Rating: 
Summary: Go, Al, go!
Review: I dusted this book off in a few hours and learned alot. Al practices something these right wing hacks think is beneath them, something that has become almost obsolete in modern day political discourse: Checking the facts. Whenever Al had a question, he would simply pick up the phone and ask away (no matter what side of the political fence they were on).You can put his END NOTES to the test and they'd passed. He doesn't just take the first thing he sees off of Lexis-Nexus and distort it to conform to his parallel view of the world. Through his painstaking research (and that of the 14 members of TeamFranken), Franken refrains from stating that Democrats are the "true patriots," refrains from calling Republicans and/or conservatives "idiots," and while he peppers his commentary with sarcasm, it's not "vituperative." He doesn't make baseless, childish accusations about the people who do not share his political viewpoints. I thoroughly enjoyed his chapters on Ann Coulter and his touching tribute to his friend, the late Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota. It was refreshing to get the truth about that "controversial" memorial from someone who was actually there and didn't just watch 2 minute clips on CNN and go on TV verbally assaulting everyone. I also love the chapter about the "Blame America's Ex-President First Crowd." I'm sure that touched a nerve with frothing Clinton bashers everywhere. Once again, the right and their sheep have proven that they can dish it out but they just cannot take it. We're very well aware that you people go through every positive review of a non-conservative book here at Amazon and give them negative ratings while repeatedly voting in the positive for Hannity, Coulter, O'Reilly, ad nauseum. This should be required reading for anyone who wants to know the scoop on the draft dodgers and elitists that compose "conservative" political commentators.
Rating:
Summary: Liars Exposed!
Review: I eagerly awaited Al's latest book, and was stunned to see Fox sue Al and his publisher for using the words "Fair and Balanced". This book is a fair and balanced look at the extreme right's lies and the lying liars who tell them. Brilliantly written, the book also offers the expected chuckles and giggles, mixed with devastating revelations (complete with "real" footnotes) about the extreme right wing's ten year campaign to demonize and destroy liberals, and Bill and Hillary Clinton in particular. Ann Coulter's lies are revealed as conservative rantings from a harridan disguised as Twiggy. Bill O'Reilly's many lies are exposed, as are Hannity's and Newt Gingrich's. Bush's and his administration's lies about just about everything, which literally are too many to count, are painfully detailed. Bush actually said "By far the Vast majority of my tax cuts to to those at the bottom". Lies, all lies - and Al proves it. I also was deeply saddened by this book as it distills into one volume many disturbing facts about our current adminstration, their shills in the media and that it took a comedian to expose these lies to the public. Read this book and you will never think the same again about the right wing media, the adminstration, and those who profit from them.
Rating:
Summary: Agree totally with reader from Maine.
Review: I echo the comments from the reader from Maine. The only flaw in this impressive, marvelously researched book is that the delivery could give Franken's critics an excuse to call it a left wing version of Anne Coulter-ish mud-slinging. Although it isn't, and they would say that anyway, the thing is, there are places where Franken fails to pull some punches (no matter how well deserved the target) that some may not perceive as humor. Who Franken should try to reach are not the extremists but moderates who just haven't bothered to inform themselves about the political situation in this country. His humor is a great way to do that. Despite that one small complaint I heartily recommend this book to all except right wing extremists. Moderates should definitely read this.
Rating: 
Summary: Locker room humor but not much else
Review: I enjoy Al Franken's (frankness) as much as the next person but am sadly disappointed in his latest offering. After expecting some factual hits to the right from an otherwise comedic player, Franken has lost the thrust of the title and has compiled what can best be described as a hateful op-ed devoid of supporting evidence and peppered throughout with vulgarities in locker-room fashion, aimed at ghost figures. If you enjoy dark humor at the expense of facts then this is the book for you. If you are looking for example ammunition for left-right debate I would not reccomend this title.
Rating:
Summary: Great going Al
Review: I enjoy nothing better than seeing a moron like O'Reilly exposed for the liar he has always been.
