Flashback: The Washington Post Covered Up Allegations of Bob Dole's Affair.

Some people are trying really hard to see a liberal-bias-double-standard in the mainstream media's decision to more or less ignore the Kerry affair "allegations." Despite the fact that the major media covered allegations of affairs involving Bill Clinton much more than allegations about any Republican, some see an anti-Republican bias:

InstaPundit:

THE KERRY INFIDELITY STORY seemed to die down over the weekend, but this report says that it may come back: "A woman who claims she had an affair with presidential hopeful John Kerry has taped a kiss-and-tell interview with a U.S. TV network, it was revealed last night. " (Via Timothy Perry).

UPDATE: Drudge has an informative flashback on the much-less-circumspect treatment given unsubstantiated rumors of infidelity on the part of then-President George H.W. Bush in 1992. Read the whole thing, and have a laugh at the sanctimonious behavior of some of those same named journalists today.

Yeah, there's a double standard here. A big one, and it's not just the Joe Conason flipflop noted by Mickey Kaus earlier, or the different Joe Conason example noted by Drudge. You'll see more of this stuff as the election gets closer. They just can't help themselves.

Drudge:

As main press players blast the DRUDGE REPORT and foreign outlets for revealing details of a behind-the-scenes campaign drama surrounding candidate Kerry and the nature of his relationship with a mystery woman -- just 12 years ago the same players peppered former President George Bush with questions surrounding an infidelity rumor!

It's worth keeping in mind that the major media didn't report about Bob Dole's alleged affair during the 1996 campaign. Here are Leonard Downie, Jr. and Robert Kaiser acknowledging it:

Our book contains a detailed account of a big debate inside The Washington Post in 1996 over whether to expose a long-ago love affair of Sen. Bob Dole, the Republican candidate for president that year. Len Downie decided we wouldn't do it, after a heated argument within the staff. ... Our general rule of thumb is, a politician's private life must have some connection to the performance of his public duties before we're ready to write about it.

Now, the mainstream media does seem to pick and choose which personal allegations they cover and which they don't. A double-standard of some sort may exist. But it isn't a pro-Democrat, anti-Republican double-standard.