Molly Ivins has Died
Feb.03, 2007 in
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A great eulogy of Molly Ivins:
She said, often, that the sins of omission were the real crimes of contemporary journalism. Her columns so often filled that gap, talking about labor and working people and countries like the Congo and Indonesia. She refused in the last few years to get drawn into the false debate of “would you rather Saddam still be in power,” turning that around to say that the left never wanted him in power in the first place.She was goddamned smart, so smart she didn’t have to flaunt it. So smart that she could use the down to earth side to say what she meant so all of us could understand it. She didn’t suffer bullies. She loved Texas like a parent loves her child even after that child has gone on a three-state killing spree. She was unfailingly polite. And she could eviscerate anyone who was failing all of us with just an image or two. Those guttings will be desperately missed. That sense and celebration of the decency of the average American will be missed even more.
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February 3rd, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Did you mean: Molly Ivins … or are you playing on one of those SEO tricks?
Yeah, I am still awakening to political commentary and we could do worse than use her as a model. Shrub…classic.
But, here is another side of her writing–
http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=1093&print=true
She is mainly just reporting, but of course, it is more, because it is what she is reporting, the insights and key items that others might have missed.
I had three strong takeaways from that one article–
1) Irreverent and improper and absolutely fearless. And she had the greatest laugh.
2) If you ain’t ready to sweat, and you ain’t smart enough to deal, you can’t play…
3) The word is now part of the lexicon of Texas politics: to be an alligator means you sell out on one issue or another. To all the alligators Billie ever chewed out, I would say: She only cussed you out if she cared. If she thought you were hopeless, she never would’ve called.
This is part of why I hit you up with that idea the other night, because I think I’m past being afraid of saying what’s on my mind, and I’m ready to sweat on it…and maybe our biggest challenge is how we work out a deal or deals as it grows…without selling out the key idea.
But, back to Molly, what a great job she did keeping it real.
February 3rd, 2007 at 6:47 pm
First Anne Richards and now Molly Ivins. Out of the trinity of silver-haired Texas women that have always always had a special place in my heart only one remains, and that would be my mom.
Molly Ivins was as good as they get. She was more Jim Hightower than Al Franken. What I mean is she had it in for all greedy politicians, not just the Republicans. I don’t know if she can be replaced.