Despite strong and sustained efforts of government and media sources over the past two years to downplay the implications of the Plame investigation, despite that "this is how the game is played" attitude among our punditocracy, despite a new found sympathy for perjury and lying to prosecutors in cases involving national security among members of Congress, despite the last-gasp droning about "criminalizing politics" and run-away prosecutors,  after all this we are left with this CNN poll:  only 1 in 10 Americans believe that the Bush Administration did nothing illegal or unethical in outing Valerie Wilson.  

Where's that confident, effective well-oiled political PR machine we've come to expect?  Excessive and systematic lying ain't easy?