Bill Clinton got into yet another melee with the media this week, directing his wrath at Vanity Fair for publishing a story, rife with anonymous quotes, detailing his connections to a group of billionaires with—how to put this—dubious sexual mores. Unsurprisingly, he managed to pin it on the media's supposed pro-Obama bias, calling it "another way to nail Hillary for Obama." But Bubba may yet have one fan in the Fourth Estate: Esquire.

A rocky relationship

Clinton said Esquire's editor emailed him to say the Vanity Fair piece was "the single sleaziest piece of journalism he'd seen in decades." It was later revealed that the email in question was not sent by Esquire editor David Granger, but by a deputy, and not to Clinton but to a Clinton aide with whom he's chummy.

Is the men's magazine truly Bill's biggest fan? Some signs would say yes. In 2005 the magazine named Clinton the world's most influential man, an unusual distinction for a guy nearly five years removed from the Oval Office. Esquire has also dubbed Clinton the "Economist-in-Chief" and published a letter of apology by David Brock, the conservative journalist responsible for 1993's Troopergate story.

Yet in 2000, the magazine released an interview with Clinton prior to the election, provoking criticism from the White House. In 1999, it published a downright weird essay about Hillary that appeared to link voting to sex and painted a not-too-flattering picture of Bill as the ultimate loser in their marriage of convenience.

Of course, none other than Barack Obama graces Esquire's latest cover. Maybe poor Bill really is alone in the media wilderness—or maybe the media, like the electorate, is just moving on.