I wrote on Monday suggesting that a Republican never would have received the soft treatment given to Alex Sanders, a Democratic candidate in South Carolina, or Max Baucus (D-MT), both of whom made statements or ran ads suggesting that gay values were not the values of their state.

Well the proof is in. California Democratic Chair Art Torres is asking gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon to apologize not for making a statement himself, but for failing to criticize an ad run independently by a county party group which is critical of public schools teaching about gay values.

Before Simon says a word in response, he should ask Torres what he thinks about the statements and advertisements by Sanders and Baucus. Don’t let Torres off the hook by saying "that’s not California"--after all, Torres fancies himself a mover and shaker in the national Democratic party. It is the height of hypocrisy for him to criticize Simon for failing to criticize an ad which was run independently of Simon, when members of his party are advocating the same message directly.