By now you've doubtless heard about Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's monstrously stupid remark about Barak Obama. In their book, "Game Change" authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann reported that the gaffe occurred during the 2008 campaign, when Reid announced to all within earshot that Obama had a couple of "advantages" in the presidential race: that he was "light-skinned" and was not burdened "with a NEGR0 dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

Let that one sink in for a moment. This was not a remark made decades ago when he was in college - this was just last year. And not only were Reid's remarks clear and unambiguous statements about Obama's race, his choice of wording reflects the view of black Americans that was prevalent among Southern Democrat segregationists of the 1950's. Given the ultra-sensitivity that Democrats have shown about all things racial, you might have expected a firestorm of protest, not to mention calls for Reid to step down.

But don't hold your breath.

You see, while any Republican who had made precisely the same statement would be facing a veritable lynch mob in both the press and the Senate, as a Democrat, Harry Reid has what could be compared to "diplomatic immunity" - Democrats are never held to account for the most outrageous (even egregiously racist) comments. No matter how blatant and inexcusable the comment, even when there is absolutely no doubt about what they said, nor the context within which they made the statements, Democrats get a pass. And they are not merely defended - they are often even praised.

The reaction of Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine was typical: "If you look at those comments, they clearly were in the context of praising Sen. Obama." He's got to be kidding, right? Nope. And as far as Reid's being asked to step down, Kaine wasn't even considering it, saying "I don't think this is an issue that's going to affect his leadership at all."

Obama himself seemed to take little offense, saying "I accepted Harry's apology without question because I've known him for years, I've seen the passionate leadership he's shown on issues of social justice, and I know what's in his heart," Obama said. "As far as I am concerned, the book is closed."

Now, compare the reaction to Reid's comments to the treatment of Trent Lott, the Republican Senate Minority Leader, who was involved in a similar incident just a year before Reid's faux pas. Senator Lott was hit with an avalanche of criticism, eventually eventually forcing him to step down from his post, for remarks made at the 100th birthday party of then Senator Strom Thurmond.

So what did Trent Lott say that could cause such an uproar, leading to demands for his resignation? Well, his exact words were: "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

You're probably confused. What exactly could any reasonable individual find in the above statement that would cause the furor that followed? Aaaah, but you are forgetting something. While Democrats get little more than a wink and a nod for what they actually say, Republicans are pilloried for what the mainstream media says they (secretly) mean.

And boy, were the left-leaning types at CNN, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and all three major networks just certain about what Trent Lott really, really meant by his birthday comments - that he agreed with segregation. You see, waaaaaay back in his earlier days, Strom Thurmond was, like many Southern Democrats, a segregationist. So, obviously, when someone, 50 years later, at a birthday party, tells the old man that the country would have been better off had he been elected president, well, then there is no doubt that their words just had to be "code" for supporting those racist policies.

If all this seems just a bit disingenuous, it is. Any sane person would see what was going on. Lott was doing what any of us might do in the same situation. He was simply complimenting a very old man. Nothing more. Yet Lott not only apologized (a mistake, in my view - it merely gave credence to the absurd charges), he also resigned. But of course he did.

Because Lott was a Republican, and thus subject to the linguistic equivalent of a proctology exam - followed by calls from his fellow Republicans for his resignation.

But Reid is a Democrat, so he gets away with a tepid apology - and little more than a limp-wristed rebuke from his own party.

And, thanks in large measure to the media's ability to determine what is, or is not, a story, that is the state of politics and journalism in America today. But Reid's comments also expose what many of us have known for a long time - the utter disdain and contempt that Democrat elites have for black Americans. From Harry Reid to Obama himself, Democrat party leaders see African-American voters as little more than tools to be used to amass and retain more and more power over the lives of all Americans, no matter what their skin color.

So the real question is: How long are black Americans going to stay on the Democratic Party Plantation?