Methinks you are falling dangerously close to the WAPO zone of defensive journamilism head-honcho here (which, as I recall Salon's Manjoo defended the Post's indefensible position so perhaps all this is starting to make sense). The real point of Kennedy's article is that there is enough proof of wrongdoing in Ohio for a reasonable person to conclude that the election was most likely stolen. I certainly believe that to be the case as do millions of others and for good reason. Others may disagree, but you and your disgraceful writer who ought to be writing for some conservative publication are making precisely the argument that those filthy Republicans made both in 2000 and in 2004 which is: "you can't conclusively prove it so therefore we will dismiss this entire line of reasoning regardless of how bad it stinks." You have become sucked into the Republican mindset you weenies!

1. These are the criminal bastards who lied our country into war, are responsible for the murders of all those who have died directly and indirectly in the illegal war, and who are responsible for weakening the national security of the United States as a result.

2. These are the criminal bastards who have made no serious effort to find Bin Laden in years and who cynically used the tragedy of 9/11 to pursue dreams of empire at great cost in both lives and treasure.

3. These are the criminal bastards who are at this very moment illegally spying on American citizens in open violation of federal law.

4. These are the criminal bastards who have implemented torture and other human rights abuses as standard operating procedure for the United States reducing us to the moral stature of the Soviet Union during its worst times.

How and why is it such a hard, long leap for you and Manjoo to understand these people will do anything to get in and stay in power?

There's plenty more where all that above comes from as you well know, but for Salon to continue to defend the position that because we cannot prove beyond doubt that these people who have most certainly committed very serious crimes while in office actually committed the crime of stealing the election means you are preposterously naive and willfully cooperating in the defense of these outrageous crimes. And then you actually try to claim that pointing out that the election was stolen is going to harm efforts to reform the system! What kind of apologist crapola is that? This is the sort of dunderheaded intellectualism that keeps some liberals so alienated and disconnected from reality. At absolute minimum a serious investigation into the irregularities, not only in Ohio, but elsewhere is justified by the very irregularities cited by Kennedy. Perhaps at the level of a Special Prosecutor, but some kind of real investigation needs to occur. Your defense of the criminals' activities makes that seem unnecessary and that is what is so repulsive about your position on this issue. This is our democracy we are talking about and it isn't okay to steal elections. In fact, I would be most enthusiastic in supporting any means necessary--including insurrection if need be if they do it again. It is totally unacceptable. In other countries when elections are stolen people go beserk and defend their rights. Here in the home of modern Democracy, simply laying out all the available evidence and reaching the obvious conclusion is sniffed at by the likes of our betters at Salon. You wouldn't want to be known as too shrill or perhaps filled with outrage. Instead, you all will be the elite who will follow the good government line and look the other way while our nation is stolen not only from us but from our children. Good thing the Orange Revolution didn't have to put up with Salon's coverage of their similarly stolen election.

I really am sorely disappointed in Salon, in you Ms. Walsh particularly and I continue to be disgusted by the continuing byline of Mr. Manjoo. I can read the kind of crap he's serving in Newsweek or a dozen other mainstream and worthless "news" outlets. I don't pay to read their garbage and if this kind of thing continues I will not continue to pay for it from Salon either.

Get real! They (the Republicans) are a bunch of crooks and thugs and they stole the election just as they have committed other brazen illegal acts. What is so hard to believe about that? You think the people responsible for the killing of all those innocent Iraqi's and Americans give a rats ass about stealing the Presidency? Of course they don't. But they love it when they see a Salon come to their defense.

You don't have the same problem believing they have violated the laws of the land and international treaties when it comes to torture, do you? You don't have the same problem when it comes to their clear violation of FISA, do you? You don't have the same problem when it comes to their obvious lies regarding the connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda and Saddam and the attack on the WTC and the Pentagon, do you? Of course not, but you cannot prove beyond doubt that they have violated the laws or that they absolutely were lieing about WMD. But we all know they broke the laws in question and we all knew they lied about WMD and some of us even knew it at the time the lies were being spewed out and regurgitated in the mainstream media.

I'm just amazingly disappointed with Manjoo's work overall and his original hack piece on Kennedy's RS article in particular and with your defense of same which reminded me very much of the self-righteous WAPO defense of their indefensible online assistance to the GOP. Perhaps you all have just gotten too big for your britches as my Grandpa used to say. I thought Salon was different. You're showing me I was wrong. What a pity.