Rating: 
Summary: I would give this book 6 stars if I could!
Review: Al Franken has really done it this time! This is a very quick read and I can't remember the last book that I've enjoyed as much as this one. I laughed out loud several times and all of my friends who read it...loved it! I had a good laugh at the comments of the Amazon reviewers that gave this book 1 star.
Here's my suggestion:
I HIGHLY reccomend this book to all honest, free-thinking, constitution loving Americans with a sense of humor.....Right Wing Republicans...need not apply!
Rating:
Summary: It's satire - therefore, all untrue
Review: Al Franken has said over and over this is satire. That's his defense against all the accusations of slander and libel. And since satire is by definition not supposed to be taken seriously, it means that nothing in his book is supposed to be taken seriously either. Therefore, all the book's criticisms about conservatives like Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter, and all the "facts" about conservatives are just hot air. That is to say, it's all untrue. Keeping that in mind, it is therefore easy for a Reagan-Bush supporter like me to recommend this book to all readers who want a good laugh. Even Rush Limbaugh can't make the liberals look as hilarious as Al Franken does in this wonderful book. Very funny, very entertaining. Carlos Soriano
Rating:
Summary: Priceless
Review: Al Franken has struck gold with this spot on spoof and critique of the "hysterical right." As expected, he hits all the easy targets like O'Reilly and Hannity with dead on facts exposing their lies. However, what I really enjoyed about this book was its ever present sense of humor. The irony in this book is sometimes subtle and sometimes blunt, but its always damn funny. Adding to the hilarity are negative reviews of amazon readers who fail to recognize these jokes when present. I know somewhere Al is laughing as his point is proven over and over again on this website. Great book. Would recommend to all.
Rating:
Summary: Kudos and BOOYAH
Review: Al Franken has taken on the bully right pitbulls and bested them. Conservative and rightist trash talk abounds because it's easy to fill up an hour or an editorial page with ranting soundbites. And they don't even have to PRETEND to fact check them. Without backing down and with using something unknown to the rightest elite, something called *the truth*, Franken has once again produced an in-your-face answer to the in-your-face bullies of the right. Keep it up. We wait for your next one.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and scathing indictment of the right in the media
Review: Al Franken has the facts to expose the partisanship and inaccuracies of leading rightwing media commentators in America. He shows that Fox News is anything but "fair and balanced". He shows that rightwingers like Ann Coulter are only capable of hysterical name-calling and cannot engage in rational debate as their arguments are so weak.
He convincingly shows how the US media outrageously beat up on Al Gore whilst giving Dubya an appallingly easy ride.
This book is honest, tells it like it is, and should be a best-seller. Al Franken is a patriotic American and he is going his country a great service by writing this book and showing how un-American Bush and his rightwing media rabble-rousers are. Buy this book now!
Rating:
Summary: The sexiest progressive since Michael Moore...
Review: Al Franken has three things the subjects of his book never will: wit, vision, and excellent research with foot notes (take that, you bellicose blonde barracuda). The man knows no fear, and regales us with tales of facing down the conservative power-mongers on their home turf and challenging their most successful lies "up close and personal". He has been in unique positions to cover topics such as Paul Wellstone's memorial and other public and political events with an insider's understanding and an outsider's rage. Excellent work, Al!
Rating:
Summary: Funny, incisive and meticulously researched
Review: Al Franken has writen a great book! Yes, it's funny and I enjoyed it immensely but to me its biggest selling point is the emphasis on fact checking! The new Right Wing commentators have been getting away with - well, lies. Whether it's Bill O'Reilly claiming awards he hasn't won or making up a statistic about single mothers on welfare and claiming it was a federal government stat or Ann Coulter writing that a Newsweek Bureau Chief she disagrees with is the son of Normam Thomas, a four time Socialist candidate for President when he isn't, these are simple matters of fact and can be checked and yet the rest of the so called liberal-biased media doesn't bother. Information presented as factual is either treated as an opinion or repeated as accurate without anyone bothering to try to confirm it. For example, when Al Gore mentioned that he was the model for the main character in Love Story, he was ridiculed by two reporters and the rest of the media took up the cry. Why didn't someone call Erich Segal the author and just ASK - the author says he WAS. Regardless of what political beliefs one holds, we need objective reporting in this country and we are not getting it. Bravo, Al!