The truth should set us free. Get rid of Bush.
Rating: 
Summary: Sends out the message but misses the target.
Review: I enjoyed "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot" and hated "Why Not Me," so I was ambivalent about picking up this one. But with all the hype over the Fox lawsuit, I decided to give Al another chance. I should have saved my money. Not because Al doesn't make some good points, but because "Lies" is something of a bore. Al is right on target when he is listing the lies that the right-wing media parrots on a daily basis. And a lot of his criticism of President Bush is accurately placed as well. His sources are well-researched and appear to be fairly accurate. Where he goes wrong is when he's trying to be funny or ironic. Unless you know the specifics of the instance that he's talking about, you tend to lose track of where the true facts end and his ironic asides begin. And Al, if you're reading this, please leave the swearing to Dennis Miller. He does it well, even when he's making fun of himself for doing it. (He's the self-described E.B. White of the f-word.") When you do it, it becomes a breach of the reader's concentration, and causes a loss of focus. I also dispute his point of view that Clinton was the best thing to happen to the military. I left the Army just before Clinton took office; and all of my friends that stayed in told me that the Clintons viewed the military with contempt and did their damndest to tear it down with the "don't ask, don't tell" and other "kinder, gentler" notions. That plus the "globo-robo-cop" missions of Somalia and Bosnia stretched our troops to the breaking point. To be fair, I have to put the same onus on President Bush. After the disinformation campaign that fueled his call to war with Iraq; I think it is history repeating itself that he is calling on our troops to make such sacrifices while simultaneously cutting their pay and benefits. This way of "doing it on the cheap" will only continue to get our troops killed. Either do it all or not at all. And while I am no fan of taxes on anyone, I think it is a load of crap that Bush has cut the taxes of the richest at a time when the need is greatest for a strong Treasury. If I spent the kind of borrowed money (proportionally) that he's spending, then they would lock me away for fraud. If you're looking for a book that covers the same ground as Al does but without all the foul language and sophmoric attempts at humor, I would recommend Eric Alterman's "What Liberal Media?" Alterman, an unabashed liberal, covers all the right-wing columnists and TV pundits better than Al does, with the suggestion that it is the money trail that really dictates what these people say. And Alterman also takes Clinton and Gore to task for their shortcomings, something that Al Franken doesn't do.
Rating:
Summary: Ann Coulter has a well researched book out???
Review: I enjoyed Al's satire of the conservative establishment immensely. As a former Conservative Republican and current Moderate Democrat, I found Ann Coulter's shrill partisanly biased and highly inaccurate books a real turnoff. I like Al Franken's sense of humor and would like to recommend Joe Conason's latest offering for those open minded enough to see what the "other side" has to say after years of rightwing domination of the bookshelves.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommend
Review: I enjoyed reading this well written, humourous attack on the conservative right. Al successfully disputes many of the basic arguments of the conservative media. Argues several good points that credit liberals / Clinton administration. Critics accuse Al of name calling but he is only doing what Rush, Hannity, Ann and others have done for years.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Bad
Review: I enjoyed the way he more or less chewed Ann Coulter into tiny little bits, and, to a lesser extent, got points on O'Reilly and Hannity. (Of course, this brings up another point. With what Franken worked up on Coulter, why aren't Ann's books in the FICTION section of Amazon?) But he didn't do much to raise "the level of discourse" we hear so much about. Some of his work was just plain name calling, and the front cover photo of O'Reilly is a cheap shot.
Rating:
Summary: entertaining and compelling political commentary
Review: I enjoyed this book because...1) Franken was painstaking in his research of the issues, presenting them in a clever and thoughtful way. 2) He is not an idealogue; he is honest, admitting to Democratic pecadillos, while also praising Republicans such as John McCain. 3) He is a master debunker. For example, I hate it when people try to influence using misleading statistics. Franken exposes them, big time. 4) Franken is witty, clever and has a great sense of humor. 5) He is from Minnesota :-)
| 
