"The best way to get the sons of bitches is to make people laugh at them." - Molly Ivins


I was really saddened tonight to learn that Molly Ivins had passed away. She's been my favorite columnist since the San Angelo Standard Times made the pretty brave move (in West Texas) of picking up her column when I was in high school.

I've always admired the way she could just write circles around every other newspaper columnist I've ever read (largely because she was so unpretentious). But more importantly, I've always admired her boldness and integrity. Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, as great as they are, have never held a candle to Molly Ivins when it came to speaking the truth to power and to using humor to set straight the incompetents who hold it. She was a true journalist.

It's been a sad year for Texas. Within the last year, we've lost Ann Richards and Molly Ivins. Thank God we've still got Jim Hightower left.

If you've never had a taste of Ivins's writing, here's her last column.