Molly Ivins (right) with Women & Children First’s Linda Bubon. Photo by Tracy Baim
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Molly Ivins, one of the nation’s top political columnists and authors, died Jan. 31 after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 62.
Ivins was a one-of-a-kind commentator, full of wit and wisdom and not afraid to go after even her fellow liberals. But she was perhaps best known as a Texan with a laser eye for even the smallest levels of corruption, and a down-home style of delivering the bad news.
‘So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it,’ Ivins was quoted as saying in The Nation. ‘Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.’
‘I was fortunate enough to have several meetings with Molly before book signings/readings we had with her,’ wrote Chicago’s Women & Children First Bookstore co-owner Linda Bubon in an e-mail. ‘She was warm, funny, and called me ‘darlin’ with that great Texas accent of hers. Although she was fighting cancer two of the three times, she said she was fine and declined to talk about her health. She was great with the audience, so smart and insightful about current politics without ever sounding like a wonk. We have lost a great voice for the people, a true watchdog of the rich and powerful. I was hoping we’d get to see her again in Chicago, but at least she lived long enough to witness the Democratic victory in the [U.S.] House and Senate.’
Raised in Houston, Ivins earned her BA from Smith College in 1966 and master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University. She moved around in journalism from the Houston Chronicle to the Minneapolis Tribune, Texas Observer, The New York Times, the Dallas Times Herald, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and then eventually she was freelance, distributed by Creators Syndicate to nearly 400 papers.
Books she authored or co-authored included Who Let the Dogs In?: Incredible Political Animals I Have Known, Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush’s America, Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush, You Got to Dance With Them What Brung You: Politics in the Clinton Years, Nothin’ But Good Times Ahead, Molly Ivins Can’t Say That, Can She?, and The Edge of the West and Other Texas Stories.
Editor & Publisher reported that at Ivins’ memorial service, friend Linda Lewis quoted Ivins to great applause: ‘The next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please, pay attention.’ She was the champion of those without power, and kept her eye on corruption at every level of government—whether a Texas state rep or the president of the U.S.
Ivins never married and is survived by a brother and sister.