Found this wonderful 1998 video interview of Molly Ivins on C-Span. A treasure.

[madfloridian]

This is from Book Notes at C-Span. Long transcript but just a couple of pertinent quotes.

You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You

She does a lot of political name-dropping, lots of it along with her pet names for them. She also tells about writing Elvis Presley's obituary for the New York Times because they were caught off guard. They didn't have one ready as they do for most celebrities.

I love this part about Bill Clinton.

LAMB: You refer to Bill Clinton as maybe Chauncy Gardner. Who wa...

Ms. IVINS: Yeah.

LAMB: Who was Chauncy Gardner?

Ms. IVINS: He's a figure in a film called "Being There," who is an opaque person into whom other people read whatever they want. In this figure, the Chauncy Gardner guy, conservatives think he's conservative, liberals think he's a liberal. You know, people read into him whatever they wanna see there. And there is a touch of that about Bill Clinton.

LAMB: What do you read into him?

Ms. IVINS: I think he's a politician, and I say that--I'm maybe one of the last people left in America who does not use that word as a pejorative.

LAMB: Actually, you--let me quote...

Ms. IVINS: Yeah.

LAMB: ...what you say about him. You say, "He's the most skilled politician I've ever watched work."

Ms. IVINS: I like to watch politicians work. Remember when I was talking earlier about the art of politics being able to find this little, thin sliver that allows you to get something done? Well, it gets harder and harder to get anything done about anything because our politics have gotten to be so headbutty and--and people just going against one another out of knee-jerk reaction rather than concentrate on fi--fixing a problem.

And Clinton is good, and by that I mean he can find a way to get things done. It's not necessarily the solution he'll finally get through, may not be the best way to fix the problem, may not be the most efficient or least costly, but it is the politically doable way. And that's--that's a great skill. That's actually a great art.

LAMB: Anything about him you don't like?

Ms. IVINS: Sure. He's a politician. You know, like all politicians, he's a compromiser, and in my opinion he compromises far to easily and far too often. He'll often give away 9/10ths of the loaf just to get one slice. Seems to me he ought to hold out for at least half.

Here's the full transcript.

http://www.booknotes.org/FullPage.aspx?SID=102566-1

[LiberalArkie]

1. In another OP I wrote that the woman I would like to be the first woman President would be like

Molly Ivans or Ann Richards. 2 very special women we need more of.

[SusanCalvin]

2. Yep.

I need to find an avatar that includes both of them.

[questionseverything]

4. should be our mantra...half a loaf

is better than crumbs

[dae]

3. I sure miss Molly. Nobody could tell it

like she did.

[JEB]

5. Auto Molly Ivins k&r.

[Enthusiast]

6. She was so incredible!

Thank you, madfloridian.

[madfloridian]

15. You are welcome.

It was impressive and heartwarming.

[SharonAnn]

7. OMG, I was really laughing out load while re-reading this. What a treasure!

[madfloridian]

8. I laughed and then shed some tears because she left us so early.

That was such a great interview that let her ideas and personality show through.

[jfern]

9. Clinton's ideology was Republican-lite

How he took a position
1. Wet finger
2. Stick up in the air
3. Notice the wind is blowing to the right again

He never showed any leadership.

[merrily]

10. Molly Ivins said emphatically that she was NOT a liberal.

C-Span was covering some event for authors of newly published books. Franken and Ivins were both in attendance. Someone referred to them as liberals and she seemed put off by that and eager to disassociate herself from that label.

You cannot read her books without laughing out loud--and, indeed, who would want to?

[madfloridian]

11. Frank Luntz and his talking points had folks fearful to use the word liberal.

Even Bernie swears he is not a liberal. Luntz and Gingrich dirtied up a perfectly good word and had everyone running scare from it.

That's one reason now I claim the word back.

[merrily]

12. Molly Ivins was much smarter than Luntz, though. If she said she is not a liberal, I believe her.

BTW, it was not only Republicans who dirtied up the word "liberal."

And, as one of your From threads shows, "progressive" was deliberately made deceptive.

[mountain grammy]

13. "our politics have gotten to be so headbutty.."

Nobody can say it like Molly could. I loved watching her speak and do interviews. Thanks for posting.

[madfloridian]

14. That was a great way to describe politics. Loved it.