RIP Molly Ivins, 1944-2007 (666 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.02 on 21 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Lungfish (View user info) at 2007-02-01 09:53:18 EST
I don't have time to do this right, as I'm almost out the door. One of my favorite political writers died yesterday at the age of 62. She had been suffering from breast cancer. One classy woman. Enjoy some quotes:
• What you need is sustained outrage...there's far too much unthinking respect given to authority.
• The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion.
• Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.
• There are two kinds of humor. One kind that makes us chuckle about our foibles and our shared humanity -- like what Garrison Keillor does. The other kind holds people up to public contempt and ridicule -- that's what I do. Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful. I only aim at the powerful. When satire is aimed at the powerless, it is not only cruel -- it's vulgar.
• I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil. And that no one knows the truth.
• It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America.
• There's never been a law yet that didn't have a ridiculous consequence in some unusual situation; there's probably never been a government program that didn't accidentally benefit someone it wasn't intended to. Most people who work in government understand that what you do about it is fix the problem -- you don't just attack the whole government.
• I believe in practicing prudence at least once every two or three years.
• I still believe in Hope - mostly because there's no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.
• One function of the income gap is that the people at the top of the heap have a hard time even seeing those at the bottom. They practically need a telescope. The pharaohs of ancient Egypt probably didn't waste a lot of time thinking about the people who built their pyramids, either. OK, so it's not that bad yet -- but it's getting that bad.
• It's like, duh. Just when you thought there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the two parties, the Republicans go and prove you're wrong.
• In the real world, there are only two ways to deal with corporate misbehavior: One is through government regulation and the other is by taking them to court. What has happened over 20 years of free-market proselytizing is that we have dangerously weakened both forms of restraint, first through the craze for "deregulation" and second through endless rounds of "tort reform," all of which have the effect of cutting off citizens' access to the courts. By legally bribing politicians with campaign contributions, the corporations have bought themselves immunity from lawsuits on many levels.
• Any nation that can survive what we have lately in the way of government, is on the high road to permanent glory.
• During a recent panel on the numerous failures of American journalism, I proposed that almost all stories about government should begin: "Look out! They're about to smack you around again!"
• 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.
• I know vegetarians don't like to hear this, but God made an awful lot of land that's good for nothing but grazing.
• The United States of America is still run by its citizens. The government works for us. Rank imperialism and warmongering are not American traditions or values. We do not need to dominate the world. We want and need to work with other nations. We want to find solutions other than killing people. Not in our name, not with our money, not with our children's blood.
• If you grew up white before the civil rights movement anywhere in the South, all grown-ups lied. They'd tell you stuff like, "Don't drink out of the colored fountain, dear, it's dirty." In the white part of town, the white fountain was always covered with chewing gum and the marks of grubby kids' paws, and the colored fountain was always clean. Children can be horribly logical.
• In Texas, we do not hold high expectations for the [governor's] office; it's mostly been occupied by crooks, dorks and the comatose.
• Good thing we've still got politics in Texas -- finest form of free entertainment ever invented.
• I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part, and discuss it only with consenting adults.
• Naturally, when it comes to voting, we in Texas are accustomed to discerning that fine hair's-breadth worth of difference that makes one hopeless dipstick slightly less awful than the other. But it does raise the question: Why bother? Oh, it's just that your life is at stake.
• Texas' performance, or lack of it, on Medicaid is already the subject of one federal court order and is likely to attract another as we continue to lag in providing health insurance for poor kids.
• You want moral leadership? Try the clergy. It's their job.
• The problem with those who choose received Authority over fact and logic is how they choose which part of Authority to obey. The Bible famously contradicts itself at many points (I have never understood why any Christian would choose the Old Testament over the New), and the Koran can be read as a wonderfully compassionate and humanistic document. Which suggests that the problem of fundamentalism lies not with authority, but with ourselves.
• The Israelis and the Palestinians are not condemned to some eternal hell where they have to kill each other forever.
• Conservatives have been mad at the Supreme Court since it decided to desegregate the schools in 1954 and seen fit to blame the federal bench for everything that has happened since then that they don't like.
• ...Phil Gramm, the senator from Enron...
• ...you could have knocked me over with Michael Huffington's brain.
• Say, here's an item: A group of right-wing journalists famed for their impartiality has set themselves up as the Patriotism Police. No less distinguished a crowd than Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, The New York Post editorial page and the Fox News Channel -- quite a bunch of Pulitzer winners there -- are now passing judgment on whether media outlets that do actual reporting are sufficiently one-sided for their taste.
• I have been attacked by Rush Limbaugh on the air, an experience somewhat akin to being gummed by a newt. It doesn't actually hurt, but it leaves you with slimy stuff on your ankle.
• If he gets even more sedate, we will have to water him twice a week. [Molly Ivins about then-President Ronald Reagan]
• If ignorance ever goes to $40 a barrel, I want drillin' rights on that man's head. [Molly Ivins on Dick Armey]
• There is one area in which I think Paglia and I would agree that politically correct feminism has produced a noticeable inequity. Nowadays, when a woman behaves in a hysterical and disagreeable fashion, we say, "Poor dear, it's probably PMS." Whereas, if a man behaves in a hysterical and disagreeable fashion, we say, "What an asshole." Let me leap to correct this unfairness by saying of Paglia, Sheesh, what an asshole. [Molly Ivins about Camille Paglia]
• She bellies up to the gourmet cracker-barrel and delivers laid-back wisdom with the serenity of a down-home Buddha who has discovered that stool softeners really work. [Florence King on Molly Ivins]
• When Ivins writes, there has to be a jalapeno in every line. [critic James Thurman on Ivins]
• I should confess that I've always been more of an observer than a participant in Texas Womanhood: the spirit was willing but I was declared ineligible on grounds of size early. You can't be six feet tall and cute, both. I think I was first named captain of the basketball team when I was four and that's what I've been ever since. [Molly Ivins about Molly Ivins]
• from her last column, January 11, 2007: 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.
