Rating: 
Summary: This book is FUNNY(TM) and fills a major need
Review: Once I got this book I could not put it down. First, commensurate, with Franken's skills as a `hilarious corporate speaker' and Saturday Night Live Vet, it is very very funny, which cannot be claimed of the ever increasing number of screeds from either end of the political spectrum. Second, it is dead on accurate in calling out the way the right has publicly told lie upon lie and the media has either willfully or lazily fallen for it, the biggest being the repeated lie about how liberal the media is. This is an important function when such lying bullies as Anne Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity trot out the talking points, distorted facts, or plain wrong statistics to muddy the public discourse. Example after example of easily caught distortions are brought up--I loved his retelling of the incident with Bernard Goldberg where he nailed him about the late John Chancellor's commentary on the Soviet Union after the failed coup. Particularly important and, frankly, appalling in its implications, is Franken's discussion of the media coverage surrounding Paul Wellstone's memorial service of last year. Key point: HE WAS ACTUALLY THERE! In contrast, many notable personalities of the conservative punditocracy lined up to condemn the memorial without having seen more, at most, than the 20 second clips on TV. Franken makes it clear that brief and spontaneous flurries of emotionally driven partisanship were shamelessly exploited by the right to help boost the Republican majority in congress. That really disgusts me. Repeatedly, Franken nails the celebreties of the right by confronting them with what they said vs. the facts, and repeatedly I came away laughing. His description of interactions with Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove, Bill Bennett, and Barbara Bush are, in particular, very, very funny. Franken is a national treasure, a Puck of the left unafraid to
attack the right by confronting them with their own material and he left this readers laughing, which made it much easier to take the accompanying anger and sadness over the way the right has hijacked public discourse in this country. He also provides a role model for how we on the left can begin to reclaim our place in the political realm of the USA while being fierce, but not shrill, and maintaining both our integrity and sense of humor. Bravo, Al, and TeamFranken!
Rating: 
Summary: The Truth about "Lies"
Review: One cannot simultaneously present a merely entertaining satire and a straight-sober expose which includes serious charges against others, especially if it is done on a fluctuating basis, sometimes claiming to be merely amusement and at other times claiming damning errors that discredit others. What this would amount to would be to try to "have it both ways," or to have the reader give Franken credit for being "a joke that the reader missed" if he is found wrong and to believe faithfully as fact if no error is noticed. Franken makes just such a self-justifying claim in his own "Note from the author." But Al Franken has attempted to put his hybrid-mirth-serious-accusations into effect to attack conservatives by publishing his book: Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them -- A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Right off the top, on the very cover of his book, is one of Franken's most outrageous falsehoods, "Fair and Balanced." He knows it is not true, by his own admissions, yet he states it boldly on the cover. Here's proof: In Franken's own words, he asked a Harvard associate: "Would it be okay if I wrote a scathingly partisan attack on the right-wing media and the Bush administration?" His Harvard fellow liberal said "no problem," and helped line up the 14 diligent investigators who helped Franken dig up anything they could that would make conservatives look bad. Franken also admits freely that he is a liberal, and his book is overwhelmingly obvious as a shamefully vicious attack on the reputations of many conservative thinkers and writers in the U.S. Franken also uses the very technique he decries in repeating over and over in his book "there is no liberal bias in the major media." However, Bernard Goldberg thoroughly proved the heavy liberal media bias in his own book "Bias." Therefore, Q.E.D., Franken lied when he had the book published with the false claim "A Fair and Balanced look at the Right." (The lie rests on Franken's head regardless of how it got on the cover of his book with his picture disdaining the victims of his attacks; he could have had it removed if he wanted to.) The book is totally unfair and absolutely slanted with a liberal bias from beginning to end, and Franken knew it all along, by his own admission. No amount of "humor" or "satire" or other squirming attempts to evade responsibility can relieve Franken of direct guilt for repeatedly violating his own premises and for making extremely serious and totally unsupported charges against a number of honest, honorable American writers. This thoroughly dishonest diatribe which attempts to undo the damage to the reputation of the major news media that Bernard Goldberg's expose "Bias" did is without merit throughout. Franken gives one or two isolated events that he claims dishonors a given conservative, regardless of the tons of material that the same conservative has presented against the liberal press, which cannot be discredited, so Franken ignores the majority of cases. Then, he moves on to smear another conservative with very few examples against the person, not discrediting what that conservative has presented factually against the liberal news media. This is clearly identifiable for what it is--personal attacks against the person when you cannot discredit what that person has said. Then, Franken compounds the errors by claiming that conservatives never research their facts. That is simply not true; Franken ignores the mountains of proof that conservatives have already shown of the liberal media, including Goldberg' book which amounts to a reformed liberal admitting the truth and well documenting that liberal bias, by the way. Hopefully, some of his targets will hit Franken right in the dead center of his faulty premises and bring him down where he belongs with the disgrace resting on his head that he so frivously heaps unjustly on others.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, articulate, and maybe a bit scary
Review: One of the best reads I've had in a long time. Al Franken brings up such topics as: Ann Coulter and her unresearched ravings that were somehow considered to be non fiction, the Fox News Channel (specifically Bill O'Reilly), the media's supposed "left bias," the 2000 and 2002 elections, and, of course, Bush and his henchmen. And instead of Ann's "it's in the footnotes" (of which, there weren't any), Al will often cite the sources on the page and/or make a copy of it for you. I do have to say that despite this book's funny side, it was somewhat depressing. To find out what liars your "elected" leaders are can really be worrisome. Do give it a read.
