Re Comment #14884 by bp: Oh, come on, bp. While it’s true that the now defunct Spy Magazine ranked Texas as the worst state in the union (against some mighty stiff competition),Lone Star also gave us Ann Richards, Larry McMurty, Kinky Friedman,and, oh yeah, that Molly gal. Almost makes up for the bad stuff.

Molly, it’s great to have a few yucks at that ball-scratching yahoo Dubya’s expense as he and his fellow twice-borners edge us closer toward their longed-for Armageddon (Rapture time!). But why do I still have this brassy taste in my mouth?

Since this society is based on conspicuous consumption, what follows is a pretty classy aside wasted on a classless clown. Re Bush, Percy B. Shelly (some dead English guy, George) got it right: “And if I laugh at any mortal thing/ ‘Tis that I may not weep.” Yup.

bp,

You just proved you are a Texan at heart!

Ms. Ivins, a pleasure to read as always.  I do wonder, however, whether that traitorous neo-con cabal’s antics have passed from humorous all the way into globally tragic…

I’ve never met a guy from Texas who wasn’t an a--hole - just some more than others. Texas seems to breed boy-men who are boastful, shallow, bigoted, self-centered, greedy, and unable to use the brains God gave them. If Texas didn’t have oil, it would be like any other third-world country: a few billionaires running the lives of everyone else, religious fundamentalists running the government while taking bribes from the rich, making sure that the education system is so poor that revolution is impossible....oh, wait....that IS Texas.

I expect someone will take exception to my comments, but it’s just my personal experience.

To Jim:

I feel your pain being a 5th generation Texan (son and daughter 6th, and grandkids 7th).

Bush is a spoiled brat from a wealthy family that never figured out what it is to be a “Texan.”

He is a drug store cowboy and counterfeit Texan and I strongly believe he is a “fake” human.

The bottom line is that we still have a great state but not a great president.

Go-Molly-Go!!!!!

As a native born Texan, it sickens me to hear George W. “DumbAss” referred to as one.
1) He wasn’t born here!  (You gotta be to be a REAL Texan--He’s a Connecticut Yankee by birth and descent!))
2) He never attended any schools here! (He was a CHEERLEADER at Andover, F’Chrissake!! He holds diplomas from Yale and Harvard, but NOT the education appertaining to those hallowed institutions--Shows what enough of Daddy’s money will buy!)
3) His business career in the Texas oil business is a running joke by anyone who is anyone in that profession--TWICE he went bust hitting dry holes, a feat next-to-impossible in the oil-rich west Texas region then!(Especially since George H.W. had had the Midas Touch in petroleum exploration!!) His own father declined ever putting money into his son’s business ventures--Ya think Daddy KNEW what a disappointment little Georgie was by the time he bought he way out of the Air National Guard and paid for those college degrees?  Go figger!

Bush has sullied the name and grand reputation of the great state of Texas--We may never overcome the STAIN he has rubbed into us here!  And worse, what’s he done to our great nation’s position in the world--A world that is laughing at us and hating us more and more each passing day!  This un-elected so-called “President” looks to be the ruination of the United States of America--He personifies arrogant corruption and ignorant recklessness. When the world saw him chewing with his mouth open and cursing with Tony Blair, the WORLD saw the REAL George W. “DumbAss”!  God Help Us All !!
Jim Slater, Oak Point, Tx

Once again Molly, you hit the nail on the head.  I am so ashamed to be an American with our president, GWB, fondling the German Chancellor!  It has been shown to all Americans that the current occupant of the White House is criminally insane.  No wonder Condoleeza Rice thinks that she’s married to him.  I can’t think how disgusting it would be to see the pres massaging his buddy,"Condi".  What in the world does Laura think of her husband’s criminal actions?  Aparently, she’s not “there” either.  Insane! Insane!

Molly, Thank God for your wit!  I’m running out of hope for the US and the world, and you always seem to find just the right combination to keep those of us that read you, SANE.  Can we chance 2 1/2 more years of Bush and his administration?  It makes me sick to my stomach that impeachment for incompetance can’t at least be brought before the people!  In many other countries, there is a vote of “no confidence”, and Bushes poll numbers reflect exactly that!  Yet it seems there is nothing any one of us can do to see that this group of “destroyers” of the common good cease running our government and representing us. I pray we all get out and vote in November, and vote them all out.  Let Bush remain alone and blowing bubbles in the White House until 2008.

