Outed CIA agent Valerie Plame is running for Congress, and her launch video looks like a spy movie trailer

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Valerie Plame for Congress)

last updated 22 November 2019

The metaphors are a little heavy-handed, but the driving is impressive and the timing is impeccable. On the same day CNN reported that the CIA had to withdraw one of its top spies in Russia on fears that President Trump had compromised the spy's identity, former undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame launched her bid for Congress as a Democrat in New Mexico.

If you don't know the story of Plame being outed by then-Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby — and the coda of Trump pardoning Libby earlier this year — Plame narrates the outline as she speeds backward through the New Mexico desert in an American muscle car (no Aston Martin here, thank you very much).

Is that really Plame driving and peeling out in the dust like a seasoned stuntwoman or, you know, James Bond? She says yes. As in: "Yes, the CIA really does teach us how to drive like this." The slick ad, the sick driving chops, and her call for revenge will probably earn Plame attention in New Mexico (and Washington), but if she wins the Democratic primary to replace Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) — who is running for Senate — the partisan leanings of New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District suggest she'd be headed back to Washington.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox