Didn't want to let the day go by without paying tribute to the late, great Molly Ivins, a political humorist and syndicated columnist, who died of cancer Wednesday in Austin, TX.
She was just 62.
Ivins - whose more recent books included "Who Let the Dogs In? Incredible Political Anaimals I Have Known," "Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush" and "Bushwacked: Life in George W. Bush's America" - is a hero of mine and many others. She used her distinctive writing and all of its Molly-isms to so wonderfully skewer people in power. But she was merely holding them accountable and did so with facts and common sense. She had such a way with words, was so funny, and usually so right-on.
Her final column, published two weeks ago, was about fighting Bush's plans to escalate troops levels in Iraq: "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 the war."
"The president of the United States does not have the sense God gave a duck - so it's up to us. You and me."
I fell in love with her writing back in the early 90s when someone turned me on to her first book of columns "Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?"
I loved how she she described herself as "a left-wing aging-Bohemian journalist, who never made a shrewed career move, never dressed for success, never got married, and isn't even a lesbian, which at least would be interesting."
Her work will be sorely missed.