"-gate"

The McBride fiasco has highlighted one of the things that really does my head in about modern journalism and so much of the commentary on modern politics: the sticking of the suffix of "-gate" at the end of anything even whiffing slightly of political scandal. As if by linking it to Watergate will make it more important and more scandalous.

So, we now have "Smeargate".

As embarrassing as the antics of Damian McBride et al have been for the Labour government, it is a bit much to link them to Watergate. Two Labour party drones swapping smutty lies about Tory politicians like two schoolboys swapping notes about teacher is hardly the same as an illegal cover-up of a break-in that stretched right up to the highest point of the US government and cost a President his job. Maybe the McBridge scandal will get worse before it gets better; certainly, some of those involved seemed determined to keep it going. But I doubt "Smeargate" will have the same impact as Watergate.

Secondly, the reason why the Watergate Scandal was called Watergate is because of the Watergate hotel; where the scandal began. With that in mind, Smeargate makes no sense. What does it actually mean? That the smears took place on a gate? That the gate itself was smeared? What does a gate have to do with anything anyway? What is this gate, and why has it been dragged into the McBride scandal? Hell, if Watergate happened today, it would probably be known as Watergategate.

I know it is shorthand, and I know that I'll probably use Smeargate in the future when I can't be arsed to write out a long version of the title of this scandal. But Smeargate is just a stupid name; this is the McBride Scandal, or the McBride/Draper Scandal*.

*I appreciate it can't be know as just the Draper scandal, lest people confuse it with Draper's earlier scandal. That is known by some as Lobbygate. *Sighs*