Summer Of Clinton's Discontent?

The hottest days of summer have brought controversy into the lives of other political leaders, but for President Clinton, this season has come to a particularly uncomfortable boiling point.A commentary by CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer.

Richard the Third had his "winter of discontent," Caesar worried with good reason about the Ides of March, but in Washington, it's the August that gets you.

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It was in August that an old goat named Wayne Hayes got run off from Congress after a young woman on the government payroll admitted her only duties were to comfort him. She said no one expected her to type, because she didn't know how.

It was August when Jimmy Carter's budget director, Burt Lance, found himself in a mess. And it was August when Watergate came down on Richard Nixon.

Now comes the August of Monica Lewinsky - the August when a president of the United States is to be questioned about a White House intern's dirty laundry.

We've had our summer scandals in the past, but when Monica Lewinsky turned in her supposedly stained dress over to the FBI for DNA testing, this story moved beyond scandal to something else. I'm not sure what it is, but we've reached a level of luridness usually associated with Times Square pornography shops - the old Times Square, before they cleaned it up.

Who knows what's next, but after Watergate, Irangate, and Travelgate, this one is shaping up as Dirtygate. Strong stuff, even for August.