When I was growing up, just about the worst thing you could be was a McCarthyite. I’ve joked that, in my schools, American history consisted of slavery, Jim Crow, Japanese internment, and McCarthyism. Nothing else really mattered much. (I exaggerate a bit — but just a bit.)

Earlier this month, the Senate majority leader, on the Senate floor, said the following about Mitt Romney: “So the word is out that he has not paid any taxes for ten years. Let him prove he has paid taxes, because he has not.”

If a Republican leader said something like this about a Democrat, could the Republican remain a leader? Wouldn’t the cries of “McCarthyism” be deafening (and just)? The word is out! Let him prove he has done X, Y, or Z, because he has not! Wouldn’t the Republican leader be forced to step aside in disgrace? Think what happened to Trent Lott.

I have titled this post “A Final Remark on Reid . . .” But, really, it is a remark on our political culture, which, in its whopping double standard, is just bizarre.