The almost certain fact that the president of the United States participated in the cover up of large scale espionage against a rival political party makes Watergate the most famous political scandal in American history. The fact that adding the suffix "gate" to almost any word indicates a major scandal is proof enough that Watergate still means something in American Politics. Whenever a political scandal captures the American people's attention, you can be sure that there's at least one pundit who loudly proclaims that it's "worse than Watergate!"