Rating: 
Summary: Way to go Al!
Review: Fox News did Al a big favor by threatening to sue him for the title of his book. The "controversy" boosted book sales quite nicely.
After listening to the all the right wing blowhards in the media, it's nice to read about a different point of view. Al makes a point to back up his points with sources. He also shows how the blowhards make stuff up.
Even if you are a right wing blowhard, you'll still want to read the book so you can yell, "Oh that's crap!"
I would have given the book five stars, but I thought it could have been funnier.
Rating: 
Summary: Al Franken gets personal and wins
Review: Fox News tried to keep this book from coming out because they thought Franken's use of Fair and Balanced on his book cover would make people think that Fox supported this book. No seriously, they did. And they lost, real quickly too.This is Franken in his usual professional, and yes, liberal form. The media is not liberally biased, atleast on the things that count. Franken shows this, but more importantly confronts those liars of the Right, that seem to be willing to say anything to appear victorious in their "debates." From O'Reilly to Hannity to Coulter, Franken one by one takes on the actual words, which would be better described as lies, from their programs, webpages, or "books". Using real research by his top ranked "TeamFranken" (including "the Bens"), these lies are not only exposed, but the deceptions are shown to be obviously intentional on the parts of the lying liars. All the while, Franken's wit and humor to go alongside this confrontation of the Right is top class. While this book is a comedy, it is also a commentary that reviews those who claim to be trustworthy and balanced or independant, but are nonetheless vile mudslingers, content on reporting their own biased and ignorant opinions rather than covering the news. This book is a must have.
Rating:
Summary: It's funny ... because it's true
Review: Fox News wants you to believe that Al Franken is just an irrelevant comedian with pretensions of being a serious commentator. But before you buy into that, remember this: Al Franken may have gotten his start with "Saturday Night Live," but Bill O'Reilly got his with "Inside Edition," so at least the former had experience writing political satire while the latter was busy giving you irrelevant details about the private lives of celebrities. And one other thing: Franken actually did some research for his book. It's funny how easy it is to write a book that's both funny and true. The process: 1) Tell the truth;
2) Be funny. Al Franken, unlike the right-wingers he mercilessly exposes in this GOP-debunking masterpiece, is not an ego-tripper. For that reason, he actually used researchers (14 of them, to be precise), to make sure his own facts were correct and that the "facts" of his targets were, in fact, lies. Some people like to say that liberals have no serious commentators these days, only comedians. This may or may not be so, but Franken makes an important case for embracing it if it is. "We have to fight back, but we can't fight like they do." He says that the entertainment value of the right-wing media comes from their willingness to lie and distort, and that the left has to respond to that by being attractive and funny. You see, Franken doesn't shake his finger like a certain splotchy-faced cable commentator and tell people what deceitful spin artists they are. He identifies lies one by one, and then tosses a wealth of evidence on the table. By the time you finish reading this book, you'll not only realize that there's no "liberal media," you'll also know never to take Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, President Bush or a host of others at their words again. Because they're all a bunch of lying liars, and Al Franken has the facts to prove it.
Rating:
Summary: cnn and fox news lie
Review: Fox News was the leader in lies, saying they were fair and balanced when it was so obvious they are in love with republicans and hate democrats. CNN also has become biased as they generally have been as positive toward Bush as they were negative toward Gore and Clinton. No one, not even conservatives can refute that Bush has generally received a positive spin from the media while Clinton was constantly bashed. 364 days a year we get these dubious polls and then one day a year the voters vote on voting machines owned by republicans, with constant propaganda from the entire media about how patriotic the republicans are and what losers the democrats are. This is what democracy has come down to in the 20th century. We have something like whitewater and clinton being given a blow job hyped into something criminal by the media. Then we have Bush being praised as supposedly an honorable man by the media, when in fact he is stealing from the poor and giving to the very wealthy. So Al Franken and the others who have in a humorous way criticized the right wing punditocracy that rules the land is to be commended for giving us some truth. Bush lost in 2000 and Al Gore should be president
Rating: 
Summary: Liberal Drivel
Review: Franken (aka a democratic dittohead) wastes ink and paper ranting about his dislike for anything and anyone conservative. Don't waste your money on this one.
