A conservative lexicon (with updates)

Whitewater (1994):

It's the crime.

Monicagate (1998):

It's not the crime; it's the coverup.

The US is running secret detention/interrogation facilities all over the globe (2005):

It's not the crime or the coverup--it's the whistleblower.

[Update #1: I replaced the link at the end, in part because the story is getting spelled out a little more, but also because I'd rather send traffic to Newsday than to WorldNetDaily. So there.]

[Update #2: This story has taken an amazing turn. Check out what Americablog has.}