Washington Post makes itself incredible

And the mainstream media wonders why so many don't trust them...

Headline:
"Voting Machines Found Not at Fault in Fla. Election"

First graf of story:

TALLAHASSEE, Feb. 23 -- An audit of touch-screen voting machines at the center of a dispute in a congressional election found no evidence of malfunction, Florida's secretary of state said Friday.

Read your own copy, nincompoop!

No, the story does not say the machines were found "not at fault." An election official said "an audit" by unspecified "independent" persons, of unspecified quality, using an unspecified procedures indicated the machines "functioned" in some unspecified way.

Now I'm actually a voting machine agnostic. I don't assume that evil corporations routinely steal elections for their Republican buddies. I do believe that competent computer scientists have been able to point out ways that could be used by interested hackers to change results without being detected. I don't know if it has ever happened. Certainly elections have been stolen in this country long before computerized voting.

When I've had some responsibility for "election protection," I've always told my comrades that the only sure way to be certain an election couldn't be stolen was to win by a comfortable margin -- so get out and hustle up our voters.

But writing about fears about computerized systems in this unsubstantiated, thoughtless way just ensures that many folks will have doubts. And democracy doesn't amount to much if people think their elections are rigged.