Rating: 
Summary: Balm to the liberal soul
Review: Is Al Franken fair to conservatives? No way. Is he balanced? About as balanced as Fox news. Is he funny? Yes! Do his targets richly deserve his combination of angry satire and factual refutation of some of their more outragous spin? Absolutely! After being spammed on e-mail with columns by Ann "anyone who disagrees with the John Birch society is a traitor" Coulter and some of the more ludicrous conservative "urban legends," after trying repeatedly to explain to people that Al Gore did NOT claim to invent the Internet or to have discovered Love Canal, or that he was telling the truth when he said that he was one of the models for the character of Oliver in "Love Story," only to have them flatly refuse to believe it even when they see the correct quotes in context, I was ready to read a book like this. The sad part is that the people who need to see him dissect those dishonest "arguments" and character assassinations won't have the attention span to make their way through even a single chapter of this book. But for those of us who have had to listen to conservatives openly gloating that 9/11 was a "cataclysm" for liberalism, and that no patriotic American could possibly disagree with a president who looks good in a flight suit, it's a great morale booster.
Rating: 
Summary: If this is the Bible of the Left, I prefer the real Bible
Review: Is Al Franken funny? Yes, if you think name-calling and junior high-school-level sneering is funny.Is Al Franken accurate? Yes, if you think tendentious and extremely selective use of sources plus the mere mention of the word "Harvard" in conjunction with "researchers" constitutes accuracy. Is Al Franken witty? Yes, if you think clotted, nearly unreadable prose equals wit. Apparently, many Americans have concluded, despite massive evidence (albeit unwitting) to the contrary, that Al Franken is funny, accurate, and witty. Then again, in these post-modern times I guess that depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is. One extra star for managing to hoodwink hundreds of thousands of Americans into buying this idiocy.
Rating: 
Summary: This is just a silly premise for a book.
Review: Is anyone tired of baseless bias yet? If you like to read spin and poorly written content, then this might be the book for you. There is a lot of hatred within these covers. I'm always surprised at how much vitriol can come from that "touchy-feely" left. I used to be much more liberal, but it is people like this who push me away from the Dem's.
Rating:
Summary: Wordy and dim-witted
Review: Is it apparent to anyone else that with a title such as it is an author is clearly not trying to appeal to a well educated reader? There is simply nothing humorous about saying 'lying liars'. Maybe to a drone society of TV watchers that takes in what is given them and told when to laugh. HaHa. I just don't know why anyone would want to spend time with a book so poorly titled. It's a mockery to the publishing world that this comes about. (Guess I just don't fit into these times.)
Rating:
Summary: AL FRANKEN IS A BIG FAT IDIOT
Review: is it too much to ask for a little CONSTRUCTIVE criticism? this book seems like just another conservative bashing book by another wacko liberal entertainer. mr. frankens political views seem to lie just to the left of timothy leary. if i want the far left viewpoint i'll watch cnn, msnbc, the abc evening news, cbs, etc.
Rating:
Summary: STUPID WHITE MAN
Review: IS MR. FRANKEN ONE OF THOSE STUPID WHITE MEN WRITTEN ABOUT IN MOORE'S BOOK. SEEMS SO. HAS HE EVER WRITTEN ANYTHING ORIGINAL OR DONE ANYTHING POSITIVE? CAN'T HE EVEN COME UP WITH A DECENT TITLE? WHAT A BORE!
Rating: 
Summary: The only bad thing about this amazing book
Review: is that many of the people for whom Franken compiled this book (those who have been thoroughly brainwashed by neocon lies) will not read it. They have grown so accustomed to their regularly scheduled spoon-feedings of misinformation and partisan opinion disguised as journalism that they COULDN'T read this book. It would completely destroy their worlds. So as a public service to those poor souls who like to think themselves politically clever because they tolerate the likes of Hannity and O'Reilly, let me sum it up for you: Franken (to The Vast Right-Wing Media and Political Apparatus) - "On such-and-such a date after such-and-such event, you claimed that such-and-such Democrat (invariably Clinton or Gore) either DID or DIDN'T do something that brought about the eventual downfall of everything that is good and decent in America, is that correct?" The Vast Right-Wing Media and Political Apparatus - "Yes, that is correct." Franken - "Did you actually happen to SEE or HEAR the specific event as it took place, or do any RESEARCH to back up your claims that everything is so-and-so's fault?" The Vast Right-Wing Media and Political Apparatus - "No, we didn't." Franken - "I took the liberty of doing all the research that you refused to do. Do you know what I found? Nine times out of ten you report on events through second-hand news, often elaborating incidences and misrepresenting those involved to twist the events to the advantage of your own personal and political (and OFTEN financial) gain. You take advantage of people who trust in you to bring them honest reporting or to run this country in a manner that upholds the best interests of this country. You are profiting off the business of misinforming those who look up to you to tell the truth. What do you have to say to that?" The Vast Right-Wing Media and Political Apparatus - "Well, uh... we uh..." Franken - "One final question... why do you lie?" The Vast Right-Wing Media and Political Apparatus - "We have to leave for a very important meeting, now." Aren't I a nice liberal? I even saved you the trouble of having