Why Congress Votes No

Matt Yglesias is a fan of XMASTIME:

Members of congress, and especially senators, have a very annoying habit of trying to avoid accepting responsibility for their own decisions. 

Moi:

When a Congressman himself is in favor of a bill, he doesn't seem to spend a lot of time going to Town Hall meetings or "on the streets meeting with my constituents." And yet when they DON'T want something, they seem to spend a lot of time "listening to my constituents," and furrowing their brows worrying if it's what "my constituents want," worried that if a single person disagrees with him, it is one too many, and "public opinion" must dictate that he vote "no." And so, even in the face of such un-scientific, non-quantifying things as "counting numbers," they vote how they want to anyway.

Kinda the same. Whatevs.