"The public doesn't like mess"

I mostly think the "public" are fools, but in this case, I welcome their disgust. I know it's unseemly to be happy about this, but the logjam is pretty good news for the Dems. More importantly, it feels like GWB is finally being held accountable for the mess in Iraq and that's good news for sure. I'm one of many who've been frustrated with the free ride he's gotten, both with regards to the war and to his other policy initiatives. Of course no one wants Congress to be ineffective, but most of the policy initiatives that are stalled are things I don't want to see progress on! Here's a few paragraphs of the WaPo article that I'm referencing (plus the link, if you want to read the complete text):

Iraq War Debate Eclipses All Other Issues
GOP Flounders as Bush's Popularity Falls
By Jonathan Weisman and Charles Babington
Washington Post
Sunday, November 20, 2005
After largely avoiding the subject since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, lawmakers are suddenly confronting the issue of President Bush's handling of the war. The start hasn't been pretty.
Political stunts by both parties have created an air of acrimony that is infecting the parties' entire agendas. The bitterness reached a new high -- or low -- on Friday when House Republicans forced a late-night vote on a resolution for immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces.
The resolution failed, 403 to 3, but only after members nearly came to blows when a GOP newcomer suggested a veteran Democratic military hawk was a coward.
"Iraq is now a cloud over everything," said Stuart Rothenberg, a nonpartisan political analyst specializing in Congress. "It's the 800-pound gorilla in the room."
"After simmering on Congress's back burner for months, the Iraq war debate has eclipsed every other issue in the capital, slowing progress on some matters while stopping it on others. The GOP-led House and Senate are struggling to pass major tax legislation, an extension of the USA Patriot Act and a broad budget-cutting bill. Bush's top 2005 domestic agenda item -- revamping Social Security -- has sunk from sight, and more recently his bipartisan panel on tax reform barely made a ripple when it issued recommendations.
Public opinion has, in turn, emboldened Democrats to sharpen their attacks, and it has freed some Republicans -- especially Northeastern moderates -- to chart a new political course that separates them from the White House but wreaks havoc with the GOP's legislative agenda.
Politicians tried to calm the waters roiled by Friday's House maneuvering. GOP leaders had seized upon an impassioned call Thursday by Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, hoping to put Democrats on the spot by rushing a resolution to the floor calling on the administration to bring the troops home now. The ensuing bitter debate brought out calls for calm even before it was over.
Rothenberg says such confusion does not bode well for the political fortunes of the beleaguered GOP. "The public doesn't like mess," he said. "When they realize things are messy, they get frustrated, and they arrive at the general conclusion that you blame the people you figure are in charge."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/19/AR2005111901249_pf.html