Molly Ivins will not support Hillary for prez

Respected liberal columnist Molly Ivins, the journalistic icon who coined the "shrub" nickname for President George W. Bush, published a column recently in which she stated that she cannot support New York Sen. Hillary Clinton for president in 2008. It is my sense that her words represent a growing feeling among the American left.

Ivins explained, "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."

Recalling the tumultuous Vietnam War era in 1968 when obscure Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-MN) demonstrated the courage to speak out, Ivins observed, "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."

Boldly predicting that Tom Delay would lose reelection in his "safe" suburban Houston district, Ivins intoned, Oh come on, people -- get a grip on the concept of leadership. . . . If Democrats in Washington haven't got enough sense to OWN the issue of political reform, I give up on them entirely." Now is the time, she says, to seize the day and push for reforms that would end special interest ownership of our national agenda: public campaign financing for Congress ("the only reform that will work, and you know it, as well as everyone else who's ever studied this"), redistricting reform, electoral reform and House rule changes.

Her column's conclusion raised the spectre of a major third-party challenge ala 2000: "Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can't get up and fight, we'll find someone who can."

I agree. Claire McCaskill, whose early stands on federal issues seem to mimic Hillary's, should take notice.