Rating: 
Summary: Buy This Book!
Review: Al Franken is angry, really angry. This is as fair and balanced coverage as the right wing deserves. Buy this book now and you will understand how and why some of the crap we hear and read gets into mainstream media. His writng as usual is bitingly sarcastic, witty and yes, well researched. The truth is out there and Al Franken writes about it.
Rating:
Summary: Savage, Utterly brutal and completely unmissable
Review: Al Franken is angry. Frothing at the mouth, chewing on the furnature ANGRY. He has cause to be. The conservative right has been lying and getting away with it. This does not sit well with Mr. Franken. So he compiled a list of all the people who piss him off (conservative pundits and politicos mostly) and began to tear into them. It is difficult to underplay the horrific nature of the beating he dishes out. Using the sneaky tools you would expect from a former SNL comedian (a phone, a computer and a team of Harvard research assistants) he sought out all the places his targets had knowingly lied, and exposed them. Disturbingly, you get the impression that his editors reigned him in. He occassionally summerizes his lists of grevences beyond the material he covers. For all you fans of Ann Coulter, you will be glad to know Mr. Franken spends two chapters on Ms. Coulter. One is titled 'Ann Couter: Nut.' Look on the top right corner of the book cover, just above the Bill O'Riley head shot. See her? Speaking of Mr. O'Riley, if you are a fan of his, then be carefull picking up this book. It may explode in your hands. It seems Mr. Franken was able to document a number of falsehoods propagated by Mr. O'Riley, as well as having an intense personal dislike of the man. Bully is the nicest thing he calls him. Bottom line: it is erudite, funny, scholarly, savage, rude, highly personal and it is about damn time such a work was published. Unlike TREASON or SLANDER, the citations in this book check out. Buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Ann Coulter's Antithesis
Review: Al Franken is Ann Coulter's antithesis. When I say that I mean it in every sense of the word. I do not only mean that they lie on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Unlike Coulter and the many other hysterical writers who are ripped apart in this book, Franken respects his audience and does not lie to us(he has FOOTNOTES and everything!). The book is humorous and informative instead of polemical and obnoxious like some books I could mention coughcoughslandercoughcough. As an interesting side note, I probably would never have read this book had Fox News not sued Franken over its title, thus peaking my interest. I say Al Franken is indebted to Fox News for the free publicity, and on his behalf, I thank the right-wing propaganda channel.
Rating:
Summary: Cathartic laughter for news hounds
Review: Al Franken is as politically well-informed as he is wickedly funny. He succeeds in doing what Rush Limbaugh can only aspire to do: deliver deft political commentary with the crafting, timing and finesse of a seasoned, professional comedian. "Lies" is packed with cathartic laughter, particularly for those who revere news and analysis but have grown disgusted or discouraged with the force-fed polemics of conservative "news" broadcasting, personified by Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, and Sean Hannity. As important as the abundant laughter, however, is Team Franken's documented, detailed, credible research substantiating what most of us know intrinsically: there is something institutionally cynical at the heart of Fox News and its commentators. More than mere political philosophy distinguishes Fox from news and commentary as traditionally practiced by the "Big Three" and public broadcasting networks. While mediocre pundits rail about the lies of politicians, Franken makes a sobering, if hilarious, case that lies - big, important ones, in fact - are institutional in a media organization clearly established to serve a specific political demographic or political agenda.
Rating: 
Summary: Hillarious
Review: Al Franken is at his best, insightful and biting in his fun-poking at rightwingers. Al's a liberal, of course, and picks no bones about just not liking the guys on the other side of the isle. But he plays fair in his attacks, sticking to the inconsistences and inaccuracies spouted by the folks he doesn't like, it's all true stuff. And surely there are plenty of liberal inconsistances one could dig up and poke fun of. But with the endless yelling and liberal bashing of the rightwingers all over FOX and MSNBC and AM radio, we don't really need any more of that. Franken does a much more intelligent and balanced version of this in his book, effectively driving home the arguments from the other side. In this, he's helping give some balance to a very imbalanced playing field.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, thought-provoking, and truthful
Review: Al Franken is back with the follow-up to his previous bestselling book, Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot. Many people are quick to criticize Franken, usually with one or two sentences and very little thought. My review is a little different, however. I actually read the book. Franken sets his book up nicely by focusing on the so-called Liberal media. He manages to prove, rather quickly, that there is no such thing. He quickly decimates previous books by Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter by debating them point-by-point and offering proof to back up his point (somthing they rarely do). In addition, he identify numerous lies perpetuated by the right wing and decimates them. Franken is an expert at playing devil's advocate and looking at what the right might say in response to him before he decimates their lies. Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and the entire Fox News staff are basically taken apart by Franken. While it's hilarious and thought-provoking, it's also downright scary. If you wish to believe that we still have a free press that is not run by the government, you might want to read the proof Franken has that today's media (specifically Fox News), is nothing but an extension of the Bush administration. I highly recommend this book. It's truthful, accurate, and will really make you think.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Eye-Opener
Review: Al Franken is back, with an entertaining look at a subject that -- well, isn't. Jokes aside, Franken's analysis of the current right-wing corporate-news propaganda machine is meticulous. That's hardly surprising; Franken never ceases to credit his research team at Harvard. His book uses many of the same techniques he used in Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and other observations: he takes transcripts of people who lie telling lies, and then either debunks the lies or shows that very liar contradicting him- or herself. The highpoint of the book is his tearful account of the use of Paul Wellstone's death by "liars" like Bill O'Reilly and his old nemesis, the Big Fat Idiot himself (who referred to Wellstone as "Senator Wellfare"). The tone turns a bit caustic, and Franken's grief is as apparent as his outrage. All in all, this is an entertaining, moving and important book that examines not just the content, but the diabolical techniques the right has used to fix elections and make the American public work against its own self interests.
Rating:
Summary: A call to arms
Review: Al Franken is both funny, and organized. Al Franken debunks the myths and lies brought to us by the right. Let me just say this, Fox News sued him over the book, you should not need any other reasons to buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Not kidding on the square
Review: Al Franken is brilliant in this book. At first I was crying tears of laughter, then tears of sorrow for the family and friends of Paul Wellstone, and throughout there were tears of pain from getting pissed off and punching the wall(I recommend using something softer, like a pillow).
Rating: 
Summary: Why write this book??
Review: Al Franken is clearly a bitter, bitter man.
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