Rest In Peace, Molly.

"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."

Molly Ivins, R.I.P.

I just got the news from Old Broad’s blog…

Damn and Double Damn.

She was a tough talking, straight shooting, asswhooping Texas journalist. Probably the best we had. Her voice of reason and common sense always got to the heart of the matter, and she didn’t worry about sprinkling a few choice ‘rural colloquialisms’ into her writing to tell you EXACTLY how she felt.

Bad news. She was respected enough to even merit an article in our right wing rag of a newspaper, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, at least once a month, followed a couple of days later by the obligatory outraged and offended republican letters to the editor.

She, like me, loved skewering the hypocrisy of the good ole boy network here in Texas politics.

"I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part, and discuss it only with consenting adults," from a March 1992 column.

She had a way with words, that a Texan like me sure can appreciate:

"The poor man who is currently our president has reached such a point of befuddlement that he thinks stem cell research is the same as taking human lives, but that 40,000 dead Iraqi civilians are progress toward democracy,"

"Many people did not care for Pat Buchanan's speech; it probably sounded better in the original German," Ivins in September 1992, commenting on the one-time presidential hopeful's speech to the Republican National Convention.

John Nichols has a Tribute to Molly over at the Nation.

"Troublemaker" might be a term of derision in the lexicon of some journalists--particularly the on-bended-knee White House press pack that Ivins studiously refused to run with--but to Molly it was a term of endearment.

It’s a great article and it ends with this:

Speaking truth to power is the best job in any democracy, she explained. It took her to towns across this great yet battered land to say: "So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was."

Molly's Final Column: Stand Up Against The Surge

She will be missed.