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Blend of Humor and Outrage
Review: Franken balances humor and outrage perfectly in a manifesto against the most reactionary administration in 100 years and their media accomplices. The book is a call to arms to everyone who is appalled by the direction of the Bush administration and its Fox, WSH, Washington Times cheerleaders. The Wellstone Memorial Chapter alone is a searing indictment of viciousness abetted by laziness, in which a heartfelt, grief stricken event was distorted and cynically used as a club in the late stages of the 2002 election. Franken confronts many of the right wing commentators who told lies and are forced to admit they did not see the event they wrote the lies about. Elian/Dolphin girl Peggy Noonan merits particular scorn. Franken's book is a funny "Common Sense" for our times. Buy it for yourself and especially any "swing voter" with an open mind. It will unquestionably convince them to vote for the Dems.
Rating:
Summary: Rediculous
Review: Franken believes that he understands the right well enough to criticize it. He believe That he has us all figured out. Like he says here "We love America just as much as they do. But in a different way. You see, they love America the way a four-year-old loves her mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups. To a four-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad, and helping your loved one grow. Love takes attention and work and is the best thing in the world." Do Conservatives think that everything about America is wonderful? What wabout Welfare, Social Security, Progressive Taxes, and Public Education, and legal abortion? OK, Franken is really talking about foriegn policy, but what about Bob Novack and Pat Buchanan? They have criticized Bush on the war. Also, there was plenty of criticism of US foreign policy from the right in the 1990's. Conservatives love America despite the liberal parts they dislike. Liberals like it despite the conservative parts they dislike. Franken even mentions some areas of conservative discontent about America in his book. He is just too thick skulled to see that his own book proves his own arguments wrong- and not just in this one example.
Rating:
Summary: charles dickens from Philadelphia should read the book
Review: Franken clearly addresses your concern within the book itself. He goes after O'Reilly on a number of levels. The 2 Peabody awards turned out to be a Polk, which the tabloid show Inside Edition was awarded _after_ O'Reilly left the show. Afterwards, O'Reilly falsely accused a journalist of lying when he exposed the story (and as Franken points out, its somewhat ironic that the award was a _journalism_ award). Everyone makes mistakes, weasels lie about them. O'Reilly also compared the Koran to Mein Kampf (and then lied about having done so), lied about his party affiliation, lied about where he grew up, and repeatedly gives false statistics to support his arguments (claiming that they're dead accurate). And the wonderful picture of O'Reilly on the cover (and the lawsuit it sparked) is worth the price of the book alone.
Rating:
Summary: It's easy to mistake hate mongering for irony if you're dumb
Review: Franken continues his comedic political assault on the mis-informing. People challenged in this book are those who are willing to dish it out, but unwilling to take it. Franken does a lot of dishing out. Instead of making grand points, Franken relies on his targets to provide misinformation. Then he deftly pounces on their errors, corrects them and often proves that their original point is greatly mistaken. Franken takes on the bullies and beats them with weel-referenced facts. Oh, by the way, he does a good deal of clever name calling. Not as much as he did in 'Big Fat idiot', but a lot nevertheless. . .
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, but also timely and important
Review: Franken demolishes the right-wing propagandists with style, wit, and deliciously subversive humor. This book is very readable, but doesn't skimp on the meat. It's required reading for any liberal/Democrat who wants ammunition against the thoughtless rants of the self-described dittoheads. More importantly, it is written in so accessible a manner as to be an invaluable tool for the vast majority of Americans who don't go to sleep each night thinking about how loathsome Sean Hannity really is. This book demolishes (again!) the myth of the liberal media, and it does it in a very simple manner. There are enough facts, examples, and sources to make Franken's argument compelling, but it isn't so comprehensive as to be off-putting to the casual observer of politics/media. The book is not a painstaking and methodical refutation of the liberal media myth, as was Eric Alterman's brilliant "What Liberal Media?". Rather, it's a flip and funny takedown of the right-wing media machine. The achievement of the book is that it doesn't use its humor to avoid the hard work of making a strong case. Rather, it uses humor as the sugar to make the pill (rigorous and well-researched political argument) go down easier. The research is in there, and the arguments are tight. But the book isn't intended to be comprehensive or authoritative. On each of Franken's topics (including Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Rove/Cheney/Bush, etc.), Franken presents a paradigmatic example (or two, or three) of their propensity for telling outright lies. He infuses this point with truck loads of biting and acerbic humor. But he's not simply an attack dog. Like any good comedian, his goal is to produce laughs. He's as likely to send you into paroxysms of helpless merriment with a smart defense of Gore's supposed lies as he is with a wicked smackdown of one of the right's more odious talking heads. The book is smart, funny, clever, sharp, and right on target. If you're not already a zombified disciple of conservative political "thought", then reading this book will prevent you from ever becoming one.
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