to pretend that you know what this fantastic book's about as you write your one-star review. Consider yourself 99% more informed than your other fellow sheep under the intellectual thumb of your beloved conservative pundits (i.e. brainwashers). America is slowly waking to the fact that those currently in office haven't entirely been on the level with us and that perhaps the media is somewhat to blame (as is our own unwillingness to demand integrity from those who bring us the news or those officials whom we elect into office). That the partisan regime who vilified Clinton and Gore for every day of their tenure in office have rallied around a President with a history of drug and alcohol abuse, who went AWOL at a time of war from the National Reserve post set up for him by his dad, and with a laundry list of questionable business associates is particularly telling of their hypocrisy. That they have managed to sell George W. Bush to Americans as a paragon of morality and integrity says quite a bit about the level to which we have collectively sunk as a society. In _Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them_, Franken decisively shoves the right's blatant lies back in their faces, rubbing their noses in their own misinformation and exposing their intellectual heroes (I use the term loosely) as the fakirs they are. He examines how the blame-game played by conservatives has seriously undermined America's integrity both at home and abroad. No one is fair game: officials lying about policy, journalists "tweaking" stories to appeal to a certain audience, American citizens spending their hard-earned money on screeds by millionaire pundits filled with cooked statistics and misleading, non-researched material - all of which forms a sort of trickle-down idiocy. Franken calls up many well-worn examples public deception, but with a twist: he actually RESEARCHES the incidences and uses these amazing things called FACTS to highlight the actions of our political and media figures. Maybe it'll catch on? There are also some truly stunning revelations brought forth in Lies, such as the truth behind the right's blame of Clinton for the 9-11 tragedy and a little man named Mansoor Ijaz who, having failed to sell Osama bin Laden to the US on behalf of a very non-involved Sudanese government, is now on the Fox News Channel's payroll as foreign affairs and terrorism analyst. It's nice to know that he's not going hungry. Franken has monster cojones to stand up to the lying liars who have driven this country into the ground. His honesty, research, razor-sharp wit and punchy prose make this one of the most important books written in our generation. It, and he, will no-doubt be maligned by the right using every tactic that Franken outlines in this work (lies, equivocation, blame-shifting, false statistics, blatant idiocy, denial, more lies). Each time they do, they prove our case a thousand times over. I can only hope that the slew of books written this year against the right-wing propaganda and self-interest machine will do something to change the discourse in this country. Each time I am accused of "hating my country" or even being guilty of treason, I realize that THEY are the ones who are really weakening our nation. They attack Americans, smearing anyone who disagrees with them or gets in their way, and it's about time someone called them on it. We need to get smarter about the events taking place around us and start caring more about our country and fellow Americans again. This book is a good way to start. It will also give you fresh breath and make you more attractive to women. Nope, sorry... like Sean "I Know Eleven Things" Hannity's _Let Freedom Ring_, that last part was also chock full of lies. The only thing this book can't explain, and that I still desperately want to know, is... what IS wrong with Ann Coulter anyway? The poor, poor woman.
Rating:
Summary: Desert Island
Review: Is there anybody else out there who just wishes Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Michael Moore, and Al Franken would go to a deserted island somewhere and wait for our phone call to return?
Anybody else weary of the political discourse being cheapened, compelling debates being marginalized, and bi-polar views of Left vs. Right being promoted? The trouble with a book like Franken's (and Coulter's) is that it preaches to the choir of those who live out their political lives through bumper stickers and mind-numbing, sound-bite driven cable TV political shows that invite extreme or bombastic guests just for the spectacle of it all. Is it any surprise that Americans are apathetic toward the political process when it's presented like this? Franken, like Michael Moore, is probably not a big fan of American-style global capitalism, but his first royalty check should remind him that he is not above sharing its spoils.
Rating:
Summary: Know your left from your right.
Review: Is this a book review for Amazon, or a political soapbox? This is obviously a good book if only because it causes the right-wingers to become extremely defensive. I don't know what I enjoyed more: the book, or the attacks of the Republicans who supposedly read it ("Al Franken-stein" has to be the most clever insult of the new millenium. Whoever came up with that should write for Will & Grace). Obviously if you're a Bushie, you're not gonna like this book at all, but if you didn't get a sense of that from the title then you've got bigger problems. But if you're a limp-wristed Democrat like the rest of us then you will laugh harder than when Bush tried to explain how his tax-cuts would benefit the poor. Notice how this book is either reviewed in the ballpark of 1 star or 5 stars?
Rating:
Summary: There is no icon for zero stars
Review: Isn't a lying liar a truth teller?
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