Molly Ivins died today. From The Fort Worth Star-Telegram :
Molly Ivins, whose biting columns mixed liberal populism with an irreverent Texas wit, died at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at her home in Austin after an up-and-down battle with breast cancer she had waged for seven years. She was 62.
Ms. Ivins, the Star-Telegram’s political columnist for nine years ending in 2001, had written for the New York Times, the Dallas Times-Herald and Time magazine and had long been a sought-after pundit on the television talk-show circuit to provide a Texas slant on issues ranging from President Bush’s pedigree to the culture wars rooted in the 1960s.
Molly Ivins has been a bright light in very dark times. Back when Bush was riding high in the polls and news media was dancing to his tune, Molly Ivins’s columns were proof that there was at least one sane citizen left in America.
She made a brief return to writing in mid-January, urging readers to resist President Bush’s plan to increase the number of U.S. troops deployed to Iraq. She likened her call to an old-fashioned “newspaper crusade.”
“We are the people who run this country,” Ms Ivins said in the column published in the Jan. 14 edition of the Star-Telegram. “We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war.
“Raise hell,” she continued. “Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and are trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush’s proposed surge.”
She ended the piece by endorsing the peace march in Washington scheduled for Saturday. 01-27 “We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, “Stop it, now!’ ” she wrote.
Thank you, Molly. We’ll miss you.
Good clear writing from a liberal point of view (or any point of view) is a rare thing. Molly did it. It’s appropriate to mark her passing and recall her biting criticism based on facts and analysis and a great sense of humor.
Yes, she will be missed. Her wit and wisdom were the best. So very sad. What a writer! What a woman!
Oh, such awful news. The world and our generation loses one of the best. I always have read everything I could read that she has ever written. You know, one of Molly’s wonderful columns became the inspiration for a Media Accountability gathering held last fall at Sonoma State U. in California [the home of the Most Censored Stories compilations].
I heard it said that one should live one’s life modeled after mother nature, in exuberant profusion, throwing everything of the self into it. Molly Ivins lived like that.
Molly reminded me, and always will, that some damn fine women hail from Texas.My heart goes out to both her family and her fans, as we have all lost one outstanding human being.May her wishes for our troops and our country happen soon.
Oh how sad! Can’t say anything more than what was already said, except that she leaves a void. Rest in peace, Molly.
I picture her dear old pal Ann Richards meeting her at the pearly gates with a plate of barbecue and a bottle of something tasty.
But lord, I will miss them both.
See Molly Ivins at her satirical best in a video called The Dildo Diaries…here:
http://www.thoughttheater.com/2007/01/molly_ivins_dies_from_breast_cancer_at_62.php
When I read her column for the first time, I was awestruck. What a gutsy, genuine, and brave woman. I join all of the others in mourning the loss of a real treasure.
I discovered Molly in the late 80s – early 90s, when my mind was grappling with the dull national fog created by these weird acquaintances who called themselves dittoheads. She was a beacon of sanity back then, an almost solitary lighthouse that helped me find my way back to terra firma.
Since then, things are both much worse and much better. Better because more people are clued into the right’s modus and aren’t buying it any more. I think Molly was glad to see this turn toward sanity, but she was one of the few gutsy women who led the way, from way back when.
A great loss.
Maha, consider writing a column as a legacy of Molly.
I did not read this as I cannot read anything about Molly right now. It is just so sad….
Dear, Dear, Molly,
Your beacon of light has been torn away from us.
And the night sky grows dimmer.
The dark natures of man that you tried to enlighten will now feel free to roam more broadly.
You had a way with words that many of us will miss.
But It’s now up to us to shine the light.
That light of reason you held so high.
Thank you for your gift.
We’ll have to carry the torch from now on…
You are beloved.
You will be missed…
Peace be with you…
This is the first I learned of Molly’s death. I didn’t see it on last night news nor GMA this a.m. while getting ready for work.
I know a number of women who have battled cancer and came out fine to carry on and that’s what you hope for all women, especially someone of Molly’s caliber. And those who don’t make it, it always seems so unfair and wrong and so sad.
Beautiful poem c u n d – thank you for expressing our feelings so well.
What a sad day for all thinking, concerned people and especially those that liked a good laugh with their dose of outrage.
I learned in one of the obits that Molly knew Shrub since high school. No wonder she had his number so early and accurately.
Although I never met her I read her regularly and like this blog was a staple bookmark to be checked often.
Rest in peace Molly. You did a great job.
A sad day indeed….
Yet another Texas Rose has wilted!