[flexcoders] pulling my hair out with e4x!!!

[Derrick Anderson]

can someone please explain why this does not return an XMLList?

public var debugModel:XML = <mergefields display="Merge Fields">
            <employees display="Employees">
                <node display="Employee First Name"
data="Employee_234234-234234-234234-234234" />
                <node display="Employee Last Name"
data="Employee_234234-234234-234234-234234" />
.....


var fieldNode:XMLList = debugModel.employees.node.(attribute("display") ==
"Employee First Name");

but this does...

public var thePeople:XML = <people>
                <person name="Mims Wright" suffix="III">
                    <age>27</age>
                    <aka>Mims H Wright</aka>
                    <aka>Teh AWesoeomes!</aka>
                    <bio></bio>
                </person>
.....

var fieldNode:XMLList = thePeople.person.(attribute("suffix") == "III");

i've tried a million different variations and i cannot get it to work with
my XML- what am i doing wrong here?

thanks,
d.