Lawlessone,
When I saw Bush’s off-mike ‘performance’, including his grabbing of Merkel, I wondered, is he on some type of medication?  An antidepressant perhaps? Or is he just like this without meds?

Our current state, and the obsurdity of it, often has me laughing with true tears in my eyes. 

Molly, your writings continue to help me lean toward the humor and away from the tragedy, if only for a little while.  I thank you for that, truely.

And, you help me fight my recently-acquired prejudice against incompetant Texans like Bush and whoever designed the highway system in Dallas.  Neither of whom, I believe, is actually Texan (in all fairness).

Thank you for your convictions and your words.

Jim

Seriously, the Democrats should be courting Harris. Buttering her up, like “Hey, nice chi-chi’s, cutey!” No, sorry, even she can’t believe that, can she?

She KNOWS what went down on that tainted election, and if she thought all the repugs have abandoned her...maybe there is a testimony or two to obtain regarding investigations and arrests for that 2000 election. I’m wondering if she is completely daft to keep lending millions to her own campaign, or does she think they can pull off another tainted election and install her?

Like maybe starting an investigation of that Israeli plant, Bolton, who physically disrupted the Florida poll workers counting votes....if the voting process isn’t completely tainted in US, that is. I remain unconvinced of that. I think the incumbents have it all worked out.

Like H. Clinton taking AIPAC and Rupert Murdoch funds. I will not say that evil woman’s name again.

Having raised an eighteen year old son has provided me with some insight into the possible workings of dubya’s so-called mind.  more than girls, i think boys have an active fantasy world that they spend a lot of time in. dubya never matured out of that fantasy world in which he is a gun-totin, boot-struttin, stetson-wearin cowboy.  my son was there when he was 4 years old. our president is a forever-four-year-old, not to insult retarded people everywhere.

Hey Madashell, if you want to read Dowd, Krugman, Rich and some of the other left-wing columnists hidden by TimesSelect, try Pekingduck.org or Welcome-to-Pottersville.blogspot.com The guys who do these blogs are passionately political.

As for Bush and Merkel, what WOULD have happened had Clinton done that to a female head of state? Repugs would have been frothing about him being a sex maniac. But we all know Bush is sexless… Have we gotten to a point with Bush that more laughter at him doesn’t have any meaning? Everyone who’s going to think he’s a buffoon already does. And anyone who doesn’t already think he’s a joke will never wake up to the truth. What would it take for an ardent Bush believer to change their mind about our murderous national embarrassment?

Molly

Here is another thing from Bushie boy, using embroys is destroying life, but it takes a women’s body to complete the process.  Another thing they might show all the babies that under inverto fertilazation became children, that still does not answer the question What about the embroys that are destroyed?  I am not for abortion, but abortion is different because there is a baby or something that will become a baby.  But the religious exteremists have to control this country, is that not what being against gays marrying is all about?  You have to give Bushie Boy(I am a Texan) credit he goes right to his base, and the rich, remember Robin Hood robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, well there is Hood Robin, giving to the rich and taking from the poor.

Margaret from Portland Oregon.

You can lump all these people together, but George Bush is still in a class of its own.

I understand that Bush has been dicking Condi Rice.  If that’s true it would explain his abberant behavior with Merkel.

What does Laura think of all this?

How will the Bush kids fare?

Is Dickless Cheney going to abdicate his throne?

Will Rumsfeld and Rove become a “thing”?

These people are running our country and half of the world.

I am SO thankful we still have Molly!  The New York Snoot (aka, the NYT) has completely shut off and shut out Maureen Dowd from the mainstream, under the guise of “TimesSelect” but I wonder if Karl Rove suggested it to the owners.  After all, there has to be no more effective way to cut off 1/4 of the leading voices for rational thought than to make people have to pay fitty bucks a year to read them.

But we still have Molly!  Wise, funny, and reminds me that not ALL of Texas is Dante’s Hell. It may have produced King George, BugPoison De-Lay, and the Dallas Cowboys, but theres’s still Molly and Natalie Mains!

