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.