First Ann Richards. Now, Molly Ivens. Dammit! Texas breeds some great, gutsy, whip-smart, utterly inspiring broads. I miss them both so much already.

Molly was intelligent, funny, and able to see right to the heart of a matter. Even thought I never had the honor of meeting her, I'll miss her like family.

My typical guy self would be in heaven if I could wake up between you and Maureen Dowd, and never get out of the bed, or even the PJ's - and a raucus good time would be had by all, forever.

Miss you already, babe . . .

Rarely does the passage of a well-know person, whom I've never met, make me cry, but I burst into tears last night when I heard about Molly Ivins. Her voice was personal and immediate - as if she was talking only to you. No crap. No formality. Not being able to read her each month in the Progressive will be missed like not having a regular coffee with a good friend.

Goodbye ... I'll miss your work terribly.

I really needed that.

And thank you, Molly. You made me proud to be a strong, liberal woman. I miss you already.

I don't know what to say. We need Molly Ivins, and people like her (not that there are any), now more than ever.

Molly, it hurts that you're gone, and we're gonna miss you like anything...

But, I'm sure you and Hunter S. Thompson are drinking it up with Mencken and Twain in some dive...heaven without dives? No way.

I second what Barbara says about smart, gutsy Texas women, and the profound loss of two of the best. I know Texas is not the only place to produce their like, but it is especially gratifying to lay claim to them when we have to be saddled with Shrub. In an Austin shop I saw a t-shirt with his face over an outline of the state, and the words "Giving Texas a bad name since 1946." So, thanks, Molly and Ann, for makin' us proud. Real proud. God, we're going to miss you!

I had the privilege of hearing Molly speak many times at the Council on World Affairs event in Boulder, and one day, while attending a session headed by Harvey Wasserman, there she was! Two seats away! After the discussion I introduced myself and told her she was the inspiration for why I write. She was very gracious, and a lovely woman. Her spirit beamed.

I need to get off my ass and write more political stuff -- that's what Molly would tell me, and that's what I'll do.

I'm from Missouri, and we generally hate Texans on principle. But for Molly, and Hightower, my view has shifted. No squishy Texans, these. God bless.

The terrible news that Molly Ivins passed away must come as good news for Hilary. Molly would have posed a real threat to Hilary's presidential ambitions. Molly had galvanized that section of the women's movement, which was deeply upset at Hilary who had voted to sacrifice American and Iraqi lives for the sake of political points.

Molly, your words, thoughts and smile will be missed.

"Only laughter can blow a colossal humbug to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand."

--Mark Twain "The Mysterious Stranger"

"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing."

--Benjamin Franklin

Goodbye and fare well Molly

With a black background behind her Molly sat as a guest of Brian Lamb's (Mr. C-Span) on the Sunday night show, Booknotes. He asked her a question about Tom Delay's stand on some issue. Her reply, "He's just stupid." Lamb laughed and stammered something like--you don't really mean that. Molly said, "Oh, yes, he's stupid." She went on to talk about Delay's views on DDT and exactly how stupid they were.

That interview took place a few short years ago. Apparently, Molly's judgment proved correct. Again.

Whenever I got cynical about the war in Iraq or the loss of our civil rights at the hands of the Bush misadministration, I always looked for Molly's latest column. Her scathing insights mixed with wit and Texas humor always gave me a renewed sense of hope.

I feel sad that her voice will be missed. Therre are so few left like her.

Maybe she would have just said "oh, the hell with it, kid. You don't need me - get out there and start a ruckus. Y'all don't need me to do that."

...it saddens me that we have lost yet another strong, and unafraid female Texan voice; a voice that has spoken for justice in a rather unjust country. Living in this Democratic mecca of the Northeast, I must remember my roots in the progressive oasis that is Austin; and remember the people whose words and actions put our lil' blue city on the big, red, state map. A friend emailed me the following anecdote this morning from Austin after the public learned of the news.

"I work at a book store and a couple years ago Molly Ivins had a new book out and I was standing at the register reading it. Then I hear someone say "why are you reading that liberal trash?" When I looked up from the book it was Molly Ivins.

She'd come in and I'd chat with her once a week but the past 6 months she didn't seem to be doing too well. I haven't seen her in the last 4 weeks and I was wondering where she was.

I will certainly miss talking with her on sunday mornings."

Many honors are bestowed on her today. All of them I'm sure try to describe, define, who Molly was. I know she would be embarrassed by all the flattery.

But for me, someone who has listened to her lecture in person and someone who has corresponded with her by email from time to time over many years, I just have my own personal reason why Molly was such a delight:

Nobody, except maybe occasionally Jim Hightower could cut a Texan down to size like Molly.

And you know what? Her pen was sharp, but she was never mean and petty about it. I once urged her to go after Neil Bush during his nasty divorce, say something about his whoring around. She wouldn't do it. She had no qualms about filleting those in power. But Neil was, by then, no longer a public figure and as much as she detested the whole Bush clan, Neil's privacy was as respected as any other citizen's would be.

That's class.

Rest well, Molly dear.