Caffeinated Politics

Saturday during the highly energetic No Kings Rally in Madison, I looked about at the scores of people and considered what made all of them similar. One of the themes worthy of consideration over the past decade of deep political divisions and ever-increasing cultural rancor is what commonalities still link Americans regardless of where we live or what we do or what political tribe we align with. Over the decades Ella Fitzgerald, Beach Boys, Nat King Cole, and Neil Diamond were names loved by folks across the divides who proved our existing commonalties.

We also had links with one another when the nation pulled up in front of the television as ‘Uncle’ Walter Cronkite told us the news of the day. Then he advised his fellow citizens to read their morning newspaper for the rest of the story. It would be there in some of those papers that the words from the much-loved curmudgeon, Mike Royko, would be found. For three decades he penned views and thoughts that connected people far and wide. His legacy is most remarkable. Over a career spanning three decades, Royko penned over 7,500 columns. With his work came a a national audience and what every writer dreams about at one time or another. He won a Pulitzer.

Whether we hail from the left or the right politically, or somewhere in between, I sense in conversations that people want to find bridges to again have our nation act like we recall it once having been. We know there was never a time without robust and frothy politics or polarizing issues, but we also know that where we are now it is rancid and we visit new lows weekly. So, we seek some solace in the memories of those who were part of our lives and provided an anchor in times of rough waters.

As I was ruminating on this idea for a column, a friend mentioned how Molly Ivins was a tonic for the soul over the decades. She was a connector between the divides in the country as her base of readers came from both liberals and conservatives. Granted one side laughed more deeply but pithy writing and solid analysis is respected by all. One of the problems, I contend, is we do not have a modern-day Molly who can call the balls and strikes and have the grudging acceptance of the side who needs to connect with reality. Even if only for the time it takes to read a column.

The reason Molly was so successful with her writing was she reflected the spirit and vitality that was embedded in America. At the time of her passing in 2007 I wrote, “Her refreshing quality was that she cared enough about her country and the political process to use her craft of writing to try and make this a better place to live.  Conservatives and hard-core Republicans scorned her, but this was due to the fact she nailed them column after column by their shorthairs.  In so doing she proved the need for an honest and forthright columnist who could connect with average America on the issues of the day.  She had the ability to convey the truth with a dose of humor, which made the hard facts easier to swallow.  The nation is in trouble, and she knew it.  She used her clever writing to make us care enough to read, and hopefully to act and improve the life of this nation.”

“She was the type of person I would have so enjoyed having dinner with and listen as she spoke of the Republican rascals. She stood up against the bad guys, wrote the truth, and never blinked.  In today’s world that is not something one can say about too many people.”

I was fortunate to see her in Madison when she was a speaker and laughed heartily many times during her talk. Ivins was a walking encyclopedia of Texas politics and would be the first to say that everyone is a neophyte in the profession until they follow what the Texas legislature does in just one session. (She might then add pick any session you wish.) She would stand behind the podium and start telling stories and in the middle of one that could not possibly have happened, interject with perfect comic timing that it was so true you could ‘butter my backside and call me a biscuit’. That was Molly at her best.

The Texas political feuds and larger-then-life personalities were perfect fodder for Molly. She would not fail to remind listeners that the reason President John Kennedy needed to take that 1963 trip to Texas was partly an effort to address a significant feud within the state’s Democratic Party. The deep split between conservative and liberal factions threatened his chances of winning the state in the 1964 presidential election.

Last week I wrote a column about Robert Caro, the famed biographer of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Years back, I wrote about one of the colorful pols that Texas is known for and that Caro illuminated in depth. The type of person Ivins knew so well.

Former Governor Coke Stevenson’s 1948 senate race in Texas against Lyndon Baines Johnson is one of those events that history demands be known. It was politics at its best, and more importantly, its worst. The race will not only be stolen but the impact the winner will have on the nation over time will lead us to a meltdown in Vietnam, and a severe loss of faith by the people in their government.

His coffee pot and his coffee drinking were legends in Texas. Once when reporters were pressing him for comments on a recent development he said, “Listen I am too old to burn my lips on boiling coffee”.  Often afterwards when pressed on an issue he would say “we’ll just let that cup cool a whole”.  With that reporters started calling him “Coffee-Cooling Coke”.

I am not sure if Ivins and Caro ever sat down for a meal and a back-and-forth session about the state they both knew so well and its rugged nature with politics. But that is one conversation that surely would have scorched the sensitive ears of the scoundrels.

The nation needs another writer like Ivins who can strike the blows with a keyboard so that all sides of today’s divide can recognize the truth amidst the humor.

Molly Ivins June 1998: Failure of Democracy

“One reason I really like living in a democracy is that the citizens get what they want. I know you’ve all noticed the widespread grassroots movement surging with people rallying behind banners that say, ‘We want banks and stockbrokers to merge,’ ‘We love this system of campaign financing,’ ‘We want dirtier air and dirtier water,’ ‘We demand tax breaks for the rich,’ ‘We want fewer services for the rest of us,’ ‘Don’t fix our schools,’ ‘More downsizing,’ and ‘Tax breaks for corporations moving to Mexico.’

Molly Ivins Dec. 2002: Fight Harder

“There are three things one must not do in the face of electoral disaster. Whine. Despair. Or fall for that specious old radical crap: ‘Things have to get worse before they can get better.’ The only possible response to that one is, ‘Not with my child’s life.’ Nor is it helpful to sit around hoping that given enough rope, the R’s will hang themselves. They’ll hang us along with them. The only thing to do is to fight harder and smarter.”

Molly Ivins March 2005: To the Barricades

“Friends, soulwise, these are trying times. Now is the time for all good citizens to come to the aid of our country, and it won’t help if you all cower in places like Madison and the Upper West Side, having hot fantods over the approach of fascism. To the barricades, team. And for Lord’s sake, don’t leave your sense of humor behind.”

Molly Ivins Final column: Iraq

“Every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them, and that’s why we’re trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets. Bang pots and pans. Demand, ‘Stop it, now!’ ”