So let’s face that reality. Is it a bad thing that Joe Biden is a creepy boss? It sure is. And that’s a bad thing that can be debated publicly as part of an actively contested primary, along with questions like how to deal with Russia or how to fight the opioid epidemic. The political importance of the “Weinstein moment” is itself a question that deserves to be politically contested, not turned into a shibboleth. For that to happen, a politician has to actually lose over questions of how he treats female colleagues and subordinates. And to lose, a politician has to run.

And has to be confronted, continually, while running — not protected from questions that might be “embarrassing” or “a distraction from the issues.” I don’t know whether Biden would tolerate being exposed in that way — being forced repeatedly to answer questions that would not go away. He might well decline to run under such circumstances. Or he might try the Bill Clinton/Donald Trump/Roy Moore path of brazening it out. Sometimes that works — but only if we, the voters, let it, by lying to ourselves about just what kind of compromise we are making.