Missing Molly.

"Hey Rothschild!" Molly yelled at me over the din at the Cafe Montmartre in Madison a few years back. We were having a little fundraiser for The Progressive, and Molly had come free of charge, of course. Swarmed by fans after she spoke, she needed me to give her some relief.

She had just finished telling one of her favorite stories about the Texas state legislator who introduced a bill banning sodomy, both homosexual and heterosexual, in the Great State, as she always called Texas. When this legislator succeeded in passing the bill with the help of an ally, the two men shook hands in celebration. At this point, Molly said, "The Speaker had to send the sergeant-at-arms over to reprimand them both because under the new law, it's illegal for a prick to touch an asshole in the state."

She loved to be naughty. For a while there, I thought the main reason she wrote for The Progressive was because we let her swear. But there were others: She knew we needed humor to lighten up our pages, and that our readers needed humor to lighten up their lives.

She believed in the power of laughter. She knew it could keep you from getting depressed or burning out. And she knew it could deflate the abusers of power.

Of the Reagan Administration, she said, "Half of it was under average-the other half was under indictment."

Of Pat Buchanan's culture war speech at the 1992 Republican convention, she said, "It read better in the original German."

Of George W. Bush, she said: "It turns out a C average is not good enough to be President."

For twenty years, Molly wrote for The Progressive, and over the last seventeen, her monthly column provided the frosting on the last page.

She was, far and away, the reader's favorite. Even one of my sisters told me she read Molly first.

She was the favorite not only because of her humor and her style. She was the favorite because she never lost hope in the promise of America.

he often described herself as "ever optimistic to the point of lunacy." She had faith in the people, though she understood how messed up our democracy is. She recognized that it was in hock to the wealthy and the corporate, and so she championed campaign finance reform. She promoted egalitarianism.

As Robert La Follette used to say, "The solution to the problems of democracy is more democracy." Molly believed that.

And she was a fighter, to the end. Somehow, even as the cancer was taking its terminal toll, she managed just a few weeks ago to summon the energy to crank out a couple of syndicated columns on the Iraq War, which we've soldered together for her finale this month. She was doing more than her part to stop Bush's craziness, and she was urging all of us to do ours.

To Jim Hightower, to Lou Dubose, to her colleagues at her beloved Texas Observer, and especially to Betsy Moon, her valiant right-hand woman, I send my deepest condolences.

I also want to thank all The Progressive subscribers who sent notes to Molly in the last several weeks of her life.

"I'm overwhelmed by the kindness of you progressives, who have comforted me with your cards," she said. "While I'm not able to get back to each and every one of you, please know that you've brought me cheer. On we fight!"

Molly, you brought us all enormous cheer, month in and month out. Thank you so much for that. And we will fight on.