Her liberal Texan humor has been splashed on the pages of more than 250 newspapers across America every day. But even when she is off duty, her wit will make a room erupt with laughter.

Meet Molly Ivins – a nationally syndicated political columnist and winner of this year’s AEJMC First Amendment Award.

“If I didn’t write with a Texas accent, I probably would have been hanged since,” Ivins said in an interview before her speech. “I like stirrin’ up Texans. It’s fun.”

Ivins accepted the 2006 AEJMC First Amendment Award on Wednesday afternoon in a room overflowing with fellow journalists and journalism educators.

The AEJMC Elected Standing Committee on Professional Freedom and Responsibility designed the award last year with Ivins in mind as its recipient. When her schedule did not permit her to accept it, the award was held until this year.

“The very first journalist who came to our minds was Molly,” said Julianne Newton of the University of Oregon. Newton, along with Marilyn Schultz of St. Edwards University, introduced Ivins at the awards ceremony.

“We’re honoring her lifetime of commitment to courageous journalism and epitomizing the First Amendment,” Newton said. “She’s just phenomenal. There’s nobody like her.”

Ivins’ syndicated newspaper column runs nationwide. She has also written several best-selling books, including “Shrub” and “Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush’s America.”

In an interview earlier this week, Ivins talked about her career and her battles with cancer.

“I could tell that he was going to run for president, and I knew he was going to be a terrible president, so I wrote a book about it,” Ivins said. “And then indeed he was president, so I wrote another book.”

Ivins’ humor continues to carry her through her most recent battle with breast cancer. Betsy Moon, Ivins’ “chief of stuff,” said the columnist has continued to work despite cancer treatments. Ivins even went on a book tour for five weeks while undergoing chemotherapy.

“She says, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t write any more books about George Bush. I’ve gotten cancer both times,’” Moon said.

Ivins said she expected to have profundity when she first started fighting cancer, but it didn’t exactly happen for her.

“It didn’t work worth a damn,” she said, laughing. “I was too busy thinking, ‘God damn it, I’m constipated. I can’t have a spiritual experience.’”

Ivins’ career started off like most others – at the bottom. Her first newspaper job was in the complaint department of the Houston Chronicle, where she answered phone calls from whining readers.

“I was the entire complaint department, if I say so myself,” Ivins joked.

Ivins’ next job promoted her to editor, but it was not the typical editor position.

“It was a very dangerous job, the bride editor,” Ivins recalled. “I once said the groom had a B.O. degree. That didn’t go over well.”

Ivins is also proud to say she was kicked off of the Texas A&M University campus after violating a rule that prohibited political speakers.

“I did my dead-level best to stir up a riot,” she said.

This doesn’t mean she won’t return, however. She has plans to visit Texas A&M again in a few weeks.

“We’re going to cow college,” she said with a grin.

Ivins is active in the American Civil Liberties Union and travels around the country making monthly speeches on the First Amendment. She donates her efforts and prefers speaking in small places, like Dripping Springs, Ala.

“I think we’ve already lost large chunks of our Bill of Rights,” Ivins said. “I think we’ve been rattled by 9/11. Fear does such terrible things.”

Ivins is planning a September trip to the Grand Canyon and is working on a new book, which she plans to call “The Chicken-Snake Book,” all while undergoing treatment for her cancer.

“I hope that I can write this book in a way that kicks some ass,” Ivins said.