The double standard is glaring. And it’s smirking at us every day.

After the latest batch of Joy Reid’s hateful blog rants, she apologized without claiming any further hacks. After the ⁹⁄₁₁ Truther stuff and calling for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel, she now unquestionably believes that Al Qaeda was responsible and that Israel has a right to exist.

MSNBC put out its own pro-Reid statement claiming that she had “evolved”.

Fair enough. Everyone says stupid things. Everyone has a right to redemption. Or almost everyone.

Reid claimed she was hacked. Now she’s taking ownership of her posts. But without actually admitting that she lied. That isn’t responsible behavior.

But here’s the thing.

Lefties get to evolve. They get a pass when racist comments they’ve said in the past come back to haunt them.

Not so much non-lefties. Just ask Paula Deen. Saying something a long time ago isn’t fine if you’re not one of the gang. But if you’re an MSNBCer, then you’ve evolved. And it’s okay.

That’s moving the goal posts. And moving the goal posts is how the double standard work.

Protesting the anthem at the NFL is free speech. Tweeting stuff isn’t. Neither is writing a memo at Google.

Joy Reid gets to evolve and keep her job.

The left doesn’t believe in punishing offensive language either. It believes in power. Its own power.