LPP: Language Pet Peeves

OK, this won't be a daily item (I hope), but every now and then I run into personal pet peeves in people's language. I'm pickier about written language than spoken language, and a news article is the source of today's LPP:

Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints deliberately covered up its financial role in backing Proposition 8 by failing to file timely campaign finance reports as required by California law. Karger said it's possible the church spent millions more than it actually reported.

"I'm calling this Mormongate," Karger said. "I think there's been a massive cover-up."

My comment has nothing to do with Mormonism or Prop 8 or anything along those lines.

I get annoyed by the use of "-gate" for political scandals. It's one of the most cliched phrases out there. Yes, Watergate was a significant event in American history. But come on. Do we have to slap the "-gate" suffix onto every big scandal? Want to see how bad it's become? Check out this link on wikipedia with a whole long list of the "gate" scandals. Absurd, people. Stop it. Now.