Letters to the Editor
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Molly on Hillary
Molly Ivins just nails it with her take on why she won't support Hillary Clinton for president. I've watched Hillary dodge and weave and told myself that I just won't be satisfied with the best of the worst of choices.
If the Democratic Party nominates Hillary Clinton I simply will sit out the presidential election, as painful as that might be. Molly is right, we need, and deserve better.
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is that the center?
I hope so. But I'd be surprised if raising taxes were really a centrist position.
Then again, maybe we just need somebody who can sell it.
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Molly v. Hillary
Thank the goddess for Molly Ivins. She has the ovarian fortitude to speak for we progressives who are, unfortunately, stuck with the Democratic Party as the only sane voting alternative. Currently. If the Dems keep on with the lame hand flailing, a true third party may have space to emerge. Before you Greens flame me, I'd vote for your ticket if you fielded truly progressive candidates. Kucinich, anyone?
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Senator Clinton is a political coward.
I think most of us already knew that. I guess it was nice of Ms Ivins to point it out to the few blinkered souls who still don't get it.
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Good Golly Ms. Molly!
Molly Ivins is a voice in the wilderness because she speaks about courage and conviction to a party that has lost its way and hopes that the Presidency and control of Congress will fall into its lap if Democrats just sit tight and don't make waves. Does anyone really believe Hillary Clinton wanted to go to war in Iraq or thinks the answer is, as she often says, sending more troops? Look at how passionless she is discussing these issues, and you know her heart isn't in it. But her strategists are whispering in her ear, counseling caution, and she listens, just as Kerry famously and disastrously listened to his counselors--and did the wrong thing. I used to think Clinton would one day be a grand old woman of the Senate, a female Robert Byrd, but look at how she has consistently held back and temporized, while Byrd has told the truth about abuse of power. Clinton does not deserve such status, nor does she deserve to be President.
Maybe Molly will run.
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A thousand times yes
Is there a Democratic official who can stop the madness of a Hillary attempt at the nomination? Anyone? Do we WANT to lose 65-35 to whatever wingnut piece of garbage the GOP coughs up in 2008?
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Molly Ivins for the Nominating Committee!
After the 2004 election, while trying to reconcile a severe case of cognitive dissonance, I toyed around with my own alternate or shadow cabinet, but called it a Rotissurreality Cabinet.
Reading something that Ivins-- who is also one of my heroes-- had written on torture [http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2004/1015], inspired me to nominate her [http://blogs.salon.com/0004000/2004/12/05.html#a143] to head up the EPA.
After all, she had also written so poignantly in her books on the damage done to environmental issues by this administration with its Orwellian use of language to disguise its true intentions.
* * *
If Quakers could influence the DNC, there would be a nominating committee, whose charge would be to come up with a list of qualified and willing candidates. In an ideal world, Molly Ivins would be its clerk (Quaker for chair).
So much for fantasy...
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Molly on Hillary
Got my juices flowing again! I worked for Gene McCarthy! I yearn for a candidate that gets up there and tells the truth...NOW!! Several years ago, I told the Democratic Party I wouldn't give them any money until they took their thumbs out of their eyes or other places. Still haven't seen a reason to open the faucet again.
Molly is one of the few sane political observers in my state of Texas. I think Senator Obama may be coming on line to be the kind of progressive I could like and support. Think he needs to get seasoned fast and get into the national spotlight where he belongs. Otherwise, I don't see anyone in Washington who passes the smell test.
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I've been saying this since Hillary voted for the war...
...and taking crap for it from Dem friends who are active in the party. She's been a go-along-to-get-along DINO (Democrat in Name Only) sellout who saves her energy for bloviating on urgent international crises like video game nudity.
Hillary is one of the reasons I donate by candidate and not by party. I'm not writing a check to the Democratic Party if they're going to use my money to help re-elect chair-warmers like Hillary Clinton.
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Molly vs Hillary
the worst possible thing would be Hillary Clinton running for president. She cannot win, the middle cannot win. Thanks to Molly Ivins for saying it out loud. We cannot allow the DLC to lose another election.
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McCarthy
Re Molly Ivins' homage to McCarthy:
While I have a lot of respect for both Ivins and McCarthy, of course the hard fact is that McCarthy lost. RFK might've won if not for Sirhan; we'll never know. But if people Ivins would rather champion idealists who have no chance at winning, we'll be doomed to another generation of GOP rule.
This is not to say that I enjoy Hillary's playing to the center, either. But this cannibalistic tendency to eat our own party does nobody any good. There was an interesting Bruce Reed column lately on Slate, in which he argued that Nixon's worst legacy was making Democrats allergic to the idea of winning and holding power in Washington. Which is better, being pure or being in power? Wait till McCain wins and finishes appointing a pro-life majority to the Supreme Court, then answer again.
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Clinton: Rice = Outmoded: Outdated
Ivins' column reminds me of those unfortunate, however unlikely, forecasts of a Condoleeza Rice-Hillary Clinton presidential matchup in 2008. As much as I'd prefer Clinton as president to Rice, Ivins' words evoke the similarity between Clinton and Rice. Both women are certifiably (i.e., on paper) intellectually brilliant. But they are inept in their own ways: Rice's ideas as to foreign policy in the post-Cold War world are so far beyond passe that they're dangerous, as we've sadly seen, while Hillary (if you accept Ivins' argument) has not clued in as to domestic policy or politics in the post-2000 election world.
I'm waaaaaaaaaaiting for a tough, smart, and with-it woman to step up to the forefront of national electoral politics.