One of the chief reasons given by activist members of the gay community for outing gay politicians is hypocrisy. If a gay politician runs a campaign based on the suppression of gay rights and, once elected, votes against legislation supporting gay rights, that is hypocrisy. If a gay politician does not seek to suppress gay rights, that is not hypocrisy and there is no good reason to "out" such a politician.

That is what has just happened with David Vitter. He ran on family values. He violated his own self-professed values and now he has been "outed."

Louisiana has had some of the most gregarious politicians in this country's history. People from other states may know very little about Louisiana politics, but they do usually recognize the names Huey Long and Edwin Edwards. You couldn't "out" these two because they were public with their vices and they were "live and let live" with regard to everyone else's. True Democrats. What you see is what you get.

Live and let live and don't apologize for it. That's why I will alway be a liberal and will never be a Republican. It's the difference between empathy/inclusion and ignorance/exclusion.

The Bushes are not Southern. They just moved South to take advantage of the conservative demographic for political ends and the oil business for economic ends. Sort of a twofer you might say.

They got their original oil connection with the Rockefellers and have been oil rich ever since.

They're from the East Coast and their family goes way back. George W. Bush comes from a long line of industrialists and politicians. Just google his grandfather Prescott Bush and see what happens. Or better yet, google Bush family.

They don't vacation in Galveston, Texas. They vacation in Kennebunkport, Maine.

I respect your opinion. I try to respect everyone's opinion. Having said that, I would never consider anyone who had to deliberately learn a Southern accent a Southerner. I understand that George Bush had to be taught his Southern mannerisms as part of his political education.

You can move to the South and become a Southerner, just like you can move to the North and become a Northerner. That's what George Bush did. He's marketed himself as a fundamentalist, oil and gas, cowboy hat and pointy boots, chain saw, pickup truck, gun rack, tail-gate party and all the rest Southern boy. But you can find guys like that in San Francisco.

I think it's important not to equate being a good ol' boy with being a Southerner. George Bush is a good 'ol boy, no doubt of it. But for every good ol' boy Southerner, there are about a half-dozen Southerner's who are anything but good ol' boys. And they're not just black and female. They're white males, too. A lot of them play video games, disc golf and love computers.

I consider myself a Southerner, but I am in no way a good ol' boy.

I'm from Louisiana and my family's been here for a couple of hundred years. I'm not saying we don't have our share of good ol' boys. Dave Vitter, for example, is a good ol' boy. But he's Republican. Me, I'm more of a Huey Long and FDR Southern Democrat waiting for the tide to turn.

Bush gives Southerners a bad name.

Also, Texas is not the South. Texas is a separate country.

I need to make a clarification concerning good ol' boys. They're not all the same. I have friends who are good ol' boys. They go hunting and fishing; they like car races and outdoor BBQs; they exhibit a lot of the other stereotypical behavior associated with the term.

But these particular good ol' boys are the salt of the earth. You couldn't find better friends if you tried.

One more thing. I wasn't putting Texas down by calling it its own country. Almost any Texan will agree with you on that.

Molly Ivins was an icon and an iconoclast. She is a legend and people will remember her name a hundred years from now (if our species isn't extinct from a Republican nuclear or biological holocaust). You talk about her like that, you may as well be talking about Willie Nelson like that. You may as well be talking about Woody Guthrie like that. Woody Guthrie put the slogan "This machine kills fascists" on his guitar. Molly could just as easily have put that same slogan on her typewriter or portable PC.

You have to go all the way back to Will Rogers to find a wit as sharp as hers.

You just lost every last ounce of credibility as someone who has a clue about Southern liberal culture. There's nothing Manichean about it. You might as well have said the Beatles weren't from England.

I didn't think I had a button to push, but I guess I did. Now that I'm looking at it, it says, "Molly Ivins" on it.

It's not part of the american character, I'd argue, to get hung up on pedigrees and how many generations a family has been in one place or another.

When you put it that way, I agree. Completely.

Yeah, the people who want to set off a nuke in a U.S. city are Republicans. -- Anonymous

Why in the world did you think I was talking about Republicans nuking American cities? I was talking about Republicans precipitating a nuclear or biological holocaust by preemptively attacking any number of cities in any number of other countries. Currently, they have 193 to choose from. Until a few years ago it was Moscow. For a few years in the 60s it was Havana. Who knows? This may be the year we decide to nuke Iran (hopefully not Tehran). In 10-15 years we may be pointing our doomsday device at Beijing or Paris or London or all three at once. How is anyone supposed to know who the next up and coming enemy is going to be with these fear fashionistas?