We’ve probably all run into a double standards now and again or even applied one to others. Still, though, sometimes a double standard can be like the 800-pound gorilla in the room. A good example is the double standard frequently applied to the Palin family. More to the point, it is a double standard that in general seems to apply to those not favored by progressives.

Take the recent Facebook comment battle Willow Palin was involved in. There’s no excuse for using the epithet that rhymes with maggot. However, nobody seemed to take into consideration the nearly two-and-a-half years of abuse she couldn’t fight back against, ranging from Andrew Sullivan acting like a “Trig Palin truther” to Letterman’s infamous “awkward moment.” Not to mention the hate spewed over her sister’s success on Dancing With the Stars – which now includes death threats. Wouldn’t you be looking for a chance to fight back against the sea of hate directed at your family? When a classmate tossed in a comment about Sarah Palin’s Alaska, Willow finally had a chance.

It was a natural reaction – indeed, a healthy one. Any member of a loving family would seek to protect another member who has come under hateful attacks. Make no mistake, Willow crossed a line, but that’s what 16 year-olds do and none of the media uproar over her comments even mentioned what any reasonable person would have acknowledged as the mitigating circumstances. Instead they acted as though it occurred in a vacuum.

Compare this to the fury over the abusive language Perez Hilton sent Carrie Prejean’s way in the wake of the 2009 Miss USA pageant… Oh wait, you didn’t hear much complaint about that at all, did you? Perez got a pass from many of the same people upset over Willow’s comments – even though he called Ms. Prejean names that rhymed with pitch and punt. You see, Mr. Hilton was lashing out at someone who the left, for only political reasons, labeled a bigot – and it’s okay to unleash such rhetoric and name-calling at those deemed bigots.

The difference in the level of coverage also is apparent in more recent events. While TMZ and other outlets flogged Willow Palin’s use of a slur, the reaction to the death threats and white powder aimed at Bristol Palin was something completely different. The media either mentioned the threats in passing or, incredibly, joked about them. “Nobody’s sending Bristol to the powder room!” TMZ.com wrote, showing a photo of Bristol going in for rehearsals. Other than a closing snark, the Los Angeles Times gossip blog barely mentioned the very same death threats the authorities took seriously enough to dispatch bomb-sniffing dogs to the DWTS finale.

This is all part of a larger pattern. Ill-advised mentions of “Second Amendment remedies” from Sharron Angle became big news and were used as a club against her. However, when white powder is mailed, either to Mormon temples or to a single mother whose mother generates a blast furnace level of hate, that’s not such a big deal from the same crowd who piled on Angle. The murder of abortionist George Tiller generated a lot of concern from the left, but other incidents (like James von Brunn at the Holocaust Museum) were quickly ignored by the very same folks.

The left’s hypocrisy will always be around. The best revenge is to support those subjected to it, to have their backs, and to help them become a success.

Let the success of the Palins and those like them be our best revenge.