The Plame Scandal

At least, that's what some folks — eager to avoid another "gate" nickname — are calling the issue of whether someone in the Bush White House committed a prosecutable crime by blowing the cover of a C.I.A. agent.

This story didn't really interest me until someone compared it favorably to my all-time favorite scandal. Incredibly, it was Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, who agreed with MSNBC's Chris Matthews that it was "worse than Watergate."

Ah, Watergate. Now, that was a scandal. And in today's Salon, no less a Watergate central figure than John W. Dean carries the comparison forward.