“As they say around the Texas Legislature, if you can’t drink their whiskey, screw their women, take their money, and vote against ’em anyway, you don’t belong in office.”
― Molly Ivins
Newspaper columnist Molly Ivins made a living poking fun at politicians, whether they were in her home state of Texas or in the White House. Born in 1944, the daughter of a conservative oil company executive, Ivins was raised among Houston’s moneyed elite. She said she felt out of place, describing herself as “a Clydesdale among thoroughbreds.” She strayed from her family’s politics as a teenager, campaigning for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. Ultimately, she rose to become one of the most outspoken and unapologetically liberal journalists in the country. Her most famous target was President George W. Bush, whom she first met in high school in Houston. Starting when he was governor of Texas, Ivins mercilessly skewered Bush, nicknaming him “Dubya” and “Shrub,” names that followed him to Washington. She was an early and relentless critic of Bush’s war in Iraq. In her last column, written a few weeks before she died of breast cancer in 2007, Ivins made a final plea to end the U.S. war 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 this war. Raise hell.”
― Molly Ivins
