to find fault unnecessarily; raise trivial objections; quibble about; detect petty flaws in
From Maureen Dowd, in a New York Times op-ed piece: “No matter how much Democrats may be caviling over the House Republicans’ attempts to squelch the Ethics Committee before it goes after Mr. DeLay (the former exterminator who pushed to impeach Bill Clinton), privately they’re rooting for Mr. DeLay to thrive.”