Reidiculous

"Meanwhile, at first glance, it appears that Harry Reid’s infamous source alleging that Romney paid nothing in taxes for 10 years was incorrect."

Brad Plumer

"That makes Reid’s behavior here shameful. His defense is that he was just passing along what he’d heard, and all Romney had to do to prove him wrong was release the returns. But Reid isn’t some campaign flack, or even a congressional backbencher. He’s the majority leader of the United States Senate. There’s a dignity that comes with that office, or there should be."

Ezra Klein

Let's review. The most prominent Democrat in the Senate, on the floor of the Senate, makes an unsubstantiated accusation that the Republican nominee for President has paid zero dollars in taxes for at least one of the last twenty years. He offers no evidence to back up his claim. The Republican nominee's accountants say he has never paid below 13% of his income in taxes over the same time period.
I'm stupefied. Democrats often talk about the lack of civility in the public discourse, then one of their leaders does something like this and no one cares.  Granted, a few have called him out on it, but it's nowhere near the outcry we'd hear of a Republican did the same thing.

This whole double-standard argument is becoming extremely over-used.  But what else can we say?  The media are just so biased!  Try to imagine if you were transported to five years ago, and offered this hypothetical situation.  Would people believe it was possible?  I'm sure I wouldn't.

This campaign has seen depressing behavior reminiscent of the 1820s and 30s.  What some regard as the worst era in our history for campaign underhandedness. Indeed, making up accusations was a tried and true method of attack.