I've been in this town so long
So long to the city
I'm fit with the stuff
To ride in the rough
And sunny down snuff I'm alright
By the heroes and
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
-- "Heroes and Villains," written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, intended for the album Smile, eventually first appeared on the Beach Boys' album Smiley Smile.
You probably think we mean Barack Obama, right?
Wrong.
We're not talking about Cult of Personality.
Whatever his faults -- which we'll gladly list -- Barack is charasmatic.
The same cannot be said for others.
Take Valerie Plame who has quickly become this century's Loud family.
She just won't take a hint and hit the road.
Many of us on the left supported her when Bully Boy Bush and company outed her as retaliation against her husband Joe Wilson for Wilson writing a column debunking BBB's yellow cake in Africa claim.
The crime was that BBB's administration outed her.
That is a crime -- and BBB can thank his father for that.
But we never mistook Valerie Plame for an angel -- not even one of Charlie's Angels.
She was an undercover CIA operative.
That's not a role of nobility or honor.
In the time since she was outed, over a decade ago, she's taken to Tweeting 'about' Iraq.
It's never about Iraq.
She has no interest in Iraq.
She just wants to work her grudge against BBB.
She was a tool of empire so clearly she's not opposed to empire, she just didn't like the way BBB went about pursuing it.
On the left, we too often rush to celebrate those that we might need to defend but should never celebrate.
Plame is only one example.
[To enjoy The Beach Boys' classic tune "Heroes and Villains," click here.]