No wonder they fucked everything up. Republicans can't even do simple arithmetic.

Democrats winning the popular vote for the Senate by an overwhelming 11.6% margin - 55%/42.4% is not a mandate:

Detroit News:

Democrats should be careful about interpreting their sweeping victory Tuesday both nationally and in Michigan as a mandate from the voters.

Pat Buchanan:

The principal beneficiary of the election may be Nancy Pelosi, but this election was no mandate for an ultraliberal feminist who spent much of the campaign in protective custody so America would not see what they would be getting when they dumped Denny Hastert.

National Taxpayers Union press release:

Election was No Mandate for More Government

Ocala.com:

Message to Democrats on winning the U.S. House: this was no mandate. Republican ineptitude handed House control to Democrats, not Democratic superiority.

But when George W. Bush barely squeaked by in 2004 due to a largely questionable vote in Ohio, THAT was a mandate:

The Wall Street Journal, 11/4/04:

So the lawyers didn't decide this election after all. The voters did--including millions of conservative first-timers whom the exit polls and media missed--emerging from the pews and exurban driveways to give President Bush what by any measure is a decisive mandate for a second term.

William Bennett, 11/3/04:

Having restored decency to the White House, President Bush now has a mandate to affect policy that will promote a more decent society, through both politics and law. His supporters want that, and have given him a mandate in their popular and electoral votes to see to it.

Tucker the Idiot Boy:

N]obody has done it since 1988. The president wins reelection with a majority of the vote. It is a mandate.

Peggy Noonan, on Hannity and the Lapdog 11/3/04:

He [Bush] has, I would argue, a mandate now.

William "Next Stop Iran" Kristol, in the Weekly Standard, 11/14/04:

The hair-pullers and teeth-gnashers won't like it, of course, but we're nevertheless inclined to call this a Mandate.

More and more and more here.

On Planet Delusional, where both the Adminstration and their fellaters in the media live, a 50.73% of the vote is a mandate, but 55% is not.

Someone please explain this math to me.