After months of an incessant drumbeat of Trump-Russia collusion, big media is taking a break, having a new bone to chew, specifically the Judge Roy Moore story. Another of a string of famous men and past sex scandals ranging from boorish behavior to harassment and rape.

In past years, this type of behavior only warranted media coverage if a Republican was involved. Democrats were typically given a pass, the story downplayed, excuses made, the accusers challenged, and the story buried.

With Harvey Weinstein, this pattern changed. Harvey was a loyal Democrat, donating large sums of money to the party, holding fundraisers, supporting all the right causes from abortion to global warming.

The dominos continue to fall as we learn of many other sexual predators in Hollywood and the media. Not only Hollywood types, but members of Congress. As recently reported, $15 million was paid out to Congressional accusers after sexual harassment allegations. The same Congress that can’t figure out how to cut taxes can rely on taxpayers to fund hush money for their boorish behavior.

The common denominator for Weinstein, Richard Dreyfus, George Takei, Kevin Spacey, Mark Halperin, and Louis CK is that all are Democrats. Maybe not in party registration, but in philosophy and their anti-Trump, anti-conservative views, supporting all of the proper liberal causes.

Roy Moore is the exception, although in fairness to my premise, he was a Democrat at the time of his alleged indiscretions. If he had remained a Democrat, I wonder if the Washington Post would have had any interest in the story, much less broken it wide open.

But why did the dam break with Weinstein? Why has news of the latest Democrat behaving badly supplanted CNN’s breathless coverage of the latest supposed evidence of Trump and Putin scheming to hack the 2016 election?

One person. Bill Clinton. The one predator missing from the list of recent Democrat bad boys. Although perhaps cracks are growing in the wall of adoration surrounding Clinton. Even Politico, loyal Clinton defender and enabler notes, “Years of excusing Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct suddenly seems morally indefensible.”

Bill set the standard for judging sexual predators. To be fair, Ted Kennedy, and his brothers, received similar treatment. But Teddy was a wannabe while Bill was the President of the United States. Top dog. Even if a hound dog.

Bill’s list of abused women is long, far more than for Roy Moore. Despite Washington Post tactics of dragging hundred dollar bills through trailer parks looking for Moore accusers, to borrow a phrase from James Carville, ardent defender of Bill Clinton’s misdeeds.

Sure, Bill Clinton was impeached, as his defenders point out. But not for rape or sexual harassment, but instead for lying to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. His sexual escapades were given a pass, defended by Hillary Clinton, Betsy Wright, and their bimbo eruption team. Democrats circled the wagons. The media followed suit.

Accusers were trashed and vilified as was Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr investigating Clinton Whitewater misdeeds. Bill and Hillary remained heroes of the left, and remain so to this day. Hillary, for her enabling efforts, rewarded with a U.S. Senate seat, then Secretary of State, and almost the oval office.

Aside from power, they also received money. Hundreds of millions of dollars to their foundation, providing them the lifestyle they felt entitled too.

Other perks too. Bill was revered. Particularly by women. Time writer Nina Burleigh gushed, "I'd be happy to give him [oral sex] just to thank him for keeping abortion legal." Be like Bill and get sex. Harvey Weinstein and many other men saw this and figured they could do the same.

Bill was The Man, a role model for many other bad boys. The lesson being that you can be a pig, treat women horribly and get a pass, as long as you are a loyal Democrat and profess fealty to abortion, taxes, open borders, global warming and other gospels of the leftist bible.

Weinstein and others took note. If Clinton got a pass, why couldn’t they? Their political words providing them the same get out of jail free card that Bill had.

If Roy Moore actually did anything which he was accused of, which at this point is pure speculation, perhaps he, as a Democrat, observing the lionization of the Kennedys, and later Bill Clinton, might have assumed that he too would get a pass based on party affiliation.

If Bill Clinton was held accountable at the time, he would have never made it to the White House. Then again neither might have accused groper George HW Bush, though his accusations pale in comparison to Clinton’s. But by giving Bill a pass, then and to this day, the left, with a wink and a nod, told Weinstein, Spacey, Takei and others that they too would be ignored, as long as the checks came into the DNC and they were politically correct on the left-wing issues of the day.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost, as Reverend Jeremiah Wright would say. Politico and Jake Tapper can show a bit of introspection regarding how they handled Bill Clinton’s misdeeds and his accusers. But to what end?

The media trying to restore its credibility is virtually impossible, despite their virtue signaling that they finally get it, after decades of enabling what now suddenly outrages them. Why else might they be talking about the Clinton accusers now?

Two potential reasons. One is to clear the decks of the Clintons. They are clearly a losing proposition for the Democrat Party going forward, as we learned just over a year ago. Time for fresh faces to lead the party. Like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, or Joe Biden. Their combined ages making them almost as old as America. Good luck with that.

Two is to pivot to their real enemy. Not Roy Moore, but Donald Trump. A quick mea culpa from the media on the Clintons and full speed ahead on Trump as a sexual predator. Turning Moore into Trump. Schemes already tried and failed during the presidential campaign. Again, good luck with that.

Voters will decide Roy Moore’s fate. Still ahead in the polls, Moore may enjoy a Clinton-style pass from Alabama voters on misconduct allegations just to shove their middle finger into the face of Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, the media and the rest of the DC swamp. Just as voters did nationwide last November.

And all because of Bill Clinton, given a pass, not held to account for behavior the left suddenly finds abhorrent. Funny how legacies play out. A Bush gave us Clinton, who gave us another Bush, who gave us Obama, who gave us Trump.

If Bill Clinton had been held accountable at the time, who knows how the future would have played out. More than likely, Donald Trump would be now hosting “The Apprentice” and doing real estate deals. Hillary might be president of Wellesley College. And Jeff Sessions would still be the Senator from Alabama. The scandal legacy of Bill Clinton.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook,  LinkedIn and Twitter.