Brad Delong has a fantastic break-down of the Valerie Plume scandal and why it’s a big deal.

For me, the entire deal shows that the Bush White House is willing to say, do or use anything for political gain or to punish those they don’t like. I’m hoping that, finally, they have done something that so breaks the code of conduct that Americans begin to scrutinze Bush’s actions, not the flowery words he uses.