The depths of watergate were pretty bad, but most people concentrate on just the burglary. The fact that the president was using government forces as his personal bag men, bribing people with campaign funds, using the IRS to harass political enemies etc. was extraordinarily bad. Democracy poisoning bad.
If I recall correctly, the fall out conveniently drowned in noise from the Watergate affair.
Watergate was silly childs play compared to the COINTELPRO revelations though.