Having myself written newspaper columns since I was in my 20s, I have some sympathy for Sen. Tom McClintock these days. McClintock, whose interest in conservative politics kicked in well before puberty, entered the public arena as a high-school age letter-to-the-editor writer to the old Thousand Oaks News-
Chronicle in the 1970s. Then-editor Marv Sosna was so taken with the young man's flair for political essay writing that he signed him on as a columnist. He wrote the column while a student at UCLA.

One column, penned Aug. 18, 1977, touched the third rail of American politics. More than touched it in fact; it grabbed the rail with both hands and attempted to snap it in two. McClintock, then 21, described Social Security as "nothing more than a tax levied on youth." He went on the write that the system amounted to a "theft of youth's future earnings to pay for the avarice of the New Establishment."

The campaign of his opponent in the lieutenant governor's race this fall, Democratic Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, dug up that column and lifted this nugget for an TV commercial that seeks to portray McClintock as an extremist. McClintock, the ad says, once described Social Security as "morally bankrupt."

McClintock, unlike many politicians, hasn't softened his rhetoric much with age. Still, one wonders if, at age 50, he might reflect that maybe there's a better way to criticize the retirement safety net of millions of California voters. One also must wonder about the fairness of using an intentionally provocative column -- and, remember, that's what such columns are supposed to be -- as evidence of what McClintock may or may not believe nearly 30 years later.

The American flag is an enduring staple of political advertising, but in the recent past its imagery has been used most effectively by candidates and ballot campaigns on the right. This week, the pro-Proposition 87 campaign released a hard-hitting commercial that uses the flag to promote the alternative-energy initiative backed most vigorously by the left.

The ad opens with the image of a Saudi Arabian sheikh, followed by a Middle-Eastern street scene that shows anti-American protesters torching an American flag. The narration: "We buy their oil. They burn our flag."

The ad goes on to say Proposition 87, which would establish an oil severance tax in California to generate revenue to promote alternative energy, would result in the use of more wind and solar energy "produced right here in
California." Then comes a scene of the American flag in all its glory. Proposition 87, the ad says, will make us more secure and more free.

Chevron and the other opponents of the measure will have their hands full responding to that. Perhaps they should consult those associated with John Kerry's 2004 campaign for some counsel on how difficult it is to respond when your opponents try to paint you as unpatriotic.

After Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides staged a news conference in Malibu last Friday to announce his opposition to the proposed BHP Billiton LNG terminal off the coast of Oxnard, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election team went into rapid response mode.

Among the responses was that Angelides was being a "hypocrite" on environmental issues. The chief evidence cited for that assertion was a citation once issued by the EPA against Angelides' development company for violating provisions of the Clean Water Act. In an attempt to make a connection with the LNG issue, however, Team Schwarzenegger included a notation that two of Angelides' supporters, Assemblymen Joe Baca Jr. and Jerome Horton had cast key committee votes a month ago to scuttle a bill backed by LNG opponents that would have required the state Energy Commission to evaluate and rank the various LNG proposals in California.

The assertion was absolutely true. But does the fact they voted against the bill and also support Angelides contribute to making the candidate a hypocrite on the issue?

Using that logic, Schwarzenegger's signing of the landmark global warming bill last week would have to be seen as one of the greatest acts of hypocrisy in political history. All but two of the governor's Republican supporters in the Legislature voted against that bill — 30 GOP Assembly members and 14 GOP senators. Sen. Bill Morrow abstained. Only Assemblywoman Shirley Horton supported the bill.

Among those voting against the greenhouse gas-reduction bill were two Republicans who are on the statewide ticket, including Schwarzenegger's nominal "running mate," lieutenant governor candidate Tom McClintock.

Does that make Schwarzenegger a "hypocrite" for supporting the bill? Hardly. No more than Angelides is being hypocritcal by opposing a project when two Democrats who support him voted against the LNG bill. Playing the guilt-by-association game is particularly risky for the Schwarzenegger camp, given that its candidate has bucked Republican Party orthodoxy on a number of high-profile issues this year.