5845. Who Let the Dogs In? Incredible Political Animals I Have Known, by Molly Ivins (read 4 May 2024) This book, published in 2004, was timely then, when I should have read it. The author is staunchly liberal and I laughed at times though I admit some of the comments I did not "get." The chapters in the book are columns she wrote. I agreed with most of what she had to say. Her comments on George W.Bush are certainly deserved even though we now have an even worse Republican set to be nominated.I wish she had been more precise in her explanations. ( )

Just proof that nothing ever changes. And, with Molly, we're in good company. ( )

With Donald Trump highlighting the craziness of American politics in 2016, this book should be compulsory reading for every single American. Written with humour, it is, nonetheless, sick-making and frightening to read of the greed and mismanagement at the top levels of the most powerful country in the world. This has been going on for a very long time and what the media is doing to Hillary today is only a continuation of what was done during her husband's administration. The Republican party obstructed legislation that was good for the people simply because Clinton proposed it or it might cost some of their sponsors money. Just as the Republicans in Congress and the Senate have blatantly stated they would obstruct Obama at every turn no matter what he proposes and then followed through for 8 years...they continue to lie and smear. All the proof in the world...of malfeasance... is there for the asking...begging to be published but is consistently ignored for stupid stuff like a candidate's personal life and peccadillos. The important stuff like hungry children, gutted education, global warming, lies over weapons of mass destruction, rescinding laws that prevent corporations from moving money off shore and paying no taxes and taking government handouts all on the backs of the population are glossed over and ignored. While the media talks about Kim Kadashian's ass, things like Enron are buried and presidents try to destroy wildlife habitat for oil interests that have him in their pocket. Talking Bush here. Or Nixon who was almost canonized at his death despite how he single handedly destroyed American faith in government. ( )

What was true in 1992 is true today, only some of the names have changed but the game hasn't This "best of" collection from Molly Ivins covers Texas and US politics from ~1992 through 2002ish. One of the things I enjoy about Ivins, aside from her humor, is that was fearless. She called it like it was and took no prisoner. Some of these columns are as timely today as when they were first written. It's unfortunate she died before the Tea Party decided to try to "fix" the government, what a field day she would have had with them. ( )

Molly, girl, you are missed. ( )

If Noam Chomsky and the Sweet Potato Queens had a baby, it would be Molly Ivins. I wish I had gotten into her sooner, before she died, but her work is still hilarious, poignant, and a call to action. Even while cracking up listening to her scathing commentary on the political past, I was stirred by her impassioned plea for action in the political sphere. Rather than falling back on apathy and disengagement (which had plagued my generation and the one before it), she lights a fire under your ass. Don't like the way things are? Then stop fixin' to do something (as we Texans are wont to say)-get up and do it. Don't just bitch. (And yes, her language is that bad and worse.) She also made me want to learn much more about political history, mainly to answer my neo-con father-in-laws lauding of Reagan and Shrub and constant raving against the Clintons. ( )

A collection of Molly Ivins' incisive political columns over the years, focusing on "incredible political animals I have known". The majority of the columns deal with Reagan/Bush, the Clintons and G.W. Bush ("Shrub"), there is a chapter on Texas politicos, and a miscellaneous chapter of heroes and heels. Ivins is tough, funny and progressive, and while there are conservative politicians she respects, she does not suffer bullies gladly. If only more people had read her columns about Shrub before the 2000 election. Ivins died of cancer recently, and I miss her a lot. ( )