Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right

Rating:
Summary: Funny, On-Target, Some Editing Required
Review: Al Franken's much hyped book does live up to most of the hype (i.e. those who like him will love the book, those who do not like him will not go near the thing, but still somehow manage to write out a negative review on Amazon.com). It is very funny, particularly as it pokes gaping holes into that demonic pair of Fox pundits, Hannity and O'Reilly, and the rather crazy, and crazed, Coulter. They may be rather easy targets when it comes to spotting liers but as long as people continue to believe them Al Franken must continue to deflate them.

The author only stumbles a little along the way. The book could have used a little tighter editing, though, as when it came to a long comedic story about prominent Republican draft-dodgers that could have been excised, and a few of the chapters near the end that could have been expanded. This makes a fine companion to the slightly superior Bushwhacked by Molly Ivins. Franken's book is recommended for anyone who truly cares about the future of America.

Rating:
Summary: More proof that Republicans are inferior to Liberals
Review: Al Franken's new book is a highly funny and intelligent look at the cowardice and hypocracy of the conservative right. The book takes an in depth look at notorious conservative losers and liars, such as the Bimbonic Ann Coulter, the moronic Bill O'Reilly, the idiotic Sean Hannity, and the pathetic Michael Savage. It also details the blatant hypocracy of these conservative loonies, and of the GOP in general. This is the ultimate answer to the works of fiction by Ann Coulter, and other Republicans whose arguments are infected by thier jealousy of superior Democrats. Republicans will hate this book, because it proves once and for all that they are the real traitors to America, where-as Lberals are the true patriots.

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: Al Franken's new book is a horribly awful book, where he uses his status to spread rubbish about people ranging from the president down to television reporters. He is a smug, unhappy little man and needs to start doing something creative instead of just bad-mouthing others. Please, for your sake, do not purchase this book. It is a waste of money and time, and Al Franken should be ashamed of himself.

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Summary: The Book FOX News Didn't Want You To Read!
Review: Al Franken's new book is a humorous and entertaining slap in the face to the Right that has been long overdue. Like Joe Conason, the author of "Big Lies", Al Franken is a rarity: a liberal who is allowed on television from time to time and who, when attacked by right-wingers, actually fights back!

For many years "the Left" has been represented on TV by:

(A) people who aren't really left of center: Al Hunt, Tom Braden, Mark Shields, Sam Donaldson, Ellis Hennican

(B) people who are so annoying that even those who agree with them can't stand to watch or listen: Eleanor Clift, Susan Estrich

(C) weenies who sit meekly and allow the right-winger on the show to whack them like pinatas: Bill Press, OR

(D) a combination on "A", "B" and "C": Alan Colmes

Franken makes the clever comparison of the "HANNITY and colmes" show to a game between the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals. The analogy is right on target since like the Generals, alan colmes is a patsy who is simply there to be humiliated by his opponent time and again. This is not surprising since FOX News is run by a Republican stooge named Roger Ailes, who like Vince McMahon of pro wrestling fame, makes sure every bout is 100% fixed and that no one will call his right-wing hacks on their numerous lies. This is where Al Franken comes in.

A few months ago, at a book expo, Al Franken confronted Bill O'Reilly of FOX News about how O'Reilly had falsley claimed to have won two Peabody awards he had never won. As Franken recounts in his book (and many saw on C-SPAN), when caught in a lie, Bill O'Reilly started screaming "shut up" and called Franken an "idiot". O'Reilly isn't the only charlatan on FOX News. Franken exposes Sean Hannity as well. No wonder FOX News filed (and lost) a nuisance suit that was filed for the sole purpose of suppressing a book that exposed FOX News as collection of liars, demagogues and hucksters -and ridiculed them as well! The tough-talkers on FOX can dish it out but they sure can't take it.

It's not just FOX that gets a long overdue drubbing. Ann "thrax" Coulter gets some comeuppance, too. I could go on, but there are so many right-wing lies exposed in "Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair And Balanced Look At The Right", that I couldn't do Franken's work justice. Oh, and it's damn funny, too!

Rating:
Summary: Franken "Right" On Target
Review: Al Franken's new book is a masterful accounting of the shameless lies, deceit, and slander of the conservative commentary so prevalent in America today. The writer/producer/performer from Satuday Night Live has assembled "TeamFranken", a group of students from Harvard, to help him gather the research for his book, a method that he recommends Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter try someday, as well as something called "publishing the TRUTH."

