You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You: Politics in the Clinton Years

Molly Ivins is simply a top-notch columnist who documents her opinions with facts that cannot be denied. So, her detractors resort to calling her "liberal" as though that word has the Magical Power to transform sense and reason and humor and documentation into a negative.The far right, filled with paranoia and mistrust, needs to resort to name calling when they deal with this witty, tough, and very well-informed treasure. Why? She's got the goods on them. (She has been a thorn in Bush's side relentlessly cutting through his misdirection to reveal what he does. And, oh, how that annoys those who want to revive the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities -- that wonderful little gang that brought blacklisting and mud-slinging to the halls of congress.)Ivins is a patriotic writer -- too in love with her country and its Constitution to sit by quietly while it gets dismantled in the name of "security" by those who use fear as their political cover, and too sharp to allow the politics of destruction to go unpunished. Thanks to Molly Ivins, there is something to love about Texas after all!

This collection of Molly Ivins news articles is a god-send for those of us who are not privileged to be able to read her column on a regular basis. This truth-seeker tells it like it is and the reader is left with the feeling that you have just shared an intimate cup of coffee with one of the most astute political observers of our time. My only regret when I closed the book is that my own writing skills are not on a par with this seasoned journalist. I look forward to more and more of her quality analysis and use of the language to demand our attention to the important issues of the day.

Molly Ivins is smart, thoughtful, funny, and well armed with the facts. I wish I could carry her around with me so she could cite examples of the hypocrisy, mendacity, and corruptibility of our elected officials when all I can say is, "they're all a bunch of lying thieves." I wish I could carry her around with me because she has such a way with words and because, at the end of it all, she has hope for the future, which is terribly reassuring after she tells us about the present. Molly Ivins is the Susan Lucci of the Pulitzer. Award her already!

Molly Ivins work is a delight and a joy, and this is her at her best. Her optimism, humor, intelligence and willingness to examine real issues make this books a delight. Don't get it if you don't have time to read it; I stayed up to 4 in the morning on a worknight to finish it. She is also hilarious.

In addition to enthralling us with her brilliant and hilarious upbraiding of those pols who do not live up to her standards of honesty and integrity, Ivins also uplifts with stories of those who do. I enjoyed her essays on Bob Bullock and Barbara Jordan so much I read them to friends who feel blue. Be good to yourself; go read them yourself!