You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You

March 2, 1998
Ivins (Nothin' but Good Times Ahead) is what a good newspaper columnist should be--opinionated, funny, preachy, sympathetic, temperamental, right, wrong and, above all, immensely entertaining. This latest sampling of magazine articles and newspaper columns--taken mostly from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram--finds the unabashed liberal rounding up the usual suspects for target practice. Everyone from Newt Gingrich to "Shiite Republicans" gets poked, but Ivins's crusade is political campaign financing, which she calls "The source of everything that is wrong with our political life." A first-rate muckraker, she is also a reporter who does her homework; arguably, few other journalists work the often dreary topic of campaign finance reform with as much style and insight. She must also be one of the bravest writers in Texas, consistently taking on that state's "blue-bellied, wall-eyed, lithium-deprived Texas lunatics" with her trademark mix of folksy irreverence and scathing commentary. This collection solidifies Ivins's ranking as among the cleverest humorists of the day.