Dispelling malicious lie after malicious lie, Franken parces and demystifies the entire world of smoke and mirrors both in media and politics used to further Republican, Right Wing agendas. All this is done, of course, with his usual acerbic wit and candor. Franken, as a comedian, seems never to be taken seriously until it is too late by the folks he talks to. And when he publicly catches them in some staggering untruth, they resort to (as is the case with Fox's recent lawsuit) legal action, verbal hostility (Bill O'Reilly of "The Factor") or more lies (Ann Coulter.)

But there is more to Franken's book than simply calling conservative commentators to account for their distortions and misrepresentations. There is also an underlying sense of real concern over the direction America is taking, both foreign and domestic. To, as the conservatives did, opportunistically and callously court political favor over the public memorial for Senator Paul Wellstone and those who died with him in his plane crash in 2002 is reprehensible, and Franken's depiction of the events of those two weeks underscore his real anger.

But nothing tops his feelings about Ann Coulter, which are, shall we say, extremely passionate.

Except maybe "Operation Chickenhawk; Episode 1" in which notorious hawks George W. Bush, Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, George Will, Clarence Thomas, Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, and Bill O'Reilly (all of whom somehow "missed out" on combat in Vietnam, yet are perfectly willing to send troops out now,) are put to the ultimate test: being commanded on a Swift by John Kerry.

A joy to read. If not for its hilarious moments, then certainly for its signal that the left can fight back.

Rating:
Summary: It's about time
Review: Al Franken's new book is a welcome breath of fresh air. Along with Joe Conanson's Big Lies, it is about time someone has taken on the right's propaganda machine and called them what they are. Mr. Franken book is filled with righteous anger and deliveries with it with biting, wicked humor. Al makes his case well. His sources are well documented. He builds upon them detail by detail, citing his source every step of the way. Kudos to Al and to Joe, I recommended this book not just to the faithful, but also to the ditto heads, the faux followers the angry who lap up the half-truths, the self-serving platitudes and the empty suits, all without question. To question is a sign of a healthy democracy, blind obedience is a sign of a failing democracy. We should all question and be ready to follow the truth wherever it may lead

Rating:
Summary: Franken's Masterpiece
Review: Al Franken's purpose in preparing this masterpiece was to expose the right-wingers for the flaws and faults that they should be held responsible for and those hideous atrocities they have committed which the American public should know about. If we go through life unaware of what mischief our government is doing behind our back than something is terribly wrong with our society. Franken briliantly lays out his concrete points of evidence against the right with a fair overview of each situation thoroughly proving his point. In Chapter 16 "Operation Ignore", Franken proves that the Bush administration could have done much more to prevent the tragedy of September 11, 2001 than they actually did and that they were warned of such attacks by people in our own government. This is an easy statement for anyone to state but Franken digs into the situation and unearths the real truth and the real happenings involved with this statement which for some may be hard to accept but is nonetheless true and a proven fact. This book is definitely convincing due to its in depth analysis of each atrocity. it is equally comprehensive. Even people unfamiliar with government lingo and normality will have no problem comprehending this book. Franken is not necessarily biased, given the topic. True he does not delve into the flaws of many liberals but he does admit some faults they have made over the years. From reading this book, the most stand-out question in my mind is why the American public is so oblivious to the wrongdoing that is occuring behind our backs and why we, as a country, are not in a political uproar about our lying, untrustable government. One characteristic of Franken is without a doubt his incorporation of humor into his life and his work, to infuse his book of government of and the right with comedy makes the book much more enjoyable, understandable and overall more accomplished. With titles such as "The Bame America's Ex President First Crowd", "The Lying Years", Operation Chickenhawk:Episode One" and "Vast Lagoons of Pig Feces: The Bush Environmental Record" how could anyone not enjoy and not agree entirely with Al Franken and "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them."

Rating:
Summary: Putting a bayonet into a truly rotten heart
Review: Al Franken's satire does not appeal to me a great deal, but that's okay because there is less satire in this book that fact wrapped around some personal experience. The research is solid -- and the professional researchers properly credited.

No wonder that gasbag O'Reilly and Fox wanted to shut Franken up. Despite it's funny title, Lies and Lying liars is a solid book with a load of fact that demonstrates just what a fraud O'Reilly is, along with the rest of the Fox crowd. (So far as fair and balanced goes, all I see on Fox are Opinion gasbags. If there's any news, you have to hunt for it and then it's slanted and frequently unrelated to facts. Consider it just warmup for gasbag to follow).

