# Valerie Plame is running for Congress...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerie-plame-is-running-for-congress/839962
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [September 10, 2019, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerie-plame-is-running-for-congress/839962 "2019-09-10T04:05:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerie-plame-is-running-for-congress/839962/41 "2019-09-11T15:36:35Z")
> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> And makes a quip about how, yes, the CIA trains you to drive like that.
CIA drive in reverse orientation as it makes it easier to spot whether they are being followed.
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### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2019, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerie-plame-is-running-for-congress/839962/42 "2019-09-11T16:00:51Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#):
>
> I see Jon Ossoff has formally announced he will run for the Georgia US Senate seat currently occupied by David Perdue. That’s wonderful news, too.
>
> Both Plame and Ossoff will be formidable candidates.
Not to hijack but I don’t think there’s anything formidable about Ossoff. He failed to utilize anti-Trump backlash at a time of peak anti-Trump backlash. It’s true he was running for a fairly red district, but Georgia is a fairly red state overall. I’m not sure an anodyne white lightweight like Ossoff will mobilize the black voters he needs (many of whose votes are getting outright disenfranchised thanks to Brian Kemp’s voter suppression machine.
I don’t know why Stacy Abrams won’t go for it. She’s a natural fit.
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### Author:  [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerie-plame-is-running-for-congress/839962/43 "2019-09-11T16:21:39Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#):
>
> Not to hijack but I don’t think there’s anything formidable about Ossoff. He failed to utilize anti-Trump backlash at a time of peak anti-Trump backlash. It’s true he was running for a fairly red district, but Georgia is a fairly red state overall. I’m not sure an anodyne white lightweight like Ossoff will mobilize the black voters he needs (many of whose votes are getting outright disenfranchised thanks to Brian Kemp’s voter suppression machine.
Ossoff came within a whisper of taking that district. He lost, but he did well in a tough election with virtually everything the Trump Cabal could throw at him _plus_ Kemp’s voter suppression, in a district that should have been a walkaway for Republicans. I’ll give you he’s no Abrams, but he’s got her enthusiastic endorsement – which is the next best thing. I heard him speak on the day he announced his candidacy. He is impressive, and he seems very determined.
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#):
>
> I don’t know why Stacy Abrams won’t go for it. She’s a natural fit.
I think she’s keeping her dance card free for an invitation to be Veep on a Biden ticket. Joe knows he can bring the mid-west states under his own steam. He wants a bulwark in the south to ensure success there. Neither of them need worry about how the coasts will vote.
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### Author:  [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerie-plame-is-running-for-congress/839962/44 "2019-09-11T16:37:10Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> Looks like she’ll be running for NM-3, to replace Luján, the Assistant House Speaker? Seems like a good way to start a fight between various components of the dem coalition.
[Ben Ray Luján for U.S. Senate](https://www.benrlujan.com/)
Due to…
[New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall won’t run for re-election in 2020](https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/25/politics/tom-udall-new-mexico-retirement-blog-post/index.html)
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2019, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerie-plame-is-running-for-congress/839962/45 "2019-09-13T20:20:13Z")
Given that she’s of Jewish heritage I’m not too worried about accusations of antisemitism. I have at least one spook in my family, so I have a soft spot for them. As her husband is still alive, that wrecks any plans to make her the next Mrs **zone** :(. That leaves Vice President, and with President Pete we needn’t worry about Oval Office hanky panky.
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2019, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerie-plame-is-running-for-congress/839962/46 "2019-09-15T19:31:23Z")
She says in the ad that Scooter Libby leaked her name to the press. But it was actually Richard Armitage at the State Department. I wonder if Libby can sue her for libel? (Libby was not charged with a leak - he was charged with a process crime for not being truthful to investigators).
Also, the way that commercial was cut makes me think either she flubbed the J turn, or the driving was done by a stunt driver.
And the idea of a ‘badass’ coming to Washington to settle scores sounds awfully Trumpian.
Not impressed.
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### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2019, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerie-plame-is-running-for-congress/839962/47 "2019-09-16T01:28:58Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#):
>
> She says in the ad that Scooter Libby leaked her name to the press. But it was actually Richard Armitage at the State Department. I wonder if Libby can sue her for libel? (Libby was not charged with a leak - he was charged with a process crime for not being truthful to investigators).
>
> Also, the way that commercial was cut makes me think either she flubbed the J turn, or the driving was done by a stunt driver.
>
> And the idea of a ‘badass’ coming to Washington to settle scores sounds awfully Trumpian.
>
> Not impressed.
The leaked outing of Ms. Plame was orchestrated for obfuscation. Nobody thinks Armitage did it unilaterally. AFAIK no chief culprit was ever identified by prosecutors unless it was Dick Cheney. Other than Libby the only one jailed in that affair IIRC was a N.Y. Times reporter, jailed for refusing to identify her source.
😕 And I assumed — without looking for “cuts” — that a stunt driver was involved. Unless Ms. Plame is herself a professional stunt driver it would seem remarkably silly _not_ to use a stunt driver. Does this seem unusual? Present company excepted of course, but this complaint almost resembles the sort of picayune nitpick one might expect from a partisan.
President George Walker Bush was not piloting the S-3B Viking which landed on an aircraft carrier for his “Mission Accomplished” speech in 2003. Was that a scandal also?
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2019, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valerie-plame-is-running-for-congress/839962/48 "2019-09-16T09:18:55Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> I suspect her thinking was probably more along the lines of “How can I scam some fools out of tens of thousands of dollars?” rather than a serious play to buy Twitter.
>
> ETA: seriously, what happened to the $89k that got donated? Did Valerie just get $89k wealthier?
There’s a line on the GoFundMe page about how she’s doing it on behalf of [Global Zero](https://www.globalzero.org), so I expect they’ll get the donations. After GFM takes their cut, of course.
BTW, even $1 billion wouldn’t come close to buying a majority of Twitter stock. Its market cap is somewhere north of $30 b.
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