The BBC item said she succumbed to cancer yesterday.
She has a pretty good Wikipedia entry, but the real fun was listening to her. She had the ability to produce memorable quotes on her feet in front of a crowd of any size.
The reason Natalie Maines exists as the outspoken person she is, is because of the example of Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan, and Molly Ivins: the ladies of Texas.
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Established: 21 November 2004
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CNN has been running two great clips on her Bashing of ole George! She’s FAB…to bad she lost to this Loser with a Silver-Foot in his mouth! (as Molly Ivins keeps pointing out – “What we’re they Thinking in Texas when they choose Dubya?”
It is a terrible truth of American politics, but when things are going right the opposition has the best chance of winning because most people don’t vote for things, they vote against them.
Indeed, people grow complacent. Everything’s all right, so they don’t bother to vote… and look what happens.
I used to think… I still think… that Ann lost to Dubya because she did not run a good campaign the second time around. But having seen what Dub’s handlers are capable of, it has occurred to me to wonder if it was an honest election or not.
It is just dawning on me that she is really gone. I miss her already. I miss her quips, her speeches (she gave barn-burners just about every time) and most of all her politics… not as liberal as mine, but a heckuva lot more compassionate than the vast majority of today’s officeholders. R.I.P., Ann.
(I believe it was andante who suggested that Ann should go haunt Karl Rove now.)
I have seen the same thing in several places – well-liked incumbents who were doing a good job losing to a small group of malcontents in a low-turnout election. People just assume that they don’t need to vote, and they don’t.
This is played to the hilt in the timing of referendums. The local pols don’t want them on the general election ballot because too many people vote. They hide them in primaries.