Handicapping the Field: Molly Ivins

[RevolutionStartsNow]

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/columnists/molly_ivins/6914119.htm

She's feeling optimistic. :)

[Mairead]

1. I like and respect her, but she's not really what I'd call a deep thinker

Her best thing seems to be humorous political commentary from a mildly liberal standpoint. Nobody need fear getting in over their head with her.

I can't recall details, but some years ago a public-radio commentator I was listening to woke her up one morning to get her thoughts on some event that had just broken. Evidently he thought she was going to be off-the-cuff funny, or possibly that she already had something prepared. But it was obvious that she'd been caught totally on the hop and was irritated by being awakened. So they mutually floundered awhile while it dawned on him that he'd misread the situation and she tried to live up to his painfully obvious expectations. It was embarrassing to listen to.


(I should probably declare that I didn't read past her 'Clark is a nice guy' line, and that I felt affronted --but not surprised-- by her evaluation of Dennis)

[Rowdyboy]

2. Sour Grapes...

Molly is one of the few "heros" the Dems have left. Diss her if you like, I refuse to join in. I greatly respect and value her opinion.

[Mairead]

6. Did you notice 'I like and respect her' in the title of my post?

My point was that I don't canonise her. She's a nice person. She writes well. She's on the Bright Side of the Force.

But she's always seemed to be to be quite conventional and not an especially powerful thinker. I recounted the radio story to illustrate that she's also probably not a 'naturally funny' person, as some are and as both that radio guy (and I, until then!) thought she was--she's a craftsperson.

[helleborient]

9. Who are your "powerful" thinkers????

Just curious.....

[Mairead]

14. People from whose writing I routinely learn something

[Rowdyboy]

10. I saw that but...

your overall tone seemed dissmissive of her intellect. Calling Molly a mildly liberal humorist is like calling George Carlin a somewhat off-color comedian. She's one of the few straight-shooters left and I admire outspoken women greatly. Sorry if my tone was abrupt, but I was surprised to find her criticized here.

[dpbrown]

13. I would call Carlin mildly off-color

The focus of his humor is insight into the whys of society. The fact that he finds some ca-ca stuff there is an adjunct to this main thrust.

This would be as opposed to comedians who are funny only through potty humor, sex jokes, or being mean.

I think Carlin's great. I think Molly's great, too. I just didn't see the "not a deep thinker" comment as being an attack. Everybody doesn't have to be Einstein.

Molly brings common sense to her column. She writes about stuff that's right out there, and points it out. In that way, she's not unlike Carlin, who takes ordinary things and looks at them in an extraordinary way, and then tells us what he sees.

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minnesota

[Wickerman]

4. Bwwaaa haaa haaa

you cast a judgement on the depth of Ivin's intellect because she wasn't funny some years ago when an NPR announcer woke her from deep sleep? I visited the grave of Samuel Clemmons a few years ago and was terribly let down that he wasn't funny then, either. Christ.

:eyes:

[helleborient]

8. Only one of the most respected liberal journalists in the country...

Try again with swipes against Molly Ivins...and maybe ask her colleagues on the Pulitzer panel and why she's been a finalist 3 times.

[izzie]

3. I do like to read her.

:eyes:

[DrFunkenstein]

5. She Intuits That Kerry Has Recovered And Is 100% Now

I'm not that much of a Kerry fan, so it sort of pains me to admit that I thought he came off best of all of them in the Pace University debate. If he keeps up that level of performance, I'll have to take back everything I've ever said about his having "no Elvis." I'd like to ask his adviser, Bob Shrum, if we can graft a sense of humor onto him.

"I’ll just share a little story with you folks. Five thousand years ago, Moses said “Hitch up your camel, pick up your shovel, mount your ass and I will lead you to the promised land.

Five thousand years later, Franklin Roosevelt said “Light up a camel, lay down your shovel, sit on your ass. This is the promised land!”

Today, George Bush will lay off your camel, tax your shovel, kick your ass and tell you there is no promised land."

-John Kerry

<>

[helleborient]

7. Lack of heft as a reporter?...here's the actual data...

From her press bio...

"Ivins has a B.A. from Smith College, a master's in journalism from Columbia University and studied for a year at the Institute of Political Science in Paris.

She served for three years on the board of the National News Council, is active in the Amnesty International's Journalism Network and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. She writes about press issues for the American Civil Liberties Union and several journalism reviews.

She has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist three times, and has won numerous journalism awards, including a 1991 Headliner's Award for best Texas column. She was named Outstanding Alumna by Columbia University's School of Journalism in 1976, and was a member of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize jury."

She is a hero of the left.

I saw here speak last week and she is an incredible woman...
She says she choose to go back to Texas because it's easier to do real political analysis away from the beltway.

She has been a reporter for the New York Times.

Check out her current book - actually going around the country to talk to people affected by Bush policy - her story about the people working the fish "gut and cut" line in Mississippi on NPR was quite compelling and entertaining.

[LizW]

11. Molly tells it like it is

I love her.

I share her optimism. This is a strong field, and one of them is going to kick Bush's butt.

[LuminousX]

12. I agree with her analysis

though I'm not so quick to dismiss Lieberman. I, too, am bothered by Graham's lack of showing. I would like to hear him and Kerry talk about the Iraq war vote and why Graham didn't support 'threatening' Hussein while Kerry did. That is neither here nor there, because by November 2004, it won't matter who voted for or against it, all that will matter is who can help this economy create some jobs.