Oh, No, Not Molly!

First Ann and now Molly. We can't afford to lose any more of these female journalist icons. Certainly Katie or Paula or whatever new fluff is the flavor of the day cannot rise to the standard these women set. Molly, I shall really, really miss you.

Molly Ivins, whose biting columns mixed liberal populism with an irreverent Texas wit, died at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at her home in Austin after an up-and-down battle with breast cancer she had waged for seven years. She was 62.

Ms. Ivins, the Star-Telegram’s political columnist for nine years ending in 2001, had written for the New York Times, the Dallas Times-Herald and Time magazine and had long been a sought-after pundit on the television talk-show circuit to provide a Texas slant on issues ranging from President Bush’s pedigree to the culture wars rooted in the 1960s.

"She was magical in her writing," said Mike Blackman, a former Star-Telegram executive editor who hired Ms. Ivins at the newspaper’s Austin bureau in 1992, a few months after the Times-Herald ceased publication. "She could turn a phrase in such a way that a pretty hard-hitting point didn’t hurt so bad."

Star-Telegram

The Decider

I've been kicking that moniker around in my head. That "I'm the decider" phrase spoken with a fake Texas accent and stubborn look on his face. Like this: A'm the DeCida. I initially thought Bush was just too stupid to put a more eloquent statement into words. Or, wasn't capable of understanding what he said. I certainly can't imagine Clinton, Carter, Kennedy or any other President uttering such a statement. It's bare bones. It's saying everything and not really saying anything. It's like the kid on the basketball court yelling at you - telling you that if you don't play by his rules, he'll take his ball and go home. Only, Bush doesn't have the ball. Or, the balls, for that matter. He has the Office of the President. One arm of the government. And, he's acting like a spoiled kid.

So, as I listen to that statement again, I begin to think. Does he mean that it doesn't matter what Congress mandates? Or, what our Courts decide? Is he really the Decider? Above all and everyone one else? Does he really believe that? Does Congress? Do the Judges? Are they really going to let him get away with this? Are we? Then, is he our King? King George, the Decider? Or, maybe he is God. I'm sure he thinks so.

When does the point come when one man is so delusional that he is brought down from the ledge and taken away. Let's hope that it's soon. Very, very soon. Before anyone else dies.

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