Tuesday
Oh my God I’ve missed her wit and insight every day since she has been absent from Texas. Back in the day I would print out every column and bind them into hardbound volumes that ran from birthday to birthday for the mother of a high school friend. They were presented to her at her party every Zada Mae Day…
Texas could use another Molly Ivins these days… What might she have said to describe the state of the Republican Party as we move forward? Here’s the opening paragraph of the Texas Monthly piece…
These days, many Texans of the liberal persuasion ask themselves a question that is nearly spiritual in nature: What Would Molly Do? Molly was, to the uninformed, Molly Ivins, the late, great Texas journalist who always seemed to know what was coming down the pike. As far back as fifty years ago, she was at the forefront of issues that have taken on even greater urgency today: she fought for reproductive rights, labeled unlicensed-gun owners a blight, and named global warming as the threat we denied at our peril. But even more than foretelling our future, Molly knew how to pick off the bad guys (and they were mostly guys) with the weapon muy macho Texans feared most: ridicule.
Why Molly Ivins Matters More Than Ever
I am sure many people today, if not most, have no clue who Molly was… or what it is that progressive Texans like myself found so likable about the Lady.
“If what you have is a government of corporate special interests by corporate special interests for special corporate interests—which is indeed what we have—then you’ve lost the dream on which this country was founded,”
Molly Ivins
Molly once said “All anyone needs to enjoy the state legislature is a strong stomach and a complete insensitivity to the needs of the people. As long as you don’t think about what that peculiar body should be doing and what it actually is doing to the quality of life in Texas, then it’s all marvelous fun.” And I’ll add that as long as it was confined to just Texas it was only a problem for Texans. These days Texas style politics has become the rage across the country and the results are visible to all. I mean, come on, Ted and John can’t be the best of us… I would argue just the opposite.
“Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t forget to have fun doin’ it,” she once said. “Be outrageous . . . rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through celebrating the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was!”
Molly Ivins
And even though it’s after 1:00pm, I am still drinking coffee… So consider this a CoffeeMuses…
Y’all stay safe, stay healthy, and say a prayer for our dysfunctional country and the world… I’ll catch y’all on the other side…