Maybe we need a new Democratic Party--you know, ones that believe in the radical ideas of Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy....And Robert Kennedy, JR!  Let Lieberman and the other spineless, rollover and rub-my-belly dogs of the old Democratic party go join the Rip-off-lickins or retire.

Otherwise, Cong. Barney Frank is dead wrong: After 6 years of King George our democracy and freedom of speech are at greater risk than even in our 230 years.  Just recently, on Fox/Pravda, they were talking about why not introducing censorship of papers, to prevent the media from telling us when King George is breaking the law and the Constitution?

Go after them, Molly!

Molly’s writing is like a clear sky on a moonless night on Mt. Locke.

I think Bush who has spoken about leaving a legacy may just have created one by making it okay to be stupid. It makes me wonder what his conversations with God must be like. “Yo, God, say dude I need you to do some shit for me like I want you to do that smite thing with Putin you know that strike him with lightning shit.”

Perhaps the reason Israel is not attacking Syria is that they are busy in Gaza and some people may be wondering why Bush is doing nothing to stop the genocide Israel is now committing in Gaza. The Israeli have a funny word for genocide they call it defense as they continue to slaughter the people of Gaza. Any other president might see the importance of doing something to stop the violence but not Bush he is actually encouraging it as we plainly see with his muffin mouth episode.

Hillary Clinton recently said “We will stand with Israel because Israel is standing up for American values as well as Israeli ones.” And just what values are those? Of course what Hillary may be referring to is the fact that we are bankrolling the slaughter now taking place and the Arab world knows it. So I guess Hillary is right Israel is standing up for American values as well as Israeli ones and if anyone is interested you can learn more about it here.

http://redstateson.blogspot.com/

If you go there be sure to scroll down and see the pictures of American values at work but I warn you it is not for the faint of heart. Oh yes I would just add that what you will read at this link is not what you have been hearing on the mainstream news a huge surprise I am sure.

Molly, you’re one of my heroes, and you make me proud to be a Smithie

Molly - once again you point out the oh-so-obvious to those of us with our eyes wide open - I too want to name my next dog Molly, and I expect she will be smart, funny, strong, vigilant against predators and thieves, and she’ll bite scoundrels in the behind and hang on tight!!!  Keep up the great and necessary work - you will most certainly earn every literary honor in your hopefully very long and prolific career - and I, for one, will be reading everything you send out to us!  Rock on!!

To lawlessone:

Please don’t blame Texas. Bush is from a Connecticut family. Yes, he grew up here, but he was raised by his family.

You may have heard of a Texas lady named Natalie Mains. She gave Bush a severe verbal thrashing and paid for it by losing a small fortune. But she has stuck by her (Texas) guns. So don’t blame Texas women either.

Bush is a Texan wanna be. He plays at being a rancher and a cowboy. Believe me, he isn’t nearly tough enough. And yes, Midland is home of Friday Night Lights, but as you pointed out Bush wasn’t out knocking heads with the true strong armed, strong legged, Texas youth. He was too soft for that.

If only reality and appearance could somehow converge for one day. We wouldn’t see “W” dressed in cowboy boots and a stetson. We’d see him in a clown suit as he was delivering his patronizing, patriotic war speeches.

Thus I submit to you. You might see Bush in Texas, but you won’t see any true Texas inside Bush.

And by the way, Bush was a frat brat at Yale - not a Texas school.

I have been following you for years, but here in the middle of the country, you seldom show up, partly because, I have to believe, our local paper is a disgusting rag! I remember (when I lived on the West Coast) I read your columns when W was running for Governor, and you dubbed him Shrub. I’ve been using that nomenclature ever since, and always give you cedit!  I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I see/read his enormous gaffes...if what the media catches is only a small percentage of what actually happens, Goddess help us all!

Do you really think Joe Lieberman is more sanctimonius than Orrin Hatch?

Molly, you are a voice of sanity in an insane America.

Dear Ms. Ivins:

Your articles over the years make me wonder.  Do all Texas frat boys act like Bush and Delay?  Ill mannered, bullying, churlish, childish, arrogant, self absorbed, smirking, smart aleck, know nothing know-it-alls?

