The majority leader of Senate Democrats has forfeited his position because of the revelation that during the 2008 presidential campaign he described candidate Barack Obama as "light-skinned" with "no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one."

The racist quotation comes courtesy of a new book, "Game Change," by journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. It has Washington in an uproar.

Of course, Reid has apologized to Obama and every Democrat he can find and "for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans, for my improper comments."

Of course, Obama accepted Reid's apology and Democrats rallied around their poor excuse for majority leader.

Of course, if a Democrat uses racist language, it's OK with other Democrats.

But if a Republican or non-Democrat utters anything that can be construed as racist or racially insensitive, off with their heads. Talk about a double standard. This is ridiculous.

Remember Trent Lott.

He was the Republican Senate majority leader in 2002 when he came up with an absolutely stupid comment at the 100th birthday celebration for Sen. Strom Thurmond, South Carolina Republican and former Democrat who in 1948 was the presidential nominee of the Dixiecrat Party, a segregationist third party.

Lott's 2002 comment: "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 these years, either."

Of course, Lott apologized "to anyone who was offended" by his "poor choice of words." Of course, no apology was sufficient to save his majority leadership job. He had to go even though he said he was not endorsing Thurmond's racist positions but "the man and his life." In truth, his remarks were indefensible.

Reid's remark "confirms to me a mind-set that is out of step with where America is today," said Republican Chairman Michael Steele on Sunday talk shows. If a GOP senator had made the same remark, Steele said he himself and the Democrats "would be screaming for his head very much as they were with Trent Lott."

Steele, the first black to serve as GOP chairman, did not like Reid's use of the old term "Negro." He told Fox News "It's an old mindset when you're using language in 2008 that harkens back to the 1950s and '60s."

A double standard, said Senate Republican whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) among others. He said if Trent Lott should have resigned, "then Harry Reid should." The same standard should apply, he said.

If Reid doesn't lose his leadership post, Nevada voters should send him packing in the November election. Even before his racist comment came to light, Reid trailed in match-ups with three potential Republican challengers. He had a 33 percent approval rating versus 52 disapproval in the Mason-Dixon poll of Jan. 5-7.

Nevada voters know it's time for Harry Reid to go.

dmckee9613@aol.com