Molly Ivins, Star-Telegram
September 11, 2003

Sigh. You write an article advocating what you think would be useful, constructive suggestions about Iraq, and you get an avalanche of right-wing reaction about "failure-mongers" and "nattering nabobs of negativism."

Bill Safire is back at the same old stand after all these years, de-nouncing "merchants of dismay" trying to justify their "decade of appeasement."

Great. Anybody who opposed this war in the first place was accused of lack of patriotism, and now anybody who points out that it's not going well is guilty of defeatism.

If you raise your hand and ask, "Where are the weapons of mass destruction that we were told were the reason for this war?," you're instructed to just Get Over It.

Well, I ain't gonna take it anymore. I am not shutting up for Bill O'Reilly or anyone else.