You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You: Politics in the Clinton Years - Hardcover

Ivins, Molly

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679404465 ISBN 13: 9780679404460

Publisher: Random House, 1998

Synopsis

It's been five years since Molly Ivins's last book, which is probably too long a time in the opinion of her many fans. But the intervening years have given the bestselling author and syndicated columnist some of the best raw material a political writer could ask for. The Republicans staged a revolution, Clinton was reelected, welfare "deform" swept the country, and the militia movement came out of the bunker: in short, it's been a banner time for Molly's brand of shoot-from-the-hip commentary and uproarious anecdotes.

You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You brings together a first-class collection of smart, spirited, and fiercely funny writings. From the wild and woolly politics of her native Texas to the waffling in the Oval Office, Molly exposes the fatuous and hypocritical at all levels of public life. Whether she's writing about the 1996 presidential candidates ("Dole contributed perhaps the funniest line of the year with his immortal observation that tobacco is not addictive but that too much milk might be bad for us. The check from the dairy lobby must have been late that week"), conspiracy theorists ("Twenty-five years in the newspaper bidness have given me a fairly strong faith in the proposition that if you haven't read about it in The Daily Disappointment or seen it on the network news, it's probably not true"), or cultural trends ("I saw a restaurant in Seattle that specialized in latte and barbecue. Barbecue and latte. I came home immediately"), Molly  takes on the issues of the day with her trademark good sense and inimitable wit.

"I can think of few causes more important than keeping free voices alive in a world of corporate media," Molly writes. She is one   of those voices and a national treasure; as the Los Angeles Times put it, she is "H. L. Mencken without the cruelty, Will Rogers with an agenda." Whatever your political persuasion, you're bound to agree that Molly Ivins is one of the sharpest and most original commentators on the American scene today.

About this title

Review

In this, her third volume, Molly Ivins (columnist, NPR commentator, and three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize) sheds light on the "great clouds of obsfucation" that stymie attempts to clearly analyze President Clinton's job performance. Ivins stayed a Clinton supporter after most of her fellow liberals bailed--up until 1996, when Clinton signed the welfare "reform" bill. "My expectations of Democratic politicians exceed my expectations of Republicans by only the smallest of margins," Ivins states ruefully, "but real Democrats don't hurt children. Clinton did." Nevertheless, current Clinton bashing defies logic and she provides a levelheaded analysis of the wave of anti-Clinton sentiment by distinguishing between the usual brew of Republican and Democrat animosity and such phenomena as "the well-financed propaganda machine funded largely by Richard Mellon Scaife of Pittsburgh."

The title flushes out the core concern of the collection. One of the oldest sayings in politics, "You got to dance with them what brung you," points to the reality that special-interest money rules today's politics. For Ivins, the centerpiece of corruption is gold, and such inevitable consequences as the tax burden shifting from corporations to individuals; the widening gap between rich and poor. You've Got to Dance with Them What Brung You, inimitably bold and broad, attacks racism, homophobia, terrorism; offers a terse and dismally delightful excoriation of the "ineffable" Newt Gingrich; reports on political farces at both the state and national levels. It's full of incisive gems that offer insight on some of our national extremes (Timothy McVeigh's obsession with the bizarre and racist book, The Turner Diaries, replete with the bomb recipe that blew up the Murrah Federal Building).

Champion of commonsense and compassion; frank and boldly funny, Molly Ivins has been called by the L.A. Times "H.L. Mencken without the cruelty, Will Rogers with an agenda." Those of us who love Molly Ivins read her for her gutsy, lively, liberal values, and those of us who don't ... should.

From the Back Cover

Praise for You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You

"Thank you, Jesus! Here comes Molly with another power-packed volume to cure what ails you. My no-fail prescription for personal and political health is to take a vitamin E capsule once a day, an evening constitutional, at least a couple of twelve-ounce elbow bends, and a daily dose of Molly Ivins. She's a genuine Texas hellion and a hell of a fun human being--not to mention that she's the most informed, interesting, unintimidated, and important commentator in the known universe. Long may she wave!"
--Jim Hightower, author of There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos

"Molly Ivins insists on integrity and honesty in politics. I think she speaks for the vast majority of people in our country in insisting on this standard. What's so impressive is the way she applies it to herself, and her absolute faith and belief that we can all do better."
--Senator Paul D. Wellstone (D-Minnesota)

"This book is not for everyone. If you're a politician who bruises easily or you love one who does, forget it. Molly Ivins's targets are the hides and egos of just about everybody in the politics and gutters of today. Her language is that smooth whiplash thing called Texan Sharp of which Molly is a laureate. Newt Gingrich suffers the most but not even Bill Clinton and his kind escape. This book is also very funny. So if you're somebody who is made sick or nervous by laughing out loud, then maybe you should forget it, too."
--Jim Lehrer

Praise for Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?
"A delight from start to finish. . . . Molly Ivins proves that keen intelligence and a Southern accent are real good buddies. . . . She has wise and often hilarious things to say."
--The New York Times Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0679404465
• ISBN 13: 9780679404460
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 244