Rating: 
Summary: a big dissapointment
Review: as a fan of Franken and a fellow liberal, I was very eager to get my hands on this book. the minute i got it, i plopped down on the coach and began to read. unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. i found myself getting bored with constant, childish tone Franken has. none of the arguments were new or progressive, and all of them sounded boringly familiar. i would not reccomend this book to anyone who is trying to get a real look at the disgraceful hypocrisy, lying, and overall moral bankruptcy that defines the right. there are a few good laughs in the book, and it is entertaining reading his well-founded attacks on "Compassionate" conservatives, but the book is really a lot of fluff. like his attack on bill'o reilly or rush limbaugh.(the argument was so unremarkable i can't even remember which) he cited an incident when the host mixed up which award one of their guest received. so? so what? is that it? and the answer is no, it's not. the right wing fanatisists that rule this country have much more outrageous lies than this, so pointing out these make the cause seem almost insipid. which, in franken's case, it just may be.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is a joke!
Review: As a gay american, im apalled at this guy's vitriol! He's an embarassment! I'm definitely not a republican(obviously, im a homo) but I'm definitely not a democrat , and this book really convinced me of how wacko the democratic party had become!
Rating:
Summary: If only Franken were funny, one could overlook the idiocy.
Review: As a kid in the late '60s and early '70s, I could not find a satisfactory definition of "right wing" or "left wing." Thus, I opted for the tailfeathers.
So it has been most of my life. Not undecided, not middle-of-the-road; merely a thinking, analytical human being who saw truths and lies from both sides. Both conservatives and liberals made occasional good points, and both had their share of liars and lunatics.
As I have grown older and wiser, I have noticed, with increasing frequency, one fact:
In the liars and lunatics category, the liberals are way ahead, and gaining distance at an amazing rate.
Al Franken is a shining example of this observation. And, as with so many ultra-liberals, his form of lunacy is defined as paranoid schizophrenia.
After reading a Washington Post article (in which the reporter states that, to Franken, "To ask whether the establishment press has a liberal bias 'is like asking whether al Qaeda uses too much oil in their hummus.'" - a real knee-slapper, that one), I decided to take a look at Franken's book.
To ask if Franken's book is as full of liberal bias as the American mainstream media is like asking if there are any Catholics in the Vatican.
Franken expresses much seething anger and absolute paranoia because he feels the "conservative media" is taking over. Considering the decidedly liberal stance of the vast majority of newspapers, magazines, television stations, television scriptwriters, movie screenwriters and - face it - Hollywood and the entertainmant industry in general, one fails to see why Franken and his ilk are so terrified of Fox Television and a few radio talk show hosts and conservative authors. Let's be TRULY fair and balanced here: yes, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Neil Boortz, Michael Savage and Ann Coulter exist. But, in the arena of mass communications in general, they are tremendously outnumbered. That's not a conservative opinion, it's a clear observation. So, why such paranoia? Surely such purveyors of "free speech," "truth," and "fairness" as Franken shouldn't fear a minority of public figures who merely offer a viewpoint that conflicts with his own? Evidently, liberals such as Mr Franken are only "open minded" to diversity and free speech as long as the "diverse" are exclusively democrats and liberalism is spoken "freely."
Franken is a comedy writer, and not a particularly amusing one. The book has a few rare moments of mild humor (not unlike Saturday Night Live, a show he once wrote for), but overall is simply too biased and vindictive for anyone of any degree of genuine intelligence to stomach.
If you seek any truths in Lies and the Lying Liars, you'll be equally disappointed.
In essence, considering Franken's ultra-liberal stance, the book's biggest lie - yet funniest line - is the claim of "A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."
Is Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them even vaguely enlightening or entertaining?
Hey, is the Pope Jewish?
Rating: 
Summary: Bashing Al is a waste of time.
Review: As a liberal, I bought everything Al said before he said it. But the real fact of the matter is, Al is funny. I have heard and read many from the right and appreciate those whose humor shows through. Al Franken is smart, and too funny for the room. Anyone who is annoyed by Franken simply must get over themselves.
Rating:
Summary: Who Lies?
