Passages: Goodbye Molly, Hello Senator Franken

I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of one of my favorite writers last night. Author and columnist Molly Ivins has succumbed to her third bout with breast cancer...she was only 62.

I have linked to and excerpted Molly's columns for as long as I've had a blog, and I've been reading her work even longer than that.  She made a career out of skewering the political establishment and she was never better at it than when she was taking on the current "Idiot in Chief", someone she knew very well as a working journalist in Texas for many years. The Texas Observer has a great tribute to her on its website today.

Here's a link to her final nationally syndicated column, in which she urges Regular Joe and Jane America to stand up to Dubya's nightmarish plans to send more U.S. soldiers to Iraq, because "WE are the deciders." 

Stand Up Against the Surge, by Molly Ivins

I, for one, intend to honor her last request.

In the meantime, my mood was slightly buoyed by the news that Al Franken plans to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota.  He's never been one of my favorite comedians, but his politics definitely work for me.  Of course a senate bid means he will be giving up his syndicated radio talk show and will have to be a little more serious when scorching the Bush Administration on late night TV talk shows, but that's a small price to pay for getting one more articulate liberal in the Senate.

Besides, I think Molly Ivins would have approved.

Related News
Columnist Molly Ivins said it all and then some
Columnist Molly Ivins, acerbic Bush critic, dies of cancer
Memorial for Molly Ivins set for Sunday


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