EDITORIAL: Attack ads, smears take focus away from real issues

‘ ‘ ‘ With less than a month left until Election Day, the presidential campaign seems to be… ‘ ‘ ‘ With less than a month left until Election Day, the presidential campaign seems to be getting nastier every day, as the candidates fight each other with low blows. ‘ ‘ ‘ Both sides are guilty of resorting to shameful exaggerations and misleading comments in an effort to gain points in the polls and ultimately win the election in November. ‘ ‘ ‘ Just last month, Sen. John McCain’s campaign ran a television ad claiming that Sen. Barack Obama supported ‘comprehensive’ sex education for kindergarteners. The reality, however, was that Obama actually supported a bill that would have taught kindergarteners about sexual predators and improper touching. When asked by a voter how he would respond to McCain’s ad, Obama said, according to The New York Times, ‘I just have a different philosophy. I’m going to respond with the truth.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ But while Obama vowed not to stoop down to McCain’s level by twisting the facts, the senator shamelessly released a radio ad last month criticizing McCain for getting in the way of federal financing for stem cell research. The truth is that, while McCain used to oppose federal support of stem cell research, he later went against President George W. Bush in 2001 to consistently support it. ‘ ‘ ‘ The McCain campaign also rooted through Obama’s personal past and, just in time for Halloween, found the skeletons hidden in his closet. ‘ ‘ ‘ In a speech to GOP donors in Englewood, Colo., this past weekend, Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin accused Obama of ‘palling around with terrorists,’ referring to Obama’s connections with former anti-war radical William Ayers, who founded an FBI-deemed domestic terrorist group known as Weather Underground. ‘ ‘ ‘ In truth, however, according to CNN’s Fact Check, Ayers and Obama lived in the same Chicago neighborhood in the 1990s, and beginning in 1995, they both worked on a school improvement project with the non-profit Chicago Annenberg Challenge. That’s as far as the relationship went. ‘ ‘ ‘ Unfortunately, in the United States, this is politics as usual. The goal is to try and sway as many undecided voters as possible, especially in swing states, which usually end up deciding the election. ‘ ‘ ‘ While attack ads can sometimes help point out issues that normally go unnoticed in the general campaign, they tend to cross the line, degrading the candidates and the campaigns. ‘ ‘ ‘ Most attacks and smears fail to focus on the important issues affecting the United States. In turn, voters might become influenced to support a candidate based upon unimportant spin rather than facts. ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s all a game, each side eager to bring the other one down. Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist and former press secretary to vice president Al Gore, said, according to the Times, ‘All’s fair in love, war and politics.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ So while the rules of this political game don’t seem to be changing anytime soon, we, as voters, can take the initiative to make an educated choice on Nov. 4. Only when we research the facts and question the attacks can we make a well-informed decision at the polling booths.