Stigmatizing dissent: Molly Ivins weighs in

If you haven't heard Molly Ivins speak live, you probably haven't gotten a full dose of her hard-hitting Texas brand of political talk. She's kind of like Bruce Springsteen in that way: seeing her live makes a real difference.

But a lot her style does come through in her writing. Her latest column takes on the notion that criticizing Shrub Bush (a nickname Molly made famous) is "hate speech." Not surprisingly, Molly is impressed only by the cheekiness of the complaint:

Among the more amusing cluckings from the right lately is their appalled discovery that quite a few Americans actually think George W. Bush is a terrible president.

Robert Novak is quoted as saying in all his 44 years of covering politics, he has never seen anything like the detestation of Bush. Charles Krauthammer managed to write an entire essay on the topic of "Bush haters" in Time magazine, as though he had never before come across such a phenomenon.

Oh, I stretch memory way back, so far back, all the way back to -- our last president. Almost lost in the mists of time though it is, I not only remember eight years of relentless attacks from Clinton-haters, I also notice they haven't let up yet. Clinton-haters accused the man of murder, rape, drug-running, sexual harassment, financial chicanery and official misconduct, and his wife of even worse.

She has some more choice comments about the Krauthammer column that I mentioned a few days ago.

Tags: charles krauthammer, molly ivins