Don’t Texas frat boys ever grow up?  Bush is over 60 for goodness sakes.

Has something happened in the last five decades years in Texas I haven’t heard about?  Bush’s father didn’t seem that dissolute.  Did the Texas churches and education system suffer total moral and mental breakdown in the interval or abdicate their responsibilities in teaching Texas young men that being a frat boy is only permitted as a transitory thing, not a permanent lifestyle to be inflicted on the rest of the world for the rest of their lives? 

Is it something in the air or water or local beer?  Did it come from all the head bashing during the Friday Night Lights on the football field?  No, that couldn’t be it.  Bush was just a wimpy “cheerleader” in school, wasn’t he?  Someone who told others to go out to get hurt while he protected his own skin from harm.

Then, does wearing cowboy hats perhaps shrink the brain or the heat build up fry it?  I’d sure hate for that to be discovered because I like the way they look.  Many of my heros were cowboys.  Men who were honest, worked hard and took responsibility for their actions.  Maybe the Texas frat boys didn’t think it was sexy to act like that.  Maybe they didn’t watch the same movies the rest of us did.  Or, maybe they identified more with the guys in those films out to steal the grazing land, foreclose the mortgage or start another Indian uprising.

Maybe it’s just that the Texas frat boys when in costume are wearing their “cowboy” hats too tight to fit their big heads.  Should we start treating being from Texas as a disease?

Perhaps it is a gender thing?  I don’t know a lot of Texas women, but you at least certainly seem to be level headed worthy of respect.  My only problem with Texas women is that they apparently let arrested development Texas frat boys get away with stuff that would not be acceptable in normal human society.

On the other hand, maybe it is just a symptom of inherited wealth and power, indulgent parents, unrestricted privilege, failure to read any of the New Testament and atrophy of empathy, something that might strike anywhere.

I would sure appreciate your thoughts, Mam.

Molly, keep up the great work!  You’re my favorite political columnist, hands down. I loved Bushwacked! You hit things on the nail and can still make me laugh with your folksy style.  I recently moved from California to a city in New Mexico that doesn’t carry you column.  I was delighted to find it on the internet. Keep it up, you’re the best thing to ever come out of Texas!

big cheers to you. i always make sure to read your column - always a great read and it affirms that it’s a bad mistake to paint all americans with one brush or should i say bush. really being disgusted by bush, his cabal, most of the neocon republicans and their shameless ways is not being anti american.

k roth
soviet canukistan

I miss your articles in the News & Record of Greensoro, NC--I always looked so forward to reading them--alas, I live in an area of so-called Christian conservatives, where you can’t be Christian and Liberal at the same time!  So your column was eliminated and now there’s only the one drumbeat.  But I found you on the web, and at least I get to enjoy truthful humor once again.  (Was delighted to hear you on PHC a while back too!)

Why is it OK for the sexual harasser-in-chief to surprise Chancellor Angela Merkel with an unwanted neck & shoulder massage at the G8?  Which of the other male heads of State did Bush ever “massage?” How crude!  Imagine if Bill Clinton was photographed doing that?

Molly,
You’ve been helping me to stay sane for years.
Keep doing what you’re doing. I’m not giving birth again but, I’m naming my next dog Molly. LOL

Watching or listening to Bush during non-scripted episodes seems to almost always turn out to be one cring generating moment after another.  In the latest example, the recent G8 Summit Conference, we got to hear once again his apparently routine off-mike potty mouth, his surprisingly dim witted efforts at small talk with fellow world leaders, his childish impatience and his evident lack of history, geography, math and other basic knowledge, all put in full view by comments he mistakenly believed were unrecorded.

This time though something new was caught on camera, something disturbingly worse.  It was his obviously unsolicited molestation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s body.  Good Lord, what was the man thinking?  What in his upbringing made him think that grabbing would be welcomed by any woman, let alone a European head of state?  Did he think that was a way to make friends? 

What an embarrassment, particularly since he didn’t seem to notice or care whether it irritated the recipient.  Hopefully, the new Chancellor of German does not think all of us are like that.

I love you, Molly. You refresh my spirit and give me hope that we will survive our cowboy dictator. You are a national treasure because your humor is infectious.