Frank Rich today in the NYT:
These attacks, too, are red herrings. Let me reiterate: This case is not about Joseph Wilson. He is, in Alfred Hitchcock's parlance, a MacGuffin, which, to quote the Oxford English Dictionary, is "a particular event, object, factor, etc., initially presented as being of great significance to the story, but often having little actual importance for the plot as it developsI'm posting this mainly because the subject of a MacGuffin was raised here several weeks ago in our big movie object debate.