Rating:
Summary: An Impish Delight
Review: One of the best things about Mr. Franken's book is how well footnoted it is. Seriouly, this may be the best footnoted book I've ever read. If you don't believe me, check out page 16. This book really hits the mark. I've become a true believer, a fundamentalist Frankenphile. Not only did I buy the book, I also bought the cassette tapes for the road. Then, only yesterday, I bought an autographed copy for only $100 via the Democratic Party's website. It's do to arrive sometime in November and will make a perfect gift for one of my Republican friends. I must warn you, a light comedic work this is not. It's funny to be sure, often very funny, but mostly it's a hard hitting indictment of our current administration and its media representatives who cynically betrayed the opportunity to unite the country in a non-partisan way in the wake of 9/11. Instead, as this book demonstrates, the Bush administration used this tragedy to promote their own partisan, power, and profit motives with the help of some key friends in high places in the media. "Lies" is a high-flighing parody, adopting the haranguing, fanatically rhetorical language and style of squawking heads like Bill "O'Liely," Ann Coulter, and Sean Hannity, who make my body ache for the gentile days of political discourse exemplified by the likes of Bill Buckley and David Frost. It's not surpising that the humorless targets of this book don't get parody. All the more fun! Al Franken has balls, funny balls to be sure, but balls nonetheless. More importantly, he has a brain and a comedic talent to match that really seems to get under the skin of these humorless zealots. I confess I took an impish delight in reading it.
Rating:
Summary: As Far as I Know --- It's Lies
Review: One of the earlier reviewers challenged a review that stated Franken's book contained untruths. As President Clinton's military aide from 1996-1998 and the author of the also New York Times best seller "Dereliction of Duty," I can state categorically that Franken's statements regarding Clinton's performance as our commander-in-chief are categorically untrue. Our armed forces currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are definitively NOT Clinton's military as Franken claims. The facts are this: Clinton reduced our military by 1/3 to 1/2 depending on which military service you are talking about. Morale reached an all-time low, due in fact that Clinton chose to hold himself to a lower standard behaviorally than the most junior enlisted member in any service. His behavior would have resulted in not only courts martial but jail if he'd been a sargeant or a captain. While he cut military pay and procurements over his 8 years, he deployed us over 44 times to such "hotbeds" as Haiti, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda while refusing to take on the real wars, terrorism, Iraq and North Korea. Previous presidents deployed our military 8 times in the previous 45 years. In my opinion, he's directly responsible for 9-11, Iraq, and the rising problems in North Korea. Where do you think North Korea obtained their nuclear capabilites and China the ability to hit the US with nukes? Umm, the Clinton Administration? Check the facts, Al. He and his wife had a disdain and distrust for the military that was palpable. Ask any military member during the 90's. Most of us chose to "vote with our feet" and left in record numbers. I can't speak to the other issues that Franken raises, and yes I've read the book, but his "take" as a military pundit is far from factual. I'm no expert in domestic politics or the media but I do know a little about command and moral authority. As a veteran of Grenada, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the Persian Gulf, I have a resume. Clinton didn't have it and Franken is wrong. I won't tell jokes across the country and Franken shouldn't paint himself as an expert on national defense. Who's lying now Al?
Rating:
Summary: Simply hysterical
Review: One of the funniest books I ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Very informative, very funny!
Review: One of the greatest books I have read in a long time. This book is filled with a ton of information, however Franken lightens the info with his famous wit. Everyone should read this book! Right and Left alike. If you haven't bought this book yet- RUN don't walk to your closest book store and buy it! The right should be scared now that they've been exposed!
Rating:
Summary: Funny and Right, er, I mean Left...
Review: One of the huge number of ironies behind the Fox lawsuit over the use of "Fair and Balanced" is that, in fact, like Michael Moore, Al Franken loves to hide behind the "entertainer" label to promote a front-loaded agenda -- but conservative pundits (and very many followers) have a core failing that disallows them from holding two thoughts in their heads at the same time (e.g. support the troops vs. against the war, love my country vs. criticize the government) and therefore a satarist that also has an agenda fries their mind. Meanwhile the biggest differences between Franken and Moore is that:
1) Franken is funny (really funny)
2) Franken checks the heck out of his facts (or actually has a heck of lot of minions to do that)
3) Franken does not fudge around with dates, times, places, video imagery, questionable cuts and juxtopositions to make a point -- he just looks up the facts, calls the participants and quotes the sources. This is timely and welcome book -- a fantastic trip down redemption road.
Rating:
Summary: The Funniest Man Ever?
Review: One of the most controversial books to ever be released - and one of the funniest ever as well. Follow Mr. Franken along his journey to see if Right-wing America is really a mere bunch of liars, as well as "Is the media really Liberal?" and much more. If you like satire you owe it to yourself to read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Right on Target...
Review: One of the most refreshing aspects of Al Franken's writing is his ability to stay on focus and clearly state (and support) his facts. In a time when so much of the media is being overrrun by boorish conservative pundits and artificial "information", it's nice to be able to step back and look at the facts. And the facts, as presented here, have scary ramifications. Thankfully, Franken will have you laughing just long enough to take the sting off of harsh reality. Where is our country going and what can we do about it? At the very least, regardless of your political affiliation, we should all start demanding truth and accountability. Keep up the good work, Al.
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