Joe Conason: "MOLLY LIVES" - Democratic Underground

Hand

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Fri Feb-02-07 10:37 AM
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Joe Conason: "MOLLY LIVES"

Impossible as it is to measure the magnitude of the loss of Molly Ivins, who died on Wednesday night of breast cancer at age 62, people across America are trying to express how important she was to them, what she meant to the nation, especially in recent years, and why we will miss her terribly. On the pages of newspapers, on the radio and on blogs, her passing has been marked with due respect.

Even her favorite goat, the president of the United States, understood that he must pay tribute to the tough Texas wiseass who saw right through "Dubya" and the political culture that produced him. I bet that would have made her chuckle.

What made Molly so special as a writer -- and raises her into an ink-stained pantheon alongside Mark Twain, A.J. Liebling, Murray Kempton, H.L. Mencken and other such greats -- was the American sound in her prose and the American style of her reporting. Her columns and essays -- and for that matter her wonderful, low, smoky voice, if you were lucky enough to hear her talk -- used her regional sensibility and experience to illuminate the wider world. She talked Texas but her subject was the universe.

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Dover

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Fri Feb-02-07 10:42 AM
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1. Yes, she was all that. But it was also her populist MESSAGE that people loved.

Edited on Fri Feb-02-07 10:44 AM by Dover

Let's not forget that beyond being a beloved writer with a special style, she also stood for something that this country longs for now more than ever. She was the heart of a growing grassroots movement that is fed up with our political 'system' and the criminals that have seized it.

That message has a life of its own and continues to draw crowds wherever it is spoken or written.

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Dudley_DUright

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Fri Feb-02-07 11:17 AM
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2. Thanks Hand

I knew that Joe would be checking in with something special about Molly.

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Frustratedlady

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Fri Feb-02-07 11:58 AM
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3. Molly had more nerve than her male counterparts...

and was able to season her writings with just enough dry wit that her critics weren't sure enough of what she said to hit her back.

I wonder how much crow it took for Bush to "honor" her with his comments. I can see those eyes twinkling as I type.

RIP, Molly. I never knew you, except through your essays, but I loved your style.

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