Once More For Molly

I thought this excerpt from Paul Krugman’s appreciation of Molly Ivins today was important to remember (Atrios noted most of the rest already - sorry it's "behind the wall")…

So Molly Ivins – who didn’t mingle with the great and famous, didn’t have sources high in the administration, and never claimed special expertise on national security or the Middle East – got almost everything right (on Iraq). Meanwhile, how did those who did have all those credentials do?

With very few exceptions, they got everything wrong. They bought the obviously cooked case for war – or found their own reasons to endorse the invasion. They didn’t see the folly of the venture, which was almost as obvious in prospect as it is with the benefit of hindsight. And they took years to realize that everything we were being told about progress in Iraq was a lie.

Was Molly smarter than all the experts? No, she was just braver. The administration’s exploitation of 9/11 created an environment in which it took a lot of courage to see and say the obvious.

Molly had that courage; not enough others can say the same.

And it’s not over. Many of those who failed the big test in 2002 and 2003 are now making excuses for the “surge.” Meanwhile, the same techniques of allegation and innuendo that were used to promote war with Iraq are being used to ratchet up tensions with Iran.

Now, more than ever, we need people who will stand up against the follies and lies of the powerful. And Molly Ivins, who devoted her life to questioning authority, will be sorely missed.

Amen.

I’m attaching this link to a column from May of 2005 soon before this blog began as an example (as Krugman points out) not only of her lively wit (in which she takes on a favorite target, Texas Judge Priscilla Owen and – Al Franken, take note here – Norm Coleman in the dustup he had with George Galloway), but of the concise way in which she makes her case with the facts as we nod in agreement over her conclusions.

That is great writing, the product of guts and a nimble, incisive mind. For me, that is the gift she gave us that I’ll miss the most.