Molly Ivins

Let's put it that way.

I guess, um, you know, you, you, if you, if you, uh, as Molly Ivins used to say, you got to dance with them.

What brought you? All right.

And that's a fair answer.

What happens in our state can have an outsized effect on the rest of the country.

As Molly Ivins said, "Texas is the national laboratory for bad government." As a native Texan who left the state at a young age, eventually landing in progressive media in New York City, I never imagined myself returning to the state so reviled for its archaic and often cruel policies.

But by the time the opportunity came to join The Texas Observer as its development director one year into Trump's first term, I had come to realize that it was that kind of reporting, those stories that shine any amount of light on the kind of governing that was happening in Texas and still is happening in Texas, and is accepted by many in the state without question.

That's, that's the kind of stories that I will shout about from the rooftops.

Uh, and then, of course, the captions underneath them are the ones that evoke your emotions.

She's been described as the Molly Ivins of cartoonists.

Did they know each other? Did they ever-

Yes, they knew each other.

Uh, and, uh, often, the, the, the cartoons that Etta Hulme had, uh, would be, uh, particularly, uh, appropriate, uh, for the columns that Molly Ivins wrote.

Uh, so yeah, they had a lot in common.

Uh, and, uh, I don't know how much they interacted, but, uh, they were at the Star-Telegram at the same time.

Of course, Molly Ivins was based out of, uh, Austin even at the time.

I don't know if you know that about me.

There is a wonderful was a wonderful writer named Molly Ivins.

She's passed now.

But she once said about another politician made me think of that today when I saw Senator Schmidt.

I just think as a piece of political theater, it's just terrible.

I mean, it reminded me of Molly Ivins.

Do you remember this, her quote about Patrick Buchanan's 1992 Republican convention speech? She said he probably sounded better in the original German.

So your objection is aesthetic, Andy.

Oh, gosh.

Molly Ivins.

Oh, wow.

Really? Come on.

You know, the Tribune is kind of, you know, she was kind of a pioneer for what we represent.

Absolutely.

So Molly Ivins, no doubt.

All right, Keri, so I don't have my ticket yet for this festival.

I wasn't keeping track the whole time I watched, but I did notice that almost all the voices in the documentary are Republican.

We see a Molly Ivins quote, and I think we hear from Ann Richards.

But beyond that, it's really primarily Republicans, women and men speaking about themselves and their party.

Was that a conscious decision?