Rating: 
Summary: Right-wing propaganda soundly debunked!
Review: Finally, the left strikes back. If, like me, you see the country slipping further and further into the clutches of the hypocritical right, READ THIS BOOK. Franken takes each right-wing talking head, pundit and politician one by one and exposes them for the liars and hypocrites they are. Coulter, O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, Rove, Bush, Rice and others are caught red-handed lying to the American public. What is truly amazing is how easy it was for TeamFranken to expose these lies. Sometime, just a simple phone call to a source (which the liar never bothered to make) was all it took. Franken also debunks the "liberal media" myth so often spewed by these types.While overall the book keeps a light and humorous tone, there are very serious issues discussed as well, such as the Bush administration's unwillingness to take action against al Quaida, as recommended to Condoleeza Rice at least 8 months prior to 9/11/01 (to the "HUH?" reviewer who questions this, it was in Time magazine. Condoleeza met with Sandy Berger & Richard Clarke in January 2001, weeks before assuming her post--ever hear of a transition team?--and received a detailed plan to take out al Quaida, which she ignored), and the shameful coverage of the Wellstone memorial service. Franken strikes a blow for the truth in this highly entertaining and informative look at the vast right-wing conspiracy.
Rating: 
Summary: Franken-whine
Review: Finally, the mindless Bush-haters have a hero in the notoriously unfunny Al Franken. I saw the Wellstone memorial on C-SPAN: the liberals turned a serious service into a tasteless campaign rally. The same kind of thing happens when you show Democrats a videotape of the Ron Brown funeral where Clinton is yukking it up, catches the camera, and feigns tears. Democrats will swear up and down that's not what happened even when confronted with reality. The problem with Al Franken and most Democrats is that they're not thinkers, more like emotional reactionaries. They just want to "do something" for "the children". Any decent conservative can dismantle Franken's arguments in about five minutes because like most Democrats, he is afraid of facts. I think Franken did better work as one of the worst Saturday Night Live performers ever. The most hilarious outcome of this book is the "liberals get tough" act. Can't wait to see the liberal radio network fail for lack of real intellectual debate...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Finally. A book that confirms most of what I have felt about what I heard in the conservative media but never had the time, energy or resources to confirm on my own. This books is sensible, amazingly fair and the satirical humor makes it fun at the same time. When it comes out in paperback, I'd like to buy a case to give out to family, friends and others who tell me I'm "unpatriotic" when I don't simply accept & believe everything I hear from the media or my government. This book is an excellent resource for anyone who really wants to think for themselves and make up their own mind.
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Summary: Angry, funny, yet iconoclastic way to get back at the right.
Review: First a quick review of the first five chapters. Chapter One...Could be put in the introduction. Chapter Two...Great part about Ann Coulter and her numerous footnotes, which are actually endnotes and the six ways she misrepresents or outright lies about what was written about it. Chapter Three...Great neo-fascist quotes from Coulter.
After 9/11, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity." Joking with a reporter, "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to The New York Times building." Chapter Four...Yes liberals hate America. If they disagree with any republican they are dismissed as being unpatriotic. Quick compare and contrast LBJ, John Glenn, and Truman vs. Reagan, Bush Jr., and Dan Quail. Some slight differences in military records yet we (liberals) try not to call them unpatriotic. Chapter Five...This chapter and the BJU (Bob Jones University) really aren't needed for a serious political book but I'll give it a few chuckles. Conservatives and Centrists have always wondered where the absolute hatred of the Bush administration comes from...this book compellingly answers it in spades. Conservatives are becoming spin masters faster than liberals are. Such as Gore "invented" the internet, Rush, O'Reilly, and Hannity went nuts, but was Gore ever quoted as saying, "inventing the internet." NO! He did what any senator would do and passed bills funding Arpanet, the emergency military computer network. He "took the initiative in creating it (internet)". O'Reilly you're a sad man for lying where you come from...and even sadder that you would threaten to shoot Franken after your confrontation with him on C-Span. Oh yeah you're also a registered independent. Karl Rove that was a really inventive trick you did in the Texas back in 1986. Plant a bug in your office the morning before the gubernatorial debates then call a press conference (not the police) about what you found (planted). Push poll in the South Carolina primary so people won't vote for McCain (someone I would vote for). Hannity what are your qualifications for being on TV? No degree...background in construction. You're hired. Franken also takes on Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, which are soft targets of the far right. It also surprised me how many LAZY journalists commented on Wellstone's memorial service. Hardly any of them saw the entire three-hour event so what gives them the right to criticize it? Rush's criticism was more outright lies. "Clinton bused the crowd in." The funny parts were a nice breather...Supply-side Jesus was great, next to operation Chickenhawk. In conclusion, I encourage both liberals and conservatives to read this book and I challenge them to find misrepresentations, deceptions, or lies besides the obvious humor.
