Tit for tat. Trent Lott was pushed out as Senate majority leader for a racially insensitive comment he made. So must Harry Reid.

Or so the argument goes.

It’s not a bad one.

If Republicans are going to be held accountable for their politically incorrect choice of words, so must Democrats.

Nobody bothered looking into the soul of Lott after he paid a 100th birthday tribute to Strom Thurmond that sounded like an endorsement of the segregationist politics of the past.

Why bother looking into the soul of Reid, who a new book has revealed basically said in a private conversation that Barack Obama had enough white in him to be elected president?

The Democratic groups, however, that so lustily called for Lott’s head are now just as vigorously defending Reid, citing his civil rights record. They say that a politician can’t be measured based on an unfortunate slip of the tongue, but rather should be judged on the totality of his years in public service. They give Reid’s apology the benefit of the doubt for sincerity, while seven years ago they judged those made by Lott as merely politically calculated.

Whereas then-President George W. Bush was pressured to distance himself from Lott in order to demonstrate the administration’s racial bona fides, Barack Obama is allowed to give Reid a pass. After all, the African-American president can’t afford to lose Reid’s help at this point in getting a health-reform plan through Congress.

Double standard?

Yes.

But should the hollering from Republicans for Reid’s head continue?

No.

The problem is not the failure of Democrats to crucify one of their own. The problem is that Lott, simply because he was a white conservative from Mississippi, was not given the same measure of forgiveness.

“Gotcha” politics in this country has gotten out of control. Every time an elected official puts his foot in his mouth, some offended group wants him to pay for it. Most of the time, those doing the most clamoring have ulterior motives. In Lott’s case, his racial gaffe was a way for Democrats to strike a blow against GOP dominance of the legislative branch. In Reid’s case, it’s all about the GOP’s last-ditch efforts to derail Obama’s health-care overhaul.

When it comes to issues of race, most people are not perfect. There’s a little bigotry in almost everyone, no matter their color. The measure of their character is not whether they have occasional lapses into prejudice but how hard they fight the impulse. That’s an internal struggle that no one really is qualified to judge other than their maker.

So let’s judge politicians on what they do most of the time, not what they sometimes say when they’re not thinking. That’s a good rule for non-politicians, too.