tell people in her caucus no,” former congressman Sam Gejdenson of Connecticut told National Journal.

But more-practical members chafe under her rule. Two reliably liberal Massachusetts Democrats openly expressed displeasure with Pelosi this week in a joint appearance on WGBH, the Boston PBS station. Representative Mike Capuano of Cambridge said, “I think we need leadership that understands that if something that you’re doing is not working, change what you’re doing.” Asked if that meant Pelosi should go, he replied, “That, or she should change.” Representative Lynch was even more blunt, predicting that “Nancy Pelosi will not lead us back into the majority.” Asked by host Jim Braude if his answer to the question whether Pelosi “should go” was “yes,” Lynch replied, “Right.”

The two members were joined in part by freshman representative Seth Moulton of Salem, who told WBEX radio this week that for House Democrats there is “no question we really need to embrace a modern sense of governing.” He blasted the fact that Democrats automatically make the most senior member of a committee the chair, while Republicans have made a “great reform” by making that decision much more on the basis of merit.