So far as who's telling the truth, well it was Franken who said Rush Limbaugh was a big, fat idiot. Obviously he was right. But I wondered why he didn't call him a liar in that title. Because nothing Limbaugh said while frothing from the mouth was true. But Franken called him an idiot. That was a nice way of saying Limbaugh may not have known he was a big fat liar because like so many of the hypocritical right wing extremists, he was popping so many pills it's hard to believe he found time to talk.

There we were, feeling sorry for Limbaugh because he'd gone deaf. If he'd leveled with us, we'd have known his pill popping did it. Feel sorry for poor Rushie! After all, everyone else who's ever had any pain became addicted to 400 pain pills illegally acquired. But when he's recovered, count on Rush to fess up and volunteer for one of those mandatory 10 year stretches people like him advocate for others. Wrong! Bet he'll tell you he shouldn't go to jail. Hey, he's got a lawyer who't get him off the hook. Keep him from paying the price. If black ghetto druggies were smart, before the man comes about the drugs, they'd check into one of those high end rehab places that will keep people from asking questions?

By the way, whatever we do when it comes time to punish people like O'Lielly, don't put them in solitary with a mirror. Nothing Gasbag Bill likes to do more than listen to himself talk -- unless it's watching himself talk. HIs comments about the Fox lawsuit afterwards were fantastic. The judge effectively said the suit was idiotic and O'Lielly said he had to do it. Proof he's not only a liar, but an idiot. Too bad Hamfist and Milquetoast didn't join.

Get it straight folks. There's satire. Franken does that. With bite and a lot of fact.

Then there are the pompous right wing gasbags like O'Lielly. You can always recognize them because anyone who doesn't agree with them is a traitor, a slanderer or a baby molester. Or was it that ditzy Ann Coulter who did that? Hard to tell them apart with all the shrill hysteria.

You need to understand something.

Rush and his friends get paid to entertain. They get paid to pander to the worst collection of idiots in the world. That's you if you're a listener. But that doesn't make you a bad person or a traitor. Just an idiot who's too stupid to turn off the talk radio and think for yourself. You're making this collection of life's losers feel important -- and rich enough to score lots of illegal drugs.

Maybe you could read something that challenges the way you've been told to think. You might read something by someone who is actually a thinking conservative, you know, the go slow socially and balance the budget folks, instead of people whose idea of fun is to fill the streets with people in brown shirts. And maybe a torchlight book banning as a topper.

Resist all those blandishments to look for someone to blame for something that may not even be broken. Because almost certainly what you're hearing is either made up or so badly distorted, it should have been made up.

There was nothing Hitler feared more than the possibility that people might think for themselves. Stalin hated it too, so he sent people to the gulags for not thinking his way.

But hey, you can have it the Bush-O'Lielly-Limbaugh way and have plenty of drugs and no punishment, big government spending and no taxes and a war everytime you think you're falling behind in the polls. Do what you're told or we'll bug your office, tap your phone and then think of something else.

Would a presidential candidate do that? And do something cheesy like a late convention in New YOrk so he can bask in the glory of September 11 -- and make people think he's a hero (instead of a draft dodger) just a few weeks before the election?

Sure. The only thing that matters is power. Why worry about the country when you can give your friends big tax breaks and fat no bid contracts in Iraq?

Hey, Halliburton is okay and so's their former CEO, Dick Cheney.

Rating:
Summary: No better than Ann Coulter
Review: Al Franken's shrill screed is no better than Ann Coulter's unhinged rants. If Mr. Franken is trying to brand himself as the new voice of the political left, then he should invest in singing lessons. I read this looking for a few laughs at the expense of the right. What I got was a smug rant by a limousine liberal. Franken is no better than his counterparts on the right.

Rating:
Summary: The Truth at Last!
Review: Al Franken's timing is superb and his substance is brilliant in this well-researched book. More impressive than his dissection of the lies and half-truths told by O'Reilly, Coulter, & company is his over-riding sense of humanity. Franken never stoops to defining his enemies only in ideological terms. He discusses details about the humanity of those with whom he has dealt and thus provides a human dimension missing from the bellicose diatribes filling the airways from the likes of Fox News and right-wing talk radio. He convincingly answers the right's charge that liberals are 'Evil' with a counter charge that the right is both misguided and power-drunk. He masterfully illustrates the absurdity of republican notions that we live in a world of 'free markets' and that maximizing corporate power inevitably improves the lives of everyday people. He also gives a fair and balanced description of the corporate under-pinnings of the right-wing media complex.

I am hopeful that Al's voice will be heard on a daily talk radio show as has been rumored. There is so much propaganda that needs to be debated and debunked. Franken has provided a wonderful place to begin.