WITH THE launch of a book on the 2008 presidential campaign, Senator Harry Reid has become mired in a controversy about his racist comments in regard to the "electabilty" of President Barack Obama.

The book by John Heilmann and Mark Halperin reported that Harry Reid had praised Barack Obama for his "light skin" and lack of a "Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Though Harry Reid had apologised for the remark and the apology had been accepted, it had raised a lot of furore, especially from the republicans, who have cited it as a case of double standards.

A similar situation had shown up in 2002, when then Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott had made remarks praising the segregationist policy of Strom Thurmond, the presidential candidate in 1948. He had said, "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."

At that time, Trent Lott had been made to resign for the remark, which is why some Republicans are calling it a double standard, implying that if Trent Lott had been made to resign then why isn't the same being done with Harry Reid. “Trent Lott resigned and Harry Reid should resign”, civil rights activist Senator John Cornyn said on Monday morning.

Liz Cheney, wife of the former vice president, said in an interviw,"One of the things that makes the American people frustrated is when they see time and time again liberals excusing racism from other liberals."