Molly was a lunatic lefty socialist commie pinko bitch. I'm so pleased she has assumed room temp!! YAY!!!!

Me, too. I was so devastated hearing this on my drive home today. Good lord, she was funny. Sigh.

God, I hope that when I die someone leaves comments on the internet saying I was a lunatic lefty socialist commie pinko bitch.

Deal.

I once met Molly at a party in Austin. She talked nonstop, often holding down several conversations at once, telling hilarious stories about our politicians. She treated everyone as dear friends and everyone just loved her. What a doll!

Molly had a number of wonderful attributes.

-- She came out of a progressive Southern political tradition that got going with FDR and has somehow been converted in the public consciousness, without being converted in fact, into lunatic lefty socialist commie pinko bitchism (no offense to BPhD).

-- She told great stories.

-- She told great jokes.

-- Frequently those two were indistinguishable.

-- She was right about most things she covered, often years in advance. She was so right about George W. Bush in particular that her journalism about him needs to be in the National Archives. Instead, it is derided as Bush hatred. The only thing I know of that she hated was bad bourbon.

-- She said, loudly and often, that American journalism's greatest sins are those of omission, not commission. It's true. It has been true for decades, if not centuries. And when I say that, my newspaper co-workers look at me funny.

-- She made the Texas legislature understandable even to out-of-staters. Many lifelong Texas residents do not understand the Texas legislature. Many of those folks serve in it.

-- IIRC, she said she once was fired by the New York Times. If the Times had made her the editor instead of Howell Raines, I can guarandamntee you that paper wouldn't be in a fraction of the trouble it's in today.

In sum, she deserved much better than being the journalistic Cassandra of the past 15 or 20 years with a big dollop of breast cancer on top.

I can guarandamntee you that paper wouldn't be in a fraction of the trouble it's in today.

The country itself would probably be in a lot less trouble if that had happened.

She was, and probably will always remain, my favorite editorialist/journalist. I've never come across someone who could be so witty and apropriately scathing with her commentary while still caring so much for those who desperately needed it.

2 quotes come to mind from her life and death:

"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh."

"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world."

She embodied the former for me and found a poetic balance in the latter that I will always covet. Good bye, Molly...you are already missed.

I also liked her quote "We all do better when we all do better" in reference to creating a robust social safety net, high-quality public schools, etc. You know, all those lefty commie socialist pinko things that make life in a society much more pleasant even for those who don't directly benefit from them.

I have no idea who the heck she was... but it sounds like she would have been a very good read even if I didn't agree with everything. Certain people (like Russ for example) I can respect for the strength of their convictions and morals even if we may part ways politically on some things. Certain people are great company even if they slightly offend you sometimes or ruffle your feathers, because the only anyone can learn anything worth a damn is by hearing honest people say what they mean.

Ann Richards, great plucky funny pistol-packing mama southern liberal lady, I miss her too.

She was basically Ann Richards with a journalism career instead of politics. Same sassy Texas sensibility. The quality of her columns declined along with her health over the past year; I started to link her final column, but it really wasn't up to the standard of the rest of her career, so I didn't. There's a good list of quotes from her here.

On Dick Armey: "If ignorance ever goes to $40 a barrel, I want drillin' rights on that man's head."

On Camille Paglia: "There is one area in which I think Paglia and I would agree that politically correct feminism has produced a noticeable inequity. Nowadays, when a woman behaves in a hysterical and disagreeable fashion, we say, 'Poor dear, it's probably PMS.' Whereas, if a man behaves in a hysterical and disagreeable fashion, we say, 'What an asshole.' Let me leap to correct this unfairness by saying of Paglia, Sheesh, what an asshole."

On guns: "I am not anti-gun. I'm pro-knife. Consider the merits of the knife. In the first place, you have to catch up with someone in order to stab him. A general substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness. We'd turn into a whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don't ricochet. And people are seldom killed while cleaning their knives."

That quote about Paglia is even awesomer than Ivins' remarkably awesome average.

yes those are very funny. and i happen to like paglia a lot, too. that doesnt mean that ms ivins is wrong of course.

After looking back on the way I worded my response, I just wanted to clarify: those aren't Ivins quotes but G.B. Shaw and E.B. White.