Rating:
Summary: Neocons are what is wrong with American politics
Review: Al Franken has written a detailed book that points out the lies and the hatred of the radiacal right, and he does it with a great sense of humor. Besides all of the evidence that Franken presents, the validity of his arguments comes from the fact that we remember the lies he addresses: we know exactly how many and where the WMDs in Iraq are; most of the tax cuts go to the poor and the middle class; massive tax cuts will grow the economy; Bush will bring the country and the world together, Bush is a uniter, Bush will change the tone in Washington; and on and on and on. Lies and the lying liars that tell them. Al Franken lays out what was said and what has come to pass. Truth is revealed, and Bush's poll ratings plummet. Al, I am waiting for the next book!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book, Almost
Review: Al Franken has written a funny, often hilarious, and in places quite serious and moving book with "Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them)." In Chapter 5, "Loving America the Al Franken Way," are four pages that do an excellent job of portraying how many Democrats, Independents, and others that opposed at least portions of the war with Iraq must feel in the midst of the right's continuing indignation over our right to disagree. There are many other very good places in this book, such as the chapter on "Operation Ignore." Franken does a great job of summarizing how the Bush administration failed to follow up on the Clinton administration's effective anti-terrorism efforts prior to 9/11. Often overlooked is the fact that Clinton tried to pass on to Bush plans to aggressively deal with al Qaeda, an effort headed up by Sandy Berger and Richard Clarke. The Bush administration "ignored" these efforts and warnings about al Qaeda all the way to 9/11. Franken is very moving in his recounting of the media-created debacle following Paul Wellstone's funeral. Franken's choice of recounting part of Will McLaughlin's eulogy about his father, Mike, who was Wellstone's driver and friend, is most appropriate. More than two pages of the eulogy are given, capturing the emotions of the memorial, to conclude a sad and worrisome recounting of how simple mistakes and political cruelness can be broadcast, via laziness and ineptitude by the media, as a hateful and distorted lie. There are many other funny and important sections to this book. Franken writes a very effective play, where a waitress, starting out as a Bush supporter, is educated by a female tax lawyer as to how her "wonderful" $350 income tax rebate is outdone by more than $4000 in lost governmental support. A highlight of the book is a hilarious and sobering comic titled "Supply Side Jesus;" this amazing piece is nearly worth the price of the book all on it's own. Using humor, but also pulling no punches, Franken has an easy time showing Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity to be the liars they are. He takes care of Bill O'Reilly (which Franken renames Bill O'Lielly) with combined humor and outrage. Franken does not wait too long before applying the book's title to our President, George W. Bush, with "Operation Ignore," "By Far the Vast Majority of My Tax Cuts..." and "Vast Lagoons of Pig Feces" being particularly to the point. But for all its humor and great moments, this book had me shaking my head in a couple places. Franken decided to write another chapter of his "Chickenhawk" episode from "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot." The current chapter has even less relevance, and is more bothersome, than that from the earlier book. What is the point of this comical farce, intent on embarrassing the political right? Does Franken believe that his kind of mixed humor and malice will have any kind of positive effect? Worse yet, Franken recounts a meeting he had with Barbara Bush, where she had the ill fortune to be on the same plane with him. The chapter makes it abundantly clear that Franken can be a real pain when he wants to be. Franken does no more than lower himself to his antagonists' level.
Which leads to the biggest problem with this book, its "tone." Franken spends several chapters on this issue--although talking about the political right, not himself--and does a pretty good job in making his point(s). He missed the point, however, with the ill-humored sections of this book. To bad, in an otherwise funny and bold attempt to inject more honesty into our political discourse.
Rating: 
Summary: KIDDING ON THE SQUARE: A THOUGHT PROVOKING, HILARIOUS GEM
Review: Al Franken has written a thought-provoking and hilarious gem. He kids about things but he means what he says. AF points out many things in the media that might otherwise go unnoticed. I came to this book thinking it would be a hatchet job on the right by confirmed lefty. If you read this for the humor alone you'll be fine. This is one of the few books to make me laugh out loud while reading. The funniest thing was AF's proposed commercial of Presidential candidate John Kerry running a commercial dressed up as a pirate and poking fun at W for dressing up as a fighter pilot for his photo op. I like Bush and I like the right, but AF managed to score some points on Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Bill O'Reilly in an amusing way and using unbelievable quotes from their own books. Though AF accuses the right of blaming Clinton for everything, AF doesn't bother to lay anything at Clinton's doorstep. It is because of that, that LIES lacks some credibility. If AF had pointed his sharp tongue at Gore and Clinton as often as he did at W, Hannity, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, etc., this book would have bordered on "Fair and Balanced." AF says Gore should have won the presidency. Fine. If Gore's so great and came so close to being president, why isn't he running for the 2004 bid? How come he couldn't win in his own state of Tennessee and make the vote in Florida moot? If the folks in Tennessee don't have confidence in Al Gore, why should the rest of us? If they had Gore would be president today. Great read whether your an elephant or an ass.
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