"Relatively small scandal"

A NYT op-ed blurb and chart:

As Washington shuts down for August, President Bush's report card from the public for the first half-year of his second term is not a good one compared with how the public graded Presidents Reagan and Clinton at a similar point in time.

[...]

For now, the president has only a relatively small one [scandal] in the investigation of possible White House collusion in the unauthorized outing of C.I.A. officer Valerie Plame.

Just a "relatively small scandal" involving blowing the cover of a CIA agent who worked on WMD issues, an immoral and possibly illegal action, in the course of trying to discredit a man who had the temerity to question one of the administration's arguments for war in Iraq.

These op-ed writers need to rethink their perspective on this.