Let’s put it in context: If John Walsh had plagiarized while working in the newsroom at the Daily Inter Lake, he would have been sent packing. 

That’s because credibility is the gold standard for a newspaper or any other news gathering organization. Plagiarism — taking credit for someone else’s words — is at its root another form of lying, and a newspaper has no credibility if it tolerates lying.

Whether the same standard applies in the Senate is up for debate.

A story in the New York Times last week demonstrated conclusively that Sen. Walsh had plagiarized large portions of his 2007 master’s thesis at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

This obviously was no youthful indiscretion. Walsh was 47 years old at the time he submitted his thesis, he had served 25 years in the National Guard, and had led the Guard’s 1st Battalion, 163rd Infantry Regiment into combat in Iraq, earning a Bronze Star. He should have known better.

The Army War College’s handbook describes plagiarism as “the antithesis of integrity,” “fraudulent misrepresentation,” “intellectual deception” and “a serious form of cheating” — and that is all in one paragraph.

“The bottom line,” the handbook says, is “don’t plagiarize. America needs strategic leaders to help guide her, not to undercut American values with plagiarism and deceit.”

The War College obviously takes plagiarism very seriously and its Academic Review Board is now analyzing Walsh’s thesis for evidence of misconduct. In a press release, the college noted that since 1990, there have been six cases in which the dean has “revoked the graduation status of a former student after graduation.” Such students have their name removed from the plaque bearing graduates’ names that stands in front of the college.

Walsh, who was appointed to his seat in February by Gov. Steve Bullock after the resignation of Max Baucus, has not served himself well in his handling of this accusation. 

First, he told the New York Times he didn’t think he had done anything wrong and said he didn’t believe he had plagiarized. Presumably, a staff member later explained to him what plagiarism was because he no longer tried to deny the occurrence, but rather started to cite his war experience in Iraq and post-traumatic stress disorder as “a factor” in his “mistake.” He also revealed that he is taking anti-depressant medication.

We certainly sympathize with any personal problems the senator may have been having then or now that are a result of his service to our country, but whatever stress Sen. Walsh was under because of his enrollment in the War College was something he chose for himself. Like all adults, he made choices, and now he must live with the consequences of those choices.

Ultimately, though we are dismayed by last week’s revelations, we believe it is advisable to leave it up to Montana’s voters the fate of Sen. Walsh, and won’t call for his resignation.

Oddly enough, it’s the Democratic Party which has the most to gain by Walsh stepping aside. Never a favorite in his race against Rep. Steve Daines for a full six-year term, Walsh is now likely to be written off by the national party and major donors. It is thus the Democrats who will be the final victim of Walsh’s deception. The likelihood of them holding on to the Senate majority just got that much more remote.

But despite their self-interest in running away from Walsh, Montana Democrats seem to be lining up to support him. They are saying some things that have the virtue of being original, and yet seem to fly in the face of reality.

Sen. Jon Tester, for instance, remarked: “If you dig down a little bit, I don’t think it’s that big a deal, I really don’t... Look, Walsh is a soldier, he’s not an academic... And I just think if a person bores down below the surface, it’s not near as big a deal as it appears right now.”

Well, maybe it’s in the eye of the beholder. Montanans will have to judge whether honesty is a big deal or not.

Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.