This is not Watergate. In that situation, the integrity of an American presidential election was on the line. The malfeasance intended to hijack the election was planned at the highest levels of the White House. The cover up, which often lands more people in jail than the crime, involved the President himself.

In Plamegate, the worst scenario which has been alleged to this point is that someone in the Administration, perhaps Karl Rove, perhaps I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff, or someone else didn’t like Joseph Wilson’s conclusion about Nigerian uranium and weapons of mass destruction. In an effort to punish Mr. Wilson, this person leaked to the press that Wilson’s wife was a covert CIA agent. If done intentionally, this would be a crime.

The leak was reprehensible. If the culprit had intent and knowledge, that individual should be punished criminally. But it’s not as if secrets of the United States were provided to an enemy, or the disclosure led to the roll up and accompanying deaths of American foreign agents. What’s going on? Why are so many people exercised? Here are a couple of explanations.

First, some in the media who despise President Bush and Karl Rove, even more, and who were horrified when the President was reelected at last see a chance to strike back. Gleefully, they’ve gotten out their sharp knives to move in for the kill. They may not be able to defeat the President’s programs, but at least they’ll dump Rove, they believe.

Second, those who were against the Iraqi war are still waging their battle by trying to argue that the reasons for launching he attack to remove Saddam Hussein were spurious. They don’t see the mass graves populated by the cruel despot’s victims, only what they claim is the Administration’s misleading analysis to support the war. They should move on and try to be constructive about how and when we can extricate from this quagmire.

Third, some in the media love to go to the mat on anything which allegedly impinges on their absolute freedom. Unlike the management of Time Magazine, they believe that they are above the law. They have no qualms about rushing to court in First Amendment cases when threatened with restraints to publish. If they win, they wave around court opinions. If they lose, they refuse to obey. Talk about hypocrisy.

Fourth, this whole controversy exposes Washington’s dirty little secret. People outside the Beltway may believe that we have a truly independent watch dog media, but we don’t. Most of the time, press and broadcast journalists are in bed with top government officials regardless of which party is in the White House. They were totally co-opted serving as imbedded journalists during the war. They ride in Air Force One. Many reporters subsist on handouts from top officials, which is a lot easier than digging for a story, while hoping that they’ll one day become as wealthy as Bob Woodward.

Often in return for access, reporters are being manipulated by the officials they are supposed to be watching. Plamegate is worse than that. Reporters were so desperate for information that they were willing to grant anonymity to an official who broke the law by giving it to them.

Articulated fears that no one will talk to reporters because Time Magazine forced Matt Cooper to divulge his sources are erroneous. Officials will continue to talk to the press because they have an interest in having their version of events presented to the public by a supposedly disinterested third party.

People are justifiably asking what was the real role in Plamegate of columnist and television star Robert Novak. What about Judy Miller and Matt Cooper? Were they being used by someone in the Administration? If so, for what purpose?

People on the defensive often squeal loudly and lash out at their adversaries. That’s another explanation for why the press is so vocal on this issue.