Molly Speaks, You Listen

Just to show that I can focus on things other than my own miseries for a minute or two, allow me to link to this column that the great Molly Ivins wrote last Friday, and that every serious Democrat (and a hell of a lot of Independents and even some Republicans with brains -- I know they're few and far between, but they do exist) should read. It's titled "I Will Not Support Hillary Clinton for President," and it makes an excellent case for Democrats abandoning the losing strategy of trying to play to the mythical center, of trying to cast themselves as Republican-Lite in order to woo over conservative voters, and suggests that the numbers are clearly on the side of Democrats who will actually espouse traditional Democratic ideals. The people are leading; it's time for the Democrats -- if they want to have any power in Washington at all, in the near or far future -- to follow.

Here's Molly:

Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges.

The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long, long time unlearning, so now I have to re-learn it. It's about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times. There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief.

...

What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.

The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

I listen to people like Rahm Emanuel superciliously explaining elementary politics to us clueless naifs outside the Beltway ("First, you have to win elections"). Can't you even read the damn polls?

She's got a lot more to say (she always does, and bless her for that), check it out in full. Then pass it along to any weak-kneed Democrat you might happen to know -- or to have voted for.