Writing in Wonkette, Rebecca Schoenkopf says, “Let’s Talk About Juanita Broaddrick.” What follows in an utterly reproachable defense of Bill Clinton and his well-documented history of sexual impropriety, including against Broaddrick, who alleges he raped her in 1978. Not that Clinton is innocent, mind you. Schoenkopf opines, “I can absolutely see Bill Clinton doing this (then, not now) and not even thinking of it as rape, but thinking of it as dominant, alpha sex. I can see a LOT of men doing that during that time period, before we started telling them in the ‘80s, 'hey, that is rape, do not do that.’”

That’s hogwash, of course, but it’s basically the same as asking (to borrow from Clinton’s Lewinsky defense later on, “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is”): Was it rape? Or rape-rape? Let’s just say: Rape — or “alpha sex,” or whatever you want to call it — was not a misunderstood concept before the late 20th century. But the extent to which Clinton sympathizers will redefine it and attempt to normalize it “during that time period” to find any excuse for their man is remarkable.

In her conclusion, Schoenkopf writes, “To sum up, I think Bill Clinton could very well have raped Juanita Broaddrick; that it doesn’t make him an evil man, or irredeemable (I’m Catholic; we’re all forgiven, if we’re sorry, and Broaddrick says Bill Clinton personally called her up to apologize). It doesn’t even necessarily make him a bad feminist — you know, later, once he stops doing that.” No one is beyond redemption, it’s true, but let’s also not miss the point.

As John Sexton put it at Hot Air, “Wonkette deserves some credit for admitting that it looks very bad for Bill Clinton but they lose most of that immediately by arguing that, despite what he did, he’s a really good guy. That’s not good enough. It’s easy for Bill to be a good guy so long as he doesn’t have to pay any price whatsoever for being a bad guy.” That he’s never had to pay a price for anything, not to mention a complete lack of repentance, is what makes this Wonkette article so repulsive. But it’s not just Clinton who’s to blame. The media was complicit too. The worst part of all? The wife of any Republican facing similar allegations — and whose own misdeeds the press has also covered up — wouldn’t be the presidential nominee today.