Philadelphia Eagles' football player Riley Cooper was buried in a media firestorm after being caught on video using a racial slur to describe black people while at a recent Kenny Chesney concert.

The comment went viral and caused an immediate uproar, jeopardizing Cooper's pro career.Cooper said he had a confrontation with a security guard, who is black, and that he had been drinking but said those are not excuses for what he said. The Eagles fined Cooper and sent out an apology right after the video surfaced.After meeting with the media in Philadelphia, Cooper apologized again. Time will tell what the long-term reactions will be by his teammates and the Philadelphia community.Another recent victim of racial indiscretion is Paula Deen, the multimedia cooking star. Her admission to having used the N-word in past court testimony has devastated her career, costing not only her Food Network series but also a multi-book deal and major business sponsorships, including Target, Wal-Mart and Home Depot.Racial slurs like the "N-word" and "cracker" have become highly charged after the George Zimmerman trial when it was revealed that the victim, Trayvon Martin, used both words to describe the defendant.In contrast, Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York went on a personal tirade against Republicans and grass roots conservative groups last week, but little was said in the mainstream media. In the interview, he compared Tea Party conservatives to segregationists during the civil rights movement, calling them "white crackers.""What's going on is sabotage," Rangel raged. "Terrorists couldn't do a better job than the Republicans are doing. It is the same group we faced in the South with those white crackers and the dogs and the police."I don't want to see it and I am not a part of it.' What the hell! If you have to bomb little kids and send dogs out against human beings, give me a break."Minn. Rep. Michele Bachmann, an avid tea party supporter and founder of the Tea Party Caucus, wants Rangel to apologize for his racially charged comments and offered to set up meetings for him to explain his divisive statements.First of all, when it comes to judging others, Charles Rangel has little to offer. His political life has been a train wreck of ethics investigations.It was three years ago that Rangel was found guilty on 11 ethics charges, ending a two-year investigation into his personal finances. Rangel became the first congressman in 27 years and only the 23rd House member of all time to be censured.Rangel's contempt for the conservative movement and Republicans in general is well established. Even in the midst of his own ethics turmoil, Rangel slurred Alaska governor, Republican vice presidential nominee and Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin by calling her "disabled."During 2011, he became the first member of Congress to declare support for the Occupy Wall Street movement, the liberal Democrats' answer to the Tea Party movement. "Americans for Democratic Action gave him an average lifetime "Liberal Quotient" of 91 percent while The American Conservative Union put Rangel's lifetime rating of less than 4 percent.It's not surprising then to see the liberal media giving the 83-year old congressman a pass, while demonizing the likes of Paula Deen or Riley Cooper. Deen's comments, by the way, were made some 30 years ago while Rangel's outrageous tirade appeared well calculated.That kind of double standard is an outrage.By Jim Zbickeditor@tnonline.com