As I predicted almost a year ago, a cadre of Democrats continue to pound away on the Valerie Plame issue, with the same sort of people who consider Jane Fonda’s jaunt in Hanoi to be an exercise in patriotism ranting about Republican “treason.” Well, I say, if any “treason” occurred here, it was certainly not on the Republican side. Whoever “outed” Ms. Plame as an employee of the CIA (assuming, of course, that it was someone in the White House) committed an act of true patriotism: bringing into the light of day the activities of an individual who was, quite clearly, obstructing US intelligence efforts.

The general assumption seems to be that, in response to Joe Wilson’s heroic effort to reveal the real truth™ about the intelligence behind the Iraq War, a vindictive White House leaked the information about Ms. Plame’s employment in order to “get revenge” on the great Joe Wilson. Naturally, reality differs with this account of events. According to Robert Novak (who wrote the column outing Plame) the information was initially provided to him in a casual fashion, by an individual unaware of its significance. In fact, that Ms. Plame worked for the CIA was common knowledge around parts of Washington. Was this part of a nefarious Bush plot? Hardly.

According to Vanity Fair magazine, “On the third or fourth date, (Plame’s husband Joe Wilson) says, they were in the middle of a 'heavy make-out' session when she said she had something to tell him.” What was that? Oh yes, that she worked for the CIA. All this, by the way, in the words of Joe Wilson- the man who is trying to make a career out of the “crime” against his wife. It seems to me that if anyone was truly indiscrete here, it’s Valerie Plame. While I am not a CIA operative, it would seem to me that blowing your deep cover on the third date would appear to be a practice not in conformity with security regulations.

And, of course, while we know nothing of the personal moral character of female virtue of Valerie Plame (aside from the fact that she married Joe Wilson), it doesn’t seem entirely out of the realm of possibility that her true identity could have come to whoever told Novak by other means. After all, by most accounts, Valerie Plame is an attractive modern professional woman who, in all probability, had more than her share of “third dates.”

Then there’s the issue of just what on Earth Joe Wilson was doing in Niger in the first place. He was sent there to investigate intelligence reports that Iraq has acquired uranium in that country. Apparently, he was sent there at the instigation of his wife and, once there, he spent a few days meeting with government officials who assured him that no such sale had taken place before he, accepting their word, returned home.

I’m sorry, but since when has it become an acceptable practice for CIA employees to dispatch their spouses on sensitive missions overseas? “Oh, honey, can you go to Niger for me?” sounds a little dubious. Especially when it’s quite clear that both Wilson and Plame were opposed to the war.

In fact, the entire “Plamegate” affair is best an example of what’s wrong with a large part of the CIA. The Agency has, through the years, seemingly continued its old practice of recruiting largely from elite universities and largely people with a background in economics, or languages, or political science. In short, they’re recruiting liberals. For all the popular image of the CIA as an organization populated by dark reactionaries who’ve stepped right out of late Cold War-era thrillers, the culture of the CIA appears to, in fact, be not all that unlike that of any other elite modern organization (say, IBM or Merrill-Lynch).

This is a problem. The idea of an intelligence agency populated with modern working women with twins parked in day care is absurd. I, for one, would be a lot more comfortable with a CIA full of angry super-patriots prepared to do anything it takes to advance the American cause. Additionally, the CIA ought not be headquartered anywhere near Washington, as another major problem appears to be that employees of the Agency end up becoming part of the Washington social whirl.

It’s time for Democrats to get over themselves. Valerie Plame was not wronged: if anything, she deserved her fate. In any case, American security hasn’t been hurt one bit by the removal of his absurd “agent” from power.