Molly Ivins, the hilarious, smart liberal newspaper columnist from Texas, died last night in Austin. She was only 62. MSNBC reports that the cause of death was breast cancer, a disease that Ivins battled since she was first diagnosed in 1999. Molly was an inspiration to people around the country. She was the type of feminist that I strive to be: smart, passionate, unafraid to say what needs to be said, compassionate, and concerned about everyone’s rights, all while making tears of laughter roll down my cheeks.

I think this paragraph from the long, and frequently funny (when they quote Molly’s writing) New York Times obit summed her work up well:

In her syndicated column, which appeared in about 350 newspapers, Ms. Ivins cultivated the voice of a folksy populist who derided those who she thought acted too big for their britches. She was rowdy and profane, but she could filet her opponents with droll precision.

Bloggers around the country are mourning Molly’s death and the void that she leaves in shrewdly witty political writing. Mary at Pacific Views wrote:

Today a genuine American treasure died. Molly Ivins was such a remarkable individual -- funnier than hell, sharp as a whip, the proverbial gadfly and a woman who had a heart as big as Texas. They don't make them like that anymore. I can't believe we will never get to read another column by her… Oh Molly, you will be sorely missed.

Even the snarky New Yorkers at the media-gossip blog Gawker are sincerely choked up over the loss:

Ivins was always a heroine of ours: she proved - if it needed proving - that a woman could be just as funny (if not funnier) than a man, that a Texas liberal could be just as tough (if not tougher) than a Texas conservative, and that a journalist could achieve a large modicum of fame and still remain committed to the small papers for which she started writing. There'll be a lot of talk in the next few days about her legacy as a liberal and her legacy as a woman, all of it deserved; we want to focus on her legacy as a writer. Sure, she got a little strident toward the end, but when she was in her prime (we have owned three copies of Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? because we've thumbed through the first two so frequently that they've fallen apart) there was no one better. Whatever your political perspective, Ivins' writing was so distinctive that you couldn't help be charmed (much in the way liberals cannot deny the genius of Mencken, we know more than a few conservatives who disagreed with her politics but were unable to resist her prose). She is a voice that will truly be missed. Rest in peace, Molly.

Christine at Our Bodies, Our Blog says it simply:

Ivins always cut through the crap and left readers feeling smarter and more politically engaged (and often enraged) than they might have been five minutes earlier.

Christine also provided a link to Ivins’ last column, in which she urged readers to “raise hell” against the war. I think we should honor her last request. Not just for Molly, but for everything we hold dear about democracy and admire about femininsm. We can never replace Molly Ivins, but we can carry on her work for justice.

(I know Molly's death is affecting many people, so if you blog about what she meant to you, please leave a comment with a link to your blog. There is comfort among us.)

Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants