The microphones have been set up for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. The House floor is open for denunciations. The front page of the New York Times is waiting to be printed. I’m looking for the op-eds and countless columns talking about race relations in America after a Senator said something which could kindly be called “insensitive.”

But there’s nothing. Nobody’s coming out to play after Senator Joe Biden explained why some schools perform better than others — in Iowa, for instance, compared with the District of Columbia. He said:

“There’s less than 1 percent of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than 4 or 5 percent that are minorities. What is in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you’re dealing with,”

Oh. The school’s are worse because there’s more black kids. This coming from the Senator who in the past year also dropped these precious gems:

This about Indians:

“You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

This about Barack Obama:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,”

The microphones are on, right? I mean, come on. This guy’s running for President! Could you imagine if Fred Thompson had dropped that bombshell on the press? It must be nice to have an endless supply of single edged swords. Where can I get some of those?