Former CIA operative Valerie Plame is running for Congress in New Mexico. She became a household name when she was outed as a deep-cover agent in a column by the late Robert Novak. Vice President Dick Cheney’s office was engulfed in the inquiry. The aftermath saw Cheney’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, for his role in the disclosure. Yet, in 2017, Plame shared multiple posts that spewed anti-Semitism. She apologized, said she was embarrassed, and no longer used Twitter. Her reasoning was simple: she didn’t read the post all the way through on a site that promotes Holocaust denialism. One could argue that’s a disqualifying factor.
To CNN’s credit, host Chris Cuomo grilled her on it earlier this week, saying he gets that she’s sorry—but why so many times. Was there something on that site that she was particularly drawn to? Plame denied that but added that she just didn’t read the article all the way through. Isn’t that also something that’s a bit problematic? She didn’t read something all the way through; wasn’t she a CIA operative? Okay—a minor point, but the Democratic Party is facing an anti-Semitism crisis right now. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has spread anti-Semitic tropes, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), along with Omar, supports the viciously anti-Israel and anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and the rest of the so-called “squad” defend them when attacked. In the aftermath of Omar’s dual loyalty remarks, the Democratic Party couldn’t muster the moral authority to hold a simple non-binding resolution vote condemning anti-Semitism. And now we have Plame, who spread equally abysmal material on social media (via Free Beacon):
Plame appeared on CNN's Cuomo Prime Time to discuss her official campaign launch as she runs for New Mexico's open Third Congressional District seat. After talking about her new campaign ad, host Chris Cuomo pressed Plame in a series of questions about sharing articles from the fringe site UNZ Review in September 2017, including one accusing "American Jews" of "driving America's wars."
"You have retweeted or shown interest in articles that are put out by a website that is basically a platform for extremist thought and anti-Semitism. What are you doing having anything to do with a site like that if you want to represent New Mexico as a Democrat?" Cuomo asked.
Plame said she apologized profusely multiple times after she retweeted the article. Plame shifted the topic to her kids and how she told them about the importance of expressing sincerity when apologizing.
"Why did you do it?" Cuomo asked.
"Because I didn't read the article all the way through and I was simply focused on getting out of … the mistake I thought of getting out [of] the Iran nuclear deal, which I thought was a really bad idea, and that's proven to be true," Plame said.
Cuomo wasn't done pressing Plame on her excuses for sharing the anti-Semitic articles on her Twitter page, saying, "You've shown other interests in that website before. Why would you have anything do with a website that is operated or at least provided by a guy that's a Holocaust denier?"
There are times where CNN doesn’t have Trump Derangement Syndrome and does a decent job pressing Democrats. Plame is now running for office. Rehashing this issue is justified. We’ll see if voters agree.