Summary
[Molly Ivins] was doing a bit more than "poking a little fun" when she emphasized, early on in 2003, that the American public had been "lied to" about the war in Iraq. By October 2003, Ivins noted, "We have now lost more soldiers in the 'peace' than we did during the war." She added, ruefully, "I have a suggestion for a withdrawal deadline: Let's leave Iraq before we've killed more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein did."
Then there were those "two books" she and Lou Dubose wrote about [George W. Bush]. Shrub and Bushwhacked, both bestsellers, were ferocious, infuriating and, yes, funny exposés of Bush's policies while governor of Texas and of his importation of these disasters to the federal level, where they hurt far greater numbers of people while also devastating the environment. Bushwhacked was about Bush's various misbegotten programs "doing cruel things to real people." There were fabulous sentences like, "Public policy stamped MADE IN TEXAS is like Hungarian wine-it does not travel well." Ivins' witticisms eased us into accounts of everyday people fighting against incinerators in their neighborhoods that would burn toxic sludge, with the Bush administration eliminating any recourse for appeal of their construction. The book reported on USDA intentions to relax its standards for fecal contamination of beef and its plans to add irradiated meat to the nation's School Lunch Program. Are we all still laughing? This is merely "poking a little fun"?See the full content of this document
Extract
Molly and the Mainstream
ONLY PAUL KRUGMAN of the New York Times seemed to get it. In "Missing Molly Ivins," Krugman was a lone voice in the mainstream press to capture her unique gifts, and the enormous heart she gave to us all. Some people really should live forever...
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