[Dialogue] We Love You Molly

[Harry Wainwright]

Published on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 by CommonDreams.org 

We Love You Molly 

by Harvey Wasserman

 

Our beloved sister Molly Ivins is fighting for her life against cancer, and
all we can do is try to send her even a fraction of the brilliance, joy and
love she has given us for so many incomparable years. 

This genius daughter of Texas turmoil has stood alone for so long as a voice
of clarity, wit, common sense and plain-spoken conscience that it's hard to
know even where to start. 

Perhaps most important to remember is that she has not been just a writer.
>From her modest but gracious home in the heart of Austin, she has done
anything but sit back and snipe with that unique penetrating wit of hers.
She could have done it. She could have just gone to that keyboard every day,
blown them all away, and built her national reputation from the sheer genius
of an insulated ivory tower. 

But Molly has always been a firm believer in hands-on non-violent combat,
which in hands like hers is the ultimate weapon. She puts her heart and soul
where her convictions are. She's fought tooth and nail for The Texas
Observer and whatever other worthwhile publications there are that can
muster an audience in the Lone Star State. She's worked with the great Jim
Hightower in his climb to elected office. She supports candidates. She goes
out of her way. She works hard. She makes her presence felt wherever she
thinks it'll do some good, no matter what the personal cost. 

All the while being our very premier writer/humorist. If Mark Twain has a
female counterpart on today's political and journalistic scene, it is Molly
Ivins. She has that miraculous ability to slice and dice an entire raft of
political horse-dung with a single simple sentence, laced with wry, seeded
with sweetness, and so often utterly cleansing and clarifying. 

We can all be thankful that our lucky stars have placed her-where else
but-in Austin. Throughout the entire horrific nightmare of George W. Bush,
whom she has somehow known personally for decades, it has been Molly and
only Molly who's been on the spot to say exactly what needs to be said in
exactly the right Texas tone with precisely the right down home balance of
horror, outrage and utterly human wit. Nobody else could be doing it as she
does, from the inside out, from the high ground lifting up the low. Could we
ever INVENT anyone better suited, with a sharper wit and better sense of the
jugular? 

Except with Molly, it's the spiritual center that's the bullseye. With that
wry, beautiful smile of hers and that insanely musical Texas twang, she
never fails to aim for higher ground. When her eyes roll at the latest
unbelievable insanity from this ghastly crew, she still manages to twinkle
with that huge, heavenly light that's only Molly's. 

In her personal life Molly has always been every bit as gracious as you can
tell she is from her writing. Last time she carted me around Austin, it was
in her obligatory pickup. The thing seemed a bit naked without a gun rack.
But Molly behind the wheel was armed aplenty, always willing to drive the
few extra blocks, even if you are willing to walk. Her southern grace just
won't think of it, no matter how many better things she has to do. And we
know there are plenty. 

To hear her speak is to be dazzled by the music of a true national treasure.
To see her heart is to be warmed by a truly magnificent woman who embodies
all this country can and should be. That she has been on the job for so
long, with such persistence and valor, is something for which we can all be
joyously thankful. 

Molly, we are with you, and we need you, and we love you, as we have needed
you and loved you now for so many years now. Get well soon! 

In Molly's honor, some of us are sending contributions to the Molly Ivins
Fund for <http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/?p=62>  Investigative Reporting
at the Texas Observer; 307 West Seventh Street; Austin, TX 78701 

###

 

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