Rating: 
Summary: thank you al franken!
Review: with all of the business going on with Bush and Co.'s LIES about IRAQ and the phantom WMD, I needed a good laugh and Al Franken gave me just that. Read this hilarious, thoughtful, intelligent book and get out there and VOTE!
Rating:
Summary: Political Satire Mixed with Serious Research and Commentary
Review: With all of the flak Bill O'Reilly and Fox News made over this book, I couldn't help but buy it. I found it laugh out loud funny, at times insightful and overall very refreshing. It is not a scholarly work and it is not intended to be. Its Franken's retort to the shrill right wing idealogues that seem to be dominating the airwaves more and more. He lambasts Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, "Ann Coulter (what is wrong with her!)", and "Hannity and colmes", among others in a way that is both funny and at least informative. Still, with all of the hype in the media, don't believe everything you read. Listen to what Mr. Franken says, have a good laugh, and before you dismiss it or enlist in "TeamFranken", check it out for yourself!
Rating: 
Summary: "No Spin Zone" caught spinning to the right!
Review: With all the controversy between Liberal and Conservative, Left and Right, it's good to read a book that not only footnotes all sources, but includes photocopies of acutal supporting documents as well. There are few conservative books that prove their position so clearly. Sure Al Franken included some wacko stuff in a few chapters, we're talking about Al Frankin after all! But when it came to then facts, he proves himself dead on. Come now, "the Levittown section of Westbury Long Lsland"?? Who's the real Spin Master out there?
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing Truth
Review: With all the right-wing books flooding the market over the last few years, it is refreshing to read such an intelligent and funny book like this.
Rating:
Summary: They're Eating Right Out of His Hand
Review: With close to 2400 reviews, surely everything has been said about this book. I don't have much to add, except that a pretty large percentage of the reviews here are completely wrong. Of course conservatives won't like the book, and you can tell from many of the one-star reviews that such reviewers didn't even read the book anyway. Reactionaries, just like their political heroes. Also watch for five-star reviews (not including this one) in which reviewers agree wholeheartedly with Franken's liberal views. That's fine with me because I'm (mostly) on that side of the political spectrum myself. But those types of reviewers have missed the point of the book. Franken is exposing the style of lying utilized by conservatives and their right-wing media lapdogs, by using the same kinds of polemics and truth-stretching himself, as an illustrative device. He's using the phrase "fair and balanced" in exactly the same way they are. That's called "irony" folks, and I don't mean the type found in an Alanis Morrisette song. If you're a left-winger who can't figure that out, at least you'll like the way Franken shoots down conservative dogma with things they've never heard of - facts and evidence. If you're a right-winger who also missed Franken's use of irony, and have condemned the book in the usual reactionary and uninformed fashion, congratulations for taking the bait. You have proved Franken's points better than even he could have imagined. Next time, cut out the middleman and just jump right up into the boat. [~doomsdayer520~]
Rating:
Summary: Oh, the things Al Franken knows. . .
Review: With his keyboard dipped in vitriol, Al Franken hilariously exposes the myth of the liberal media while giving several right-wing clowns enough rope to hang themselves along the way. Unlike all too many members of the vanguard right, who have consistently used spurious statistics or outright lies to make their case, Franken simply allows them to choke on their own deceiving words. And choke they do, from "fiction" author Ann Coulter and Fox News' Sean Hannity to the near psychotic rantings of Bill O'Reilly. In fact, Franken's best stuff is saved for O'Reilly, who, when challenged, acts with all the grace of a rat trapped in a corner and confirms our suspicions about the splotchy parody of himself he has become. Especially illuminating is Franken's well-documented history of America's War on Terrorism-a history that, not surprisingly, bears absolutely no resemblance to the Bush White House version.
Conservatives won't get it, of course, (then again, conservatives won't even read it) but Franken is a highly educated, highly articulate, and extremely funny beacon of hope for the left and a true patriot.
As scathingly funny as "Lies. . ." is, Franken reveals the deeply disturbing backslide our country has taken since the neocons took over. Let's hope the dangerous free ride given to these lying lyers will end soon.
Rating:
Summary: Finally
Review: With more and more people believing anything that screaming conservatives tell them, it's nice to see a liberal actually take the time and effort to uncover the truth. Or most of it. This book uncovers a lot of dirty, downright corrupt activity on the right side of America's political spectrum. If you're not quite sure who to believe, this would be *one* book worth reading, though not the only one. The reason I took a star away from "Lies" is that it's only accurate concerning conservatives; Franken is very "rah rah!" for the Democrats, neatly avoiding certain "touchy" points. Franken's wit makes his words almost seem to grin, like those photographs you see of him on TV and in magazines. Sometimes the jokes are a little weak, imho, but even then the actual argument is happily on target. And he doesn't utterly desensitize or insult the reader's intelligence by resorting outrageous attacks; you won't find him seriously calling Ann Coulter a "traitor" anywhere in here. Still, it's incredibly refreshing to see someone shoot down hateful conservatives, who are looking for an enemy/purpose to replace Communist Russia. "Lies" is worth your money several times over.
Rating:
Summary: we're coming back
Review: With rapier wit, Al announces that we liberals just aren't going to take the name-calling, the personal attacks, and the rampant dishonesty of the conservative propaganda machine anymore. Al sets the example: he exposes conservative lies without sinking to their level. Al shows that we can fight toe-to-toe but use wit, humor, and intelligence instead of cynicism, deceit, and vitriol. And the right has confirmed its strategy in response: it has become even nastier and more bitter than ever. Here's a hint: if your best response to this book is a pathetic claim that you are more patriotic than the author, a pointless tract about Al's writing career, an impassioned denial without justifying your position, or just an overall cheap shot, then know that you have sunk into the angry, negative, cynical, deceit-filled culture that plagues this great nation, that culture of fundamentalism and neoconservatism. And we're not going to sit back and take it anymore.
Rating:
Summary: it's the money, honey
Review: With so many of our news outlets owned by Time/AOL/Warner, Disney, and all the rest -- it's not only impossible to trust their movie reviews, but also to trust their political reporting. Unlike days past where it was just an owner's Citizen Kane-like tactics that ruled the copy room -- it now falls to the corporate deals made in the back rooms with the good-ol'-boys to determine what is reported and what is muffled. And then there is Al Franken -- who tosses LIBERAL and CONSERVATIVE around like the dollar signs they represent. He is bright, funny, and his teeth are sharp. And he consistantly reminds us that however high-minded people are when proclaiming motives -- when it comes down to it, in materialist America, you can usually just follow the money and it will take you to the cash register of real motivations. It is money that drives current environmental policy; it is money that drives current international policy; it is money that drives current human rights policies; and it is money that drives the little engine that can't manaage to report the news in a responsible way.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny but typical
Review: With the backing of the Shorenstein Center, I expected a little more from Al... There's not much you can't find out with 15 Harvard kids doing your research. But Harvard or not, schools can't put facts into context. That takes experience and real analysis. Otherwise more facts just become more data to confuse the issue. I expected some real analysis from Al but got the same vitriolic diatribe that I get from Coulter, Hannity or O'Reilly. Complain as he does about them, he's doing the same thing. I was disappointed by that. That being said, it's still a pretty good book. It's flat out funny and cleverly written. Franken brings up some great points that the conservatives need to look at. But tultimately, this is a "preaching to the choir" book. Because of its tone, it won't make any converts and that's a shame because it could have been so much more.
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