I’m continuing my suspension of my normal blogging campaign one more day to talk about campaign ads.  Senator McCain’s campaign recently sunk to a new low with ads that said Senator Obama had supported sex ed for 6 year olds, when in fact it was training to avoid sexual predators.  And there were others, equally misleading. 

Now, Senator Obama’s campaign has responded with ads that suggest that McCain is aligned with Rush Limbaugh in opposing immigration reform.  Not true.  And there have been others, equally misleading. 

It’s time to say that this is not OK.  Yes, smear tactics and misleading public statements have been around since politics began.  In ancient Rome, politicians hired thugs to walk through the streets spreading lies about their rivals.  One of the dirtiest political campaigns in U.S. history was the second one, when John Adams, a Federalist, won by 3 electoral votes over Jefferson, the Democrat-Republican.  Both sides slandered each other outrageously; the standards of journalistic verity were even lower than they are now. 

But that’s no reason to tolerate this low form of behavior now.  The Internet makes it possible for fact-checkers to work with formidable speed.  Of course, the Internet spreads lies as fast as the truth, but nonetheless the truth will out if enough people demand it.

Both campaigns have claimed that their politics would be different.  Indeed, Senator Obama’s campaign seemed to live that promise for much of its almost two-year history.  But now? 

Senator McCain’s claims of change and maverick-ism and a new approach in Washington are a little shakier given that he’s been around in Washington for 3 decades.  But nonetheless, that was his promise. 

So what’s going on?  Why can’t either campaign resist getting down into the mud?  It isn’t enough to point the finger at the other guy and say, ‘he did it first!’  That’s infantile behavior, and your mother taught you better.  It’s time for both parties to stand up and say, enough.  Politics as usual has given us weeks like this one, when the atmosphere is so poisoned that it seems almost impossible for politicians to create bi-partisan deals when they are necessary for the future of the country.  

Enough of the bad behavior.  There’s too much at stake.