Molly Ivins - Cheney Shoots a Texas Liberal:

"It?s not as though the ground in Texas is littered with liberal Republicans. I think the vice president winged the only one we?ve got.

Not that I accuse Harry Whittington of being an actual liberal?only by Texas Republican standards, and that sets the bar about the height of a matchbook. Nevertheless, Whittington is seriously civilized, particularly on the issues of crime, punishment and prisons. He served on both the Texas Board of Corrections and on the bonding authority that builds prisons. As he has often said, prisons do not curb crime, they are hothouses for crime: ?Prisons are to crime what greenhouses are to plants.?"