Rating:
Summary: Pity On Them
Review: First and foremost I'd like to commend Mr. Franken on writing a truly entertaining book. It provided me with several laughs that earned me wierd stares on the metro. It has been long overdue since we've had a book written that contained truth in it. I pity all the people who dislike this book. The only thing I have to say to them is, "Go back and blindly follow your lying leaders cause if you don't have enough sense in you to realize the truth well then just pipe down and go home." I recommend this book to everyone who needs a book to read that will keep them entertained and laughing on the metro as well.
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Summary: The Product of Research - No Spin - And Hilarious!
Review: First he totally discredits Ann Coulter, then he tears Faux News a new one. Every step of the way he injects humor. It is very easy to read and very well researched. He reveals the manipulative ways the right wing uses spin to create false impressions and even out-right lies. If you haven't heard about these lying liers yet then this book should be quite enlightening (maybe even shocking). But if you know or suspect that the right wing bends the truth to get support, then this book is a fun ride and a valuable reference resource.
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Summary: Mr. Franken, enjoy my $15 you conned me out of it
Review: First I would like to say that I enjoyed Al Franken on SNL. I thought his Stewart character was hilarious. So I bought the book thinking that I would get some humor mixed in with an intellectual analysis of party politics. I was wrong. Mr. Franken does a great job ripping Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly to pieces (not that it is a difficult task to accomplish this, they are really easy targets). And I give him credit for the hilarious Supply Side Jesus chapter, but the rest of the book is I'm sad to say nothing but a talking points book for the DNC. In the chapter where he is pointing out the "lies" told about Al Gore, he only mentions the Internet gaff and love canal. What Mr. Democrat Franken failed to mention was the many lies that Al Gore told on top of those. Namely, the famous "I've always been pro-choice" lie in the debate with Bill Bradley. He simplifies the reason why the Civil War was fought by saying that the South fought for the right to "continue to whip and beat Blacks" While slavery was certainly one issue with regard to Secession, it was my no means the only one. This was a typical race baiting tactic used by partisans. Then of course the most nauseating is the outright worship of Bill Clinton and the credit the democratic partisians give for a great economy. The people in the workforce that work everyday and don't have a limo and a jet are the ones that make the economy great, not the President of the US (By the way, that goes for Ronald Reagan too.) I could go on and on. But I expected better from Franken than a highly partisan tabloid piece. Instead of looking at important issues fairly and objectively and not through the DNC looking glass (and that goes for the GOP as well with their partisan ways), Al Franken has missed a genuine opportunity to elevate the discussion.
Rating:
Summary: Al Franken is overzealous
Review: First let me state my bias. I'm a registered Democrat who votes for people, not parties (Pete Wilson - Repulican; The Green Party a few times). I read this book from cover to cover not because it is great (or even good) literature but because I love reading about sticking it to the pompous, holier than thou Republicans on the right. From that point, the book was mostly worthwhile. As a writer, Al Franken is not very good. He is crude, confused and confusing. As a comic writer, he is not very funny. I got literally one belly laugh and maybe two or three grins, but that was it. He obivously thinks a lot more of his talent than I do. His continued need to state how wonderful his corporate presentations are I suppose is done as humor but really suggests a sense of major insecurity, a need to justify himself. So be it. I don't recommend this book to anyone other that those interested in letting the hot air out of the evil Coulter's, O'Reilly's, Hannity's, Limbaugh's and other President Shrub operatives.
Rating:
Summary: Frankenlies.com Distorts Truth.
Review: First of all if you notice that most of the foot notes are from Partisan Books and Opinion colums and some using slide-of-hand methods. Why can't they point to hard evidence, real news, or something more concrete? Maybe because they are more Lying Lairs that Al forgot to put in his book. Don't believe what you want to believe and use falsehoods or misleading things to prove points, look it up yourself and try to prove what you believe wrong before you prove yourself right.
Rating:
Summary: Packs a punch and makes you laugh
Review: First of all, I don't often write reviews and never do if I did not read the book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book (many a good out loud laugh) and found it instructive at the same time. Franken had a team of Harvard students helping him research and they turned up reams of flagrant lies, some silly and some insidious that the "right" utters incessantly until they believe their own lies. He demolishes Coulter, O'Reilly, Hannity and company. He shows how Cheney lies reflexively, for example, making a pious speech about the dead in Arlington Cemetery describing "rows of crosses" which don't exists at Arlington Cemetery... It turns out that the imagery of the speech was lifted from a poem about Flanders. There is a skit about who benefits from Bush tax cuts. In 4 simple pages, Franken demonstrates how the lower/middle classes will be worse off. This book clearly shows the right wing media creatures and the Bushies are not just totally dishonest but stupid and slipshod as well.
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