Remembering Molly Ivins

I'm so sad to read about the death of Molly Ivins.

I've been a fan of hers since I started to read the opinion page of the Kansas City Star when I was a wannabe journalist early on in junior high school. Her mix of humor and political astuteness always made for a hell of a good read. She always managed to nail her targets with that rapier wit, but never sounded malicious in doing so.

Molly was another of those "strong Texas women" I heard tell about when I was deciding to move here. She and Ann Richards convinced me that brassy liberal blondes were welcome in this place. (I even named my cat after her.)

Molly was a far better writer than I, so I'll let her words speak her eulogy. An excerpt from her last column:

The purpose of this old-fashioned newspaper crusade to stop the war is not to make George W. Bush look like the dumbest president ever. People have done dumber things. What were they thinking when they bought into the Bay of Pigs fiasco? How dumb was the Egypt-Suez war? How massively stupid was the entire war in Vietnam? Even at that, the challenge with this misbegotten adventure is that we simply cannot let it continue.

A surge is not acceptable to the people in this country -- we have voted overwhelmingly against this war in polls (about 80 percent of the public is against escalation, and a recent Military Times poll shows only 38 percent of active military want more troops sent) and at the polls. We know this is wrong. The people understand, the people have the right to make this decision, and the people have the obligation to make sure our will is implemented.

Congress must work for the people in the resolution of this fiasco. Ted Kennedy's proposal to control the money and tighten oversight is a welcome first step. And if Republicans want to continue to rubber-stamp this administration's idiotic "plans" and go against the will of the people, they should be thrown out as soon as possible, to join their recent colleagues.

We are the people who run this country. 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. Think of something to make the ridiculous look
ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of
there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge. If you can, go to the
peace march in Washington on Jan. 27. We need people in the streets, banging
pots and pans and demanding, "Stop it, now!"

Thanks, Molly. We'll keep up the fight.