I’m sure somewhere out there, someone is making a detailed comparison between the Cynthia McKinney incident and the Patrick Kennedy incident. Kennedy got — or, in a sense, almost got — special treatment from the Capitol Police while McKinney didn’t. Whatever the merits of this comparison, the outrage on the subject is surprisingly muted. This no doubt has to do with a lot of specific details and the speed of Kennedy’s apology and admission. But one detail that can’t be left out is that Kennedy is a Democrat and a Kennedy. Does anyone doubt that if this had been a Republican under similar circumstances that the Congressional Black Caucus and the liberal bloggers would be denouncing the racist double standard being applied to a white Republican while McKinney was given no slack?