• Everyone knows the man has no clue, but no one there has the courage to say it. I mean, good gawd, the man is as he always has been: barely adequate. [on George W. Bush]
• Last week, I began a sentence by saying, "If Bush had any imagination ..." and then I hit myself. Silly me.
• [On then-candidate George W. Bush, in a 2000 book on his "short but happy political life"] If, at the end of this short book, you find W. Bush's political resume a little light, don't blame us. There's really not much there. We have been looking for six years.
• [On George W. Bush (and George H. W. Bush)] If you think his daddy had trouble with "the vision thing," wait till you meet this one.
• [Molly Ivins quotes George W. Bush in one of his "Bushisms"] "What I am against is quotas. I am against hard quotas, quotas they basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate, quotas, I think vulcanize society. So I don't know how that fits into what everybody else is saying, their relative positions, but that's my position."
• [On then-President George H. W. Bush] Personally, I think he's further evidence that the Great Scriptwriter in the sky has an overdeveloped sense of irony.
Source: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/molly_ivins.htm
User Reviews
Submitted by Ducky (user info) at 2007-02-03 11:44:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-02-02 13:39:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-02-02 13:23:22 (#)
Ranking: 2
Some fine quotes in there for sure.
Dennis Miller is like Jack McCallum... highly enjoyable most of the time - frustrating right wing air bag half the time...gay the rest of the time.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-02-02 13:23:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Some fine quotes in there for sure.
Dennis Miller is like Jack McCallum... highly enjoyable most of the time - frustrating right wing air bag the rest.
Submitted by ih8u2man (user info) at 2007-02-02 13:20:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-02-02 13:07:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-02-01 19:06:17 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-02-01 12:31:17 (#)
Ranking: -2
good riddance.
She was terribly unfunny, often to the point of being physically painful.
So many times I would try to read her columns, and just have to stop, because they were so bad. I'm sure those on the left would read her column and tee-hee to themselves that Molly Ivins was sticking it to the Republicans, but really, it was just Rush Limbaugh in different clothes. Conepone mean-spiritedness.
She would have PERFECT for Ubersite, though.
--------
I understand your perspective. I feel the same about Rush.
Dennis Miller used to be a comedic genius. He caught stupid somewhere.
------
yeah, no kidding about Dennis Miller
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2007-02-02 09:46:55 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Less hot air now.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2007-02-02 00:45:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-02-01 20:56:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-02-01 19:06:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-02-01 12:31:17 (#)
Ranking: -2
good riddance.
She was terribly unfunny, often to the point of being physically painful.
So many times I would try to read her columns, and just have to stop, because they were so bad. I'm sure those on the left would read her column and tee-hee to themselves that Molly Ivins was sticking it to the Republicans, but really, it was just Rush Limbaugh in different clothes. Conepone mean-spiritedness.
She would have PERFECT for Ubersite, though.
--------
I understand your perspective. I feel the same about Rush.
Dennis Miller used to be a comedic genius. He caught stupid somewhere.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-02-01 12:31:17 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
good riddance.
She was terribly unfunny, often to the point of being physically painful.
So many times I would try to read her columns, and just have to stop, because they were so bad. I'm sure those on the left would read her column and tee-hee to themselves that Molly Ivins was sticking it to the Republicans, but really, it was just Rush Limbaugh in different clothes. Conepone mean-spiritedness.
She would have PERFECT for Ubersite, though.
Submitted by messmind (user info) at 2007-02-01 11:57:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by Cyrus (user info) at 2007-02-01 11:40:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Luther (user info) at 2007-02-01 09:56:41 (#)
Ranking: -2
No black, no candles, and way too much information about someone I don't think I care about. I've definately not heard of her.
------------------------------------------------
That's right, here on Uber, we flaunt our ignorance
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-02-01 10:51:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by rorrim (user info) at 2007-02-01 10:45:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I still believe in Hope - mostly because there's no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas
Thanx for this informative post . We need more rational free thinkers !
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2007-02-01 10:28:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I like the lungfish.
Submitted by Maltese (user info) at 2007-02-01 10:27:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
One more try:
•••••••••••••••••••••
••••••••.......••••••••
••••••.............••••••
••••..................••••
••........................••
•...........................•
••........................••
••••..................••••
••••••.............••••••
••••••••.......••••••••
•••••••••••••••••••••
Submitted by Maltese (user info) at 2007-02-01 10:22:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for Molly Ivins
+2 for the realization Uber can use dot characters
•••••••••••••••••••••
••••••••.....••••••••
••••••.........••••••
••••.............••••
••.................••
•...................•
••.................••
••••.............••••
••••••.........••••••
••••••••.....••••••••
•••••••••••••••••••••
-2 because I can't give anything higher than a +2
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-02-01 10:12:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by Cadrach (user info) at 2007-02-01 10:07:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-02-01 10:03:54 (#)
Ranking: 2
Certainly not to be confused with Molly Hatchet.
_________________________________________________________________
Or Molly Ringwald.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-02-01 10:03:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Certainly not to be confused with Molly Hatchet.
Submitted by Luther (user info) at 2007-02-01 09:56:41 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
No black, no candles, and way too much information about someone I don't think I care about. I've definately not heard of her.
"Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2007-01-30 11:30:51 (#)
Ranking: 2
THIS IS HOW YOU DO A TRIBUTE POST.
BLACK BORDER: CHECK
CANDLES: CHECK
TAKE NOTES THE REST OF YOU.
HERE ON OUT, I -2 THEM UNLESS THEY ARE DONE CORRECTLY. "