I agree. There was no viable alternative. That's why the mandate has to be discounted. If you take the pepsi challenge, with pepsi in one cup, and urine in the other, it's not really a ringing endorsement for pepsi, is it? That's why I say you can't look at the election results as an endorsement for the war.
(I say this as some one that voted CP in '96 and '00).
Oddly enough, I voted for GWB for the first time in 04, AFTR his team had totally botched this whole Iraq situation. Talk about a bitter pill. But Kerry was worse and that's that.
That's their problem.
No, it's all our problem. If we don't have two viable candidates, we've got a problem.
The two party system will be the death of us yet.
I remember in the months leading up to the elections even here on FR how many of us were told to shut up and sit on our hands (wrt discussing alternatives).
I am re-evaluating for '08.