Tired of ads? Stick with issues

Imagine our surprise when we read in an Associated Press story Monday that Sen. Tester and Rep. Rehberg are “weary” of the attack ads that are running endlessly on television and radio.

Even in Montana, the only name for that kind of hypocrisy is “chutzpah.” But in case, you don’t know Yiddish, you can substitute “insolent audacity” and not be too far off.

We know that the Democratic senator and his Republican challenger are not entirely responsible for the blitz of negative ads, but they can’t escape responsibility either.

Has winning an election really become so important that people are willing to routinely distort the truth, smear their honorable opponents, and insult the intelligence of voters just for the honor of taking a seat among the 535 least popular Americans who have the privilege of serving in Congress?

Apparently so, and the obligatory condemnations we just heard from Rehberg and Tester do nothing to change that fact.

Here’s an idea: If a candidate really is disgusted by the kinds of attack ads that are being generated by their own campaigns, super PACS and other outside organizations, how about if they stop campaigning against the other guy and start marching up and down the state to denounce their own ads.

Now, that might actually earn some respect — and votes. Just an idea.

In the meantime, we do know that most voters are interested in a serious discussion of policy.

If that includes you, then by all means we would like to see you at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, when the Daily Inter Lake sponsors a debate between Tester, Rehberg and Libertarian candidate Dan Cox at Flathead Valley Community College.

But because of the size of the venue and popularity of this event, tickets are being distributed by random drawing. If you haven’t yet entered the drawing, we invite you to register on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dailyinterlake (follow the link for contests, and then be sure to enter for tickets after completing the registration process). You can also try to win tickets by sending an e-mail to tmahan@dailyinterlake.com. All entries need to be received by noon on Monday.

For those of you who don’t succeed in winning tickets, we are pleased to announce that we will be streaming the debate live at www.dailyinterlake.com