That Unsinkable Molly Ivins

Many of the icons that come from Texas are unique. Driving across the panhandle section on my way to anywhere else, I was treated to the site of the largest Cross in the world, taking Christianity in Texas to a new height, bearing witness to serious believers under the dusty Texas sky. Long horn cattle pull at the sparse vegetation clinging to the ground in hopes of a blessed shower from the unrelenting cloudless skies. Meanwhile, in small towns that seem perfect preservations from the 1950's, people smile with near face busting grins and drawl on, friendly and personable about the weather and what not, moving in and out of cars and pick up trucks, that carry the Texas dust over the paint like an outer armor.
If Texas were a pie, I realize that I saw a very small slice, sliding through on highway 40 through Amarillo, escaping into Oklahoma in a short period of time. But the pie did have a flavor, like one of those that you taste and wonder if you like it, or dislike it. It just might be that I need another slice to know for sure.
This is the land that first saw Molly Ivins. Like that metal cross, her career has risen with a flair for truth, irony, wit and wisdom, all thrown together with that wide grin and a knowing wink, which always sold the point she was making. I wish I had been reading her since she first put pen to paper, but she was well syndicated and established before an article she had written was tossed across the table with the command, "Read this!"
That was in the hey-day for the Church of the Latter Day Republicans. It was not politically correct to be liberal. Liberal was synonymous with traitor, unpatriotic and unAmerican. I think it was about the time that the other Texan was declaring, "Mission Accomplished!", to the country didn't seem to be grasping the truth of this mission .
The article was a breath of fresh air for me. It was hope and agreement and a smile , a giggle at her razor sharp wit. The article said, "Don't give up!" I didn't give up. Molly Ivins had thrown a drowning liberal a lifeline.
When the other Texan won a second election, I really took it hard. I was trying to find a reason why we needed to gamble on this man for four more years. Why our status as a world leader was sliding backwards as fast as a frog's tongue with a dragonfly. A war was being run without generals, and the middle class starting to disappear through a curtain of poverty from outsourced jobs and unadvanced salaries.
It was Molly's take on the state of affairs that brought the first smile to my face in those dark days. She said that reelecting George Bush was the equivalent of tying a dead chicken around the neck of a dog that has killed chickens. The idea is that if you leave the dead chicken there long enough, the stench will convince the dog that it will not kill chickens anymore. The far right, centristic conservatives elected were the dead chickens and when the country tires of the stench, we will decide not to re-elect these fools. In 2006, the stench was apparently, getting stronger. Molly's analogy held true.
I'm sorry that she won't be here with us to see her prediction bear fruit. I'm sure she knew it would. The approval rating for dead chickens is dropping with each passing day. I will keep referring back to her articles in the future. They will live on and remind me, that humor is only humorous when it is tied tightly to truth and wisdom.
There will be a hole in my conservative bent newspaper that printed your articles as a rare treat. I'm sure that God will be getting an earful and a few chuckles in the process. Write On, Molly!