Reply #12: Hey, Watergate was treated as trivial for most of its investigation

[Lexingtonian]

'Third rate burglary' and 'no harm no foul' and 'technical illegalities by minor subordinates'- all that stuff.

And then the day came when Alexander Butterfield mentioned the taping. Boom- and the Nixon Administration went into a death spiral it tried its darndest to get out of, but couldn't.

In this stuff it's never actually the violation of the law per se that is the important thing. It's the way the crime epitomizes, exposes, the real morality and behavior and aims and character of the people in power. Their 'culture' and what it's really for/about.