In the recent weeks and months of the presidential election, both sides are attacking each other at a ferocious rate.

I see this every time I turn on the TV. Obama attacks McCain for being too close to President Bush. McCain attacks Obama for his lack of experience. No matter what channel is on, a negative campaign ad is sure to be seen.

“They need to stop criticizing each other because it’s not true,” says junior Amity Wagner. Many students agree that not only are these ads false, but they are simply annoying.

Negativity reaches a new level

This game of attacking the other candidate has been occurring in every presidential election since television was invented. In this election, the tone of these messages and ads has been particularly aggressive.

It has gotten so bad that one of the best known political mud-slingers, Karl Rove said that the ads from both McCain and Obama are going too far.

With McCain being bashed for possible links with lobbyists and Obama being attacked for a quote using the word ‘lipstick’, it is impossible to not have a negative view of either campaign.

Attack ads distract from real issues

These attack ads and messages take attention away from the candidate’s message. The media only focuses on the negatives of the candidates, and what they stand for is completely forgotten.

Instead of electing the person with the best credentials to be the President of the United States, the race simply turns into a popularity contest, with the winner being the candidate who makes the other look bad.

“In high school elections you don’t have one person saying the other smoked pot or something,” said freshman Brittney Golden.

Perhaps McCain and Obama could learn from high school elections, where the issues are of the utmost importance.

Until then, every channel will be graced by the omnipresence of these angry advertisements.