IT’S FUN TO LAUGH AT THOSE SECRET SERVICE HOOKER ANTICS, especially when it turns out that the whole scandal exploded because of a dispute about 47 bucks, but the truth is, this attitude of irresponsibility and entitlement has been an issue with the Secret Service for a while. Here’s a collection of links from InstaPundit going back several years.

It’s also much worse than an embarrassment. Much of the Secret Service’s actual protective ability has been deterrent — with a reputation for dedication and efficiency, they made an attack on the President seem sufficiently unlikely to succeed that it wasn’t worth trying. That reputation took a big hit with this scandal.

UPDATE: “A culture of corner-cutting.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Rae Leggett emails: “That’s one hell of a plot for an action movie, that would never get made. The Secret Service is always portrayed in movies as above reproach (‘Vantage Point’), except for the one bad apple. What if the whole detail were compromised by blackmail?”