Valerie Plame, why won't you talk about Larry Johnson?

Before we get to our main topic, I have to note something odd that happened in the city I call home. In a downtown Baltimore parking garage today, someone discovered a van carrying 1000 gallons of gasoline, Naturally, the surrounding area was evacuated. Details are sketchy at the moment. I'd love to know who owned that van and whether this stunt has any link to either Trump's upcoming visit or the anniversary of 9/11.

Frankly, I was surprised to learn that one can fit 1000 gallons in a van. I presume that we're talking about 100 ten-gallon gas containers. But who the hell is going to stand there and count the containers?

So much for the appetizer. Let's dig into our entree.

Valerie, Valerie... Above, I have embedded Valerie Plame's new ad for her congressional race. Gotta admit: It kicks ass. Great piece of cinema.

Of course, any decent person will feel infuriated by Trump's pardon of Scooter Libby. The full story of that bizarre decision has not yet been told.

But.

Valerie Plame needs to explain her linkage to "former" CIA man Larry Johnson, who functioned as her spokesman during the scandal. Johnson used his Plame connection to ingratiate himself with the left. He even delivered the Democratic Radio Response to the outing of Plame (which you can still find on YouTube).

Then he revealed his true colors as a far-right asshole. This American Prospect article from 2008 looks at the transition. The piece describes Johnson as a good friend and close associate of Valerie Plame and her husband, Joe Wilson.

Johnson's now-defunct site No Quarter was, arguably, the birthplace of Birtherism. He invented the Michelle Obama "Whitey" tape smear. Formerly a Hillary Clinton supporter, he turned against Hillary hard, using his site to spread every possible lie and fabrication about the Clintons. He accused John Kerry of rape. Johnson created the false story that GCHQ (Britain's NSA) wiretapped Trump -- a story which Trump himself endorsed. Currently, Johnson is a big supporter of Michael Flynn and a vehement hater of Jim Comey. In short and in sum, Larry Johnson is Alex Jones without the whimsy.

I want to like Valerie Plame, but she needs to explain her association with a creep like Johnson. That explanation better come fast and it had better be really goddamned convincing.

Otherwise, I am going to retreat to the standard lefty position that there's no such thing as a "former" spook. Back in the 1970s, we old-school lefties learned to distrust the Agency for any number of good reasons -- the Mosaddegh coup, the Arbenz coup, the Allende coup, reasons like that. And let's not mention the Great Unpleasantness of November 22, 1963.

I could go on and on -- hell, I could write a book. But there's no need to do so, since William Blum already did the job.

Don't forget that the CIA used the services of Cambridge Analytica. Don't forget that William Barr was always a CIA lawyer, even when he ostensibly moved into the private sector. As I've demonstrated in many previous posts, there are many indications that huge chunks of the American and UK intelligence communities are pro-Trump.

The word "spy" rhymes with "lie." Johnson proved to be a rat in sheep-dip. How do we know that Plame isn't playing the same game? She worked under cover for years. She lied to everyone around her, every hour of every day. Maybe she's lying now.