"Raise More Hell": A Tribute to Molly Ivins

Written by: fIrEfOx! on Feb 1, 2007 3:29 PM EST

Syndicated political columnist Molly Ivins died of breast cancer Wednesday evening, January 31st -2007, at her home in Austin, TX.

I met Molly at DeanFest (aka DemocracyFest) in June 2005. Whatever impression you get of her from her columns, nothing can compare to the great Ms. Molly in person. She was so full of intelligence, passion, humor and life!

During the Saturday Night Blowout, one of the bands was playing and they started to talk about how great Molly was and then after speaking her praises, decided to sing her praises. Molly was so moved, she got up from her seat at the table on the right side facing the stage, and was looking over the railing at the band and all the people looking up at her. I caught this photo:

Molly Ivins was a true progressive: a woman who loved this country and spoke out forcefully of the dismantling of our country at the hands of those whose agenda was their own power at the cost of our communities, constitution, and compassion.

I had Molly's column bookmarked on my main homepage. Her most recent column:

"We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war."

More of her recent columns can be found here: Molly's Writings. Once of my favorite Molly articles was this January 2006 article Not. Backing. Hillary: Equivocation in Democratic party has gone on far too long -- time for real leadership 

Don't forget this tribute column and another great on by AlterNet.

Floridagal reminded us that Molly Ivins endorsed Howard Dean for President in the 2004 races.

I will leave you with another photo, Molly speaking at DemocracyFest...

 and these final thoughts. There are at least three of my blogger friends who have suffered from breast cancer, so I can imagine the loss of Molly has an even bigger impact on them beyond the political hope she inspired. Fran, Judy and Linda...here is hoping you continue to be well and that our government starts addressing the real causes of cancer and funding the right areas to end this disease once and for all.

Oh, and to the DFA community...as Molly always said...RAISE MORE HELL!      

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