Ivins calls for leaders to show courage

In an explosive new column, tough-talking Molly Ivins gets quickly to the point - - that she won't support Sen. Hillary Clinton for president. But what she correctly hammers home is the need for leaders - - Republicans and Democrats - - to be courageous for a change instead of triangulating, expostulating, explaining, defending, reasoning and on and on. Says Ivins:

The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long, long time unlearning, so now I have to re-learn it. It's about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. 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.

If no one in conventional-wisdom politics has the courage to speak up and say what needs to be said, then you go out and find some obscure junior senator from Minnesota with the guts to do it. In 1968, Gene McCarthy was the little boy who said out loud, "Look, the emperor isn't wearing any clothes." Bobby Kennedy -- rough, tough Bobby Kennedy -- didn't do it. Just this quiet man trained by Benedictines who liked to quote poetry.