The Politics Of Smashing Faces, Ctd

Bernstein applauds Friedersdorf:

People like to believe that agency matters -- that is, they constantlyunderemphasize structural factors such as the effect of the economy onelections or the difficulty in winning Congressional votes beyond aparty's strength in Congress.  When one's side doesn't win, it's easyto believe that either they didn't really want to win, or in the sportscliche, they didn't want to win badly enough.  Yelling and screaming isa good way to avoid that particular...