No one of any Dem stature ever said anything when a police officer union member identified Republican DeMaio on his blog with a pink signifier. No Dem insider ever said anything publicly about Bob Filner’s repulsive attempts throughout the 2012 mayoral campaign to remind voters that “hey, Carl’s gay!” Or to repudiate recent DUI arrestee Ben Hueso’s X-rated, unsubstantiated allegations about what DeMaio purportedly did in the bathrooms of City Hall.

Tolerance is not required when it doesn’t suit Democrats or their de facto media allies, even those most likely to moralize about bigotry. Instead, 1940s-style sniggering about sexuality is fine when the target is a Republican. Shades of the way Democrats shrug off Harry Reid’s and others’ racially charged criticism of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ intelligence, even though legal blogs across the spectrum consider him a better writer and a more interesting legal mind than most of his colleagues.

Now San Diego machine Democrats — and Democrats in East Coast Super PACs flooding San Diego’s airwaves with hit ads — will have to decide whether to use outrageous new allegations against DeMaio. As a sign of how important the national parties consider the 52nd Congressional District race pitting DeMaio and first-term incumbent Scott Peters, Politico covered the scandal as it broke:

A high-profile Southern California congressional race descended into chaos on Wednesday when Republican Carl DeMaio was peppered with questions from reporters about whether he had sexually harassed and then intimidated and attempted to bribe a former campaign staffer.

At a news conference at his campaign headquarters, DeMaio called the allegations “absolutely untrue” and a “complete lie.” He added that authorities had questioned him and his campaign staff about the harassment claims, concluded they were unfounded and closed the case. DeMaio, 40, said the accuser concocted the story after he was identified as a “prime suspect” in a break-in at DeMaio’s campaign office last spring.

“All the evidence that was collected by the police department clearly indicated this individual was the prime suspect, and, it’s unfortunate, but we will continue to allow the district attorney to proceed with her case and weighing the case to prosecute for the break-in of our office,” said DeMaio, a former San Diego city councilman trying to unseat Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) in one of the nation’s most competitive House races.

What I’m hearing as a San Diego journo is that DeMaio is on solid ground in denying everything. That appears to be what Peters believes as well. He didn’t bring up the allegations at a Thursday debate.

But, hey, it’s been reported on. I expect the attack ads by Friday afternoon at the latest.

Democrats can’t wait to insinuate a gay Republican is a reprobate.

It is an amazing commentary on the servility of the media that they buy the White House spin that Republicans sticking to their principles and opposing bigger government is obstructionist; since when has the opposition party had an obligation to enact the agenda of a president of another party?

But if we accept the premise that Obama only deserves blame for the economy if he can get legislation he wants through Congress, when will the parallel California premise be acknowledged? Democrats have had full control of Sacramento for more than three years. Shouldn’t they get blamed for the state’s bad performance relative to the national economy?

“In 2006, California’s unemployment rate dipped to 4.9 percent and its underemployment rate — the number of job-seekers who want full-time work but can’t find it — was 9.1 percent. Both numbers were about the same as the figures for the nation.

“Since then, California has plunged in comparison with the rest of the U.S. Only three states have a worse unemployment rate. Only one state has a higher percentage of people who want to work full time but can’t find such jobs. According to revised Census Bureau measures of poverty that include the cost of living, California has by far the nation’s highest rate — 24 percent.”

When will Dem policies be blamed for CA’s miseries?

That’s from my U-T San Diego editorial that had as its focus the question, “When will Democrats acknowledge the policies they’re implementing aren’t working?”

The question that goes hand in hand with that one is this: When will the California media use the same standard as the inside-the-Beltway set in judging Jerry Brown’s economic stewardship?

Maybe when they finally develop some economic literacy.

I once had a prominent California journalist on my old KOGO radio show a few years ago — at a time when state unemployment was north of 10 percent — and he basically said the Golden State’s economy ebbed and flowed according to its own rhythms, irrespective of actions by the state government.

Yes, I’m sure Occidental Petroleum’s leaving California for Texas was a business decision that happened in a vacuum, irrespective of the policies advocated by the state’s dominant Democrats.

Sheesh.

Alas, it’s not just journalists. State Sen. Mark Wyland, R-Solana Beach, told me in 2010 that he would encounter Democratic lawmakers and staffers in the Capitol who were surprised to learn the state was in a deep recession.

If they didn’t think we were in a recession then, it’s unlikely that they’ll see the need for a course correction now.