Scapegoating Clinton reminds me of what I did when I was a kid and I got in trouble. I would always try to pull my brother down with me, often with success. "Publius, did you break that vase" "Uhh. . . he hides his green beans under the table and comes back later and throws them away." The green bean scandal had no logical relation to me breaking the vase, but it made me feel better.

And he has also makes quite a good point about the value of the strategy to the Bushies:

One point that's being lost is that these vicious attacks serve another purpose too. They deter future defectors from speaking. It's a very rational strategy. There is a more-than-credible threat that if you attack this White House, they will try to destroy you. Already, we're hearing chatter that they're going to try to destroy Foster, the timid bureaucrat (I saw him on Nightline) who was forced to lie to Congress about the price of the Medicare bill.

He's right that it's a rational strategy, at least up to a point. Since the smear campaigns are necessarily very public, sooner or later the public (and, just as important, the press) will begin to catch on to the pattern and will no longer accept the administration's contentions. We don't yet know if the Clarke smear is the one that breaks the back for the public (the recent Gallup results say no, but there's reason for doubt), but there are encouraging signs that the press is no longer inclined to give the Bushies carte blanche.