Gobsmacked

I feel gobsmacked. Which is appropriate because that's a term Molly Ivins used, along with a whole lot of other Texas-speak and Molly-isms. The reason I feel that way is because she just seemed so damned invincible all these years and then, today, she up and died on us.

Three times she went into battle with cancer. Three. The third one got her. But she went out swinging, just the way she came in. She was still producing her columns right up to the end, even though the last two had to be dictated because she was so physically weak. I don't believe there was ever a moment she was mentally weak.

For those of you who may not be familiar with the lady, Molly was one of this country's best political columnists -- a stun gun with an attitude and an unquenchable sense of humor. She cut her teeth on the Texas Legislature and expanded to skewering political foolishness, ineptness or corruption nationwide. She was articulate, witty and so flipping funny that even the targets of her zaps had to laugh. Through clenched teeth sometimes but ...

It didn't take very long for comments and tributes to start pouring in over the Internet. The number of links you can Google up is overwhelming. That's why I'm late posting tonight -- there are some really good Molly stories out there and I didn't want to miss any. It's interesting that even those who totally disagreed with her political perspective admired her passion and her honesty.

That was the thing about Molly. She said what she really thought instead of what was safe or PC. I liked her for that. She was so good at cutting through the spin and double-speak. She was an absolute genius at reporting outrageous events and behavior in a way that allowed you to deal from the strength of laughter instead of throwing up your hands in despair.

Molly is high on my list of people I want to meet Over There. Bet she has a pickup load of juicy stories that never made it to her columns. Hooooo, what a party!

Note: I don't know who deserves attribution for the above excellent photo of Molly. I hope using it in a tribute to her will be permissible and I thank the photographer in advance.