Review: As a liberal, I looked forward to reading this book. There are many conservative books on the market but only a few for liberals.However, after about half way through, I found it difficult to continue reading the book. Al Franken is one angry man. His hatred for Fox News Network and its hosts, especially Bill O'Reilly, makes for a boring read. A book full of hate speach is not entertaining. Al Franken is the one who lies in his own book! For example he faults Bill O'Reilly over the issue of the Peabody award. Al's account of this story is incorrect. If you like hate speach ... pages and pages of it ... READ THIS BOOK. If you want a fair review of Fox News Network, go elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: poorly written
Review: As a liberal, I was eagerly anticipating this book. I was sorely disappointed when I attempted to read it, however. There is some very useful information in this book, but it was so hard to read, I couldn't even finish it. It's as if he gathered information from his research team and spewed it across the pages; there is no organization and it's very choppy. I don't know how it got past the ediorial assistant's desk (politics?)... Also, reading about how much he loves himself and how great he thinks he is gets a little trying.
Rating:
Summary: Come on, Liberals!
Review: As a person who has enjoyed Al Franken in the past, I could not be more disappointed in this book! Of the "facts" and opinions contained in this entry, the supposed facts are almost completely created out of fiction, and the opinions are simply angry personal attacks without support. This book actually lends support to the conservatives, since it paints the liberals as exactly the way they see them. I believe that this book will turn more liberals into conservatives than any program of political action could ever do. Thanks Al!
Rating:
Summary: Accurate, Funny, Reassuring
Review: As a progressive thinker living among pro-bushies, the book is reassuring that if I am crazy, at least I'm in good company. You'll laugh, sigh, worry, and fall in love with the author and team Franken, assuming you were in agreement even before you bought the book. We all get basically the same news. Roughly half of us interpret it the way Franken does. The other half interpret it the opposite way. That seems to happen no matter what the news is, 9/11, 2000 election, invasion of Iraq, etc. It is this phenomenon that I would like to see Franken explore in his next book. It could be very enlightening, funny, and more useful than characterizing the other side as idiots and liars. While I agree with Franken, I also tend to believe that some of opposition are very sincere in their (misguided) beliefs.
Rating:
Summary: Proof politics can be amusing..
Review: As a relative conservative without the hysterical bent of Coulter I couldn't help but find myself grinning through many parts of this book. Its simply a fun read. True, there are those sections that I found a tad overwrought and a few expose's that are nitpicky, and I'm wondering where the outrage over Bill is hiding. BUT, that being said, you can't help but enjoy Mr. Franken's clear glee with the task at hand. With excellent research Mr. Franken pokes fun at a few who take themselves entirely too seriously. This book will probably be appreciated best by individuals who cling to neither party. Trapped between Moore and Coulter, we need some commentary that, while making fun of others, will spare a few laughs for itself also.
Rating:
Summary: A Republican review of Al's book
Review: As a Republican, you would expect me to be attacking Mr. Frankin and his book. If so, you would be wrong. The problem with Al's book is that he provides sources for his statements, references for what he says and explains clearly HOW he came to his conclusions. He explains how Ann Coulter used LEXUS/NEXUS to distort the truth. He cited his sources instead of "a friend of mine's wife's cousin", etc.
This book won't make me a Democrat, only make me more aware of why I need to vote for more worthy candidates, no matter what their party affiliations may be.
Frankin does offer opinions and some unsubstantiated or poorly substantiated "facts", but not nearly as many as a Rush Limbaugh or other far right winged commentators have. Most importantly, it substantiates many of the rumors I had been hearing for a number of years now by citing actual sources of these statements. Now if I say something, I can cite real sources instead of "I heard or read such and such" on the Internet the other day.
For those who denigrate this book by saying that it is a bunch of lies, please cite ONE SINGLE LIE that you have found in this book, along with YOUR source proving that it is a lie.
I have read dozens of reviews saying he has written a pack of lies but not a single citation of a lie they have found in the book.
Al proved that Bill O'Reilly lied about his Peabody awards. He proved that O'Reilly was not from a "poor" family and worked his way up to his $4 million a year job, but rather grew up in an affluent suburb of NY and went to private schools. He proved he was a registered Republican (no sin) and not an Independent as he has claimed constantly.
So I await someone citing even one lie in this book, let alone that the whole book is nothing but lies. I am sure there are some facts that are wrong, but so far nobody has pointed out a single one yet.
The negative points I have about this book are:
1) It rambles a bit too much and has too little detail on some points and too much on others.
2) It mirrors right wing dogma in that it sees no good in people on the right and no bad in people on the left. Both sides have good and bad and it reduces the impact of the book to paint with too broad of a brush.
3) It spends too much time on meaningless people like Coulter, O'Reilly and Hannity and not enough on those who really impact our lives like Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft and the rest of the Bush cabinet.
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