This tribute to a great political critic appeared in Garrison Keillor’s “The Writers’ Almanac.” Molly Ivins is sorely missed today. We can only imagine what she would have written about Trump and Pence and the other idiots running the government.
It’s the birthday of the journalist and humorist who said, “The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion.” Molly Ivins (books by this author), born in Monterey, California (1944) and raised in Houston, Texas. She went to Smith and to Columbia’s School of Journalism and spent years covering the police beat for the Minneapolis Tribune (the first woman to do so) before moving back to Texas, the setting and subject of much of her life’s writing.
Ivins especially liked to poke fun at the Texas Legislature, which she referred to as “the Lege.” She gave George W. Bush the nickname “Shrub” and also referred to him as a post turtle (based on an old joke: the turtle didn’t get there itself, doesn’t belong there, and needs help getting out of the dilemma). She had actually known President Bush since they were teenagers in Houston. She poked fun at Democrats, too, and said about Bill Clinton: “If left to my own devices, I’d spend all my time pointing out that he’s weaker than bus-station chili. But the man is so constantly subjected to such hideous and unfair abuse that I wind up standing up for him on the general principle that some fairness should be applied. Besides, no one but a fool or a Republican ever took him for a liberal.” Clinton later said that Molly Ivins “was good when she praised me and painfully good when she criticized me.”
Her fiery liberal columns caused a lot of debate in Texas, with newspaper readers always writing in to complain. One time, she wrote about the Republican congressman from Dallas: “If his IQ slips any lower we’ll have to water him twice a day.” It generated a storm of controversy, and the paper she wrote for decided to use it to their advantage, to boost readership. They started placing advertisements on billboards all over Dallas that said, “Molly Ivins can’t say that … can she?” She used the line as the title of her first book (published in 1991).
She went on to write several best-selling books, including Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush — which was actually written and published in 2000, before George W. Bush had been elected to the White House. Ivins later said, “The next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please, pay attention.”
Molly Ivins died of breast cancer in 2007 at the age of 62. She once wrote: “Having breast cancer is massive amounts of no fun. First they mutilate you; then they poison you; then they burn you. I have been on blind dates better than that.”
Molly Ivins once said: “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.”
Diane,
Molly wrote for the Fort Worth paper. Of course, her readership was far larger. We miss her dearly.
CFJ
On Sun, Aug 30, 2020 at 12:01 PM Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: “This tribute to a great political critic appeared in > Garrison Keillor’s “The Writers’ Almanac.” Molly Ivins is sorely missed > today. We can only imagine what she would have written about Trump and > Pence and the other idiots running the government. It’s” >
Oh Diane, Thank you so much for remembering Molly Ivins. She was a national treasure, and, my God, could we ever use her laser-like intelligence and wit now. She would not believe, absolutely not believe, what she was witnessing.
The program for a dear friend’s end of life ceremony included this from Molly Ivins….
“Be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
The list of journalists who have won Molly Ivins awards includes some whose articles have appeared on Diane’s blog. No surprise. Thank you.
I so miss Molly Ivins, her insights and humor were priceless and enlightening. I also wish that Frank McCourt were still around, he would have so much to say about our present dilemma and he would roast the school reformers and privatizers like DeVos. He was a classroom teacher of many years and he taught in some very challenging schools.
Ditto, Joe. Loved reading Molly Ivins & miss her, too.
Frank McCourt, the same, & I was lucky enough to have seen him at a book-signing event. Our local, independent (very small) bookstore had him scheduled for the store. When I went in to buy the book a week before the event, I said, “Are you kidding? So you think you’re going to fit his audience in here?” They wound up holding the event in a huge church auditorium, & it was SRO. & what a time it was!
I was lucky to be able to have my book autographed. (I think it was titled Teacher. I believe I read it, then gifted it to a student teacher.)
If you hadn’t read it, please do. It’s one of those books that you won’t be able to put down and, when you get to the end, you’ll be sad that you’re done reading.
Molly Ivins was like a modern Mark Twain. And, oh! how we could use both of their sharp wits and skewering humor in these strange times.
I miss her, too. We sorely need her wit and wisdom now.