Wednesday, January 31, 2007

 

Molly Ivins, 1944-2007




Molly Ivins. Another good one dies young. A loss as great as that of Ann Richards.

--ER

Comments:
Heartbreaking!
 
Yeah, RIP.
 
Wonder is Shrub will attend the funeral, or even issue an offical statement of grief?
 
tnat should of been..." Wonder if..."
 
Well I was wrong. The Shurb did make a "statement:

"Molly Ivins was a Texas original. She was loved by her readers and by her many friends, particularly in Central Texas. I respected her convictions, her passionate belief in the power of words, and her ability to turn a phrase. — President Bush."
 
Some favorite lines from Molly Ivins:

"I'm not anti-gun, I'm pro-knife!"

After the Texas legislature (which she always referred to as The Ledge) passed a particularly strict anti-gay bill. The two architects shook hands. Molly was incensed that the sergeant at arms didn't immediately take them into custody, "'Cuz we'd just passed a law against a prick ever touching an asshole!"

To G.W. Bush's assertion that "God speaks through me," Molly opined that God surely was better at subject-verb agreement.

According to Molly the 3 most over-rated things in America were "Mack trucks, teen-aged pussy, and honor among politicians!"

Molly in 2006, "The next time I tell ya'll that some sumbitch from Texas shouldn't be president, please listen!'
 
Those are great!

My favorites are these, which could be apocryphal but I think they're true, from when she worked in Denver for the New York Times.

She did a feature out of East Texas where she mentioned a guy's "beer gut" and somebody on the copy desk in NY changed it to "protruding abdomen." (That *has* to be apocryphal!)

This one sounds about right. She did a story where she mentioned a cattle guard -- the sets of pipes that go across a ditch to let vehicles in and out of a pasture but keeps the cattle in 'cause they won't cross it. Somebody on the desk changted it to "person who guards cattle"!
 
The "beer gut" one is true. She also got angry when she wrote about something that "squawked like a $2 fiddle" only to have a Times editor rewrite it to say "as an inexpensive instrument."

Such idiot changes were what caused her to move back to Austin.
 
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