Rating: 
Summary: So funny, so "right on"
Review: I can't decide whether I liked this book so much because it is laugh-out-loud funny or because it is so "right on" (excuse the pun). I often watch the Fox News channel because I am convinced it is the funniest show on tv. Where else can you hear a fair and balanced approach like this recent exchange: Hannity was interviewing a young man who had been arrested for his activities as a human shield in Iraq. Hannity lambasted the man, saying that we live in a society where people must obey the law and if they don't, they will and should be punished. A few minutes later, while interviewing the judge who defied the Supreme Court's ruling to remove the ten commandments from his Court house, the same Hannity congratulated the judge for disobeying the law and standing up for what he thought was right. One has to laugh at such bald-faced, politically motivated hypocrisy. Thanks, Al, for not letting them get away with it.
Rating: 
Summary: What a lying hypocrite!
Review: I can't help but laughing every time I look at the cover and see his picture standing as if he is really serious and knows what he's talking about! The fact of the matter is that Al Franken is a comedian and the only way that he can try to convince anyone of anything is by making fun of other people. He is a joke, his book is a joke and those who buy the book for anything other than entertainment or a review are a joke!
Rating: 
Summary: Funny Boy Franken
Review: I can't help but notice the great success this book has had.
Amazon #1. (Numero Uno) Not second place, but top of the pile.What can you do with that kind of rating but wonder if in fact the US population has been craving such material. well researched with sometimes oddly connected dots, makes for a quick read and a hard and funny analysis of what a portion of the US main stream reportedly calls fair and balanced (syn: truth; honest abe; but, o'really!)
Rating:
Summary: Sharp, informative and "laugh-out-loud" funny.
Review: I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud so many times while reading a book. Writer/actor/political junkie Al Franken targets the conservative voices of today and blows them out of the water with his sharp criticisms and wry sense of humor. Though Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter seem to be his favorite targets, Al spreads his critique up and down the conservative food chain. (He even smacks Rush Limbaugh around for old times sake.) The left will enjoy this very personal, very humorous critical assessment of the hysterical right. The right, well, they'll just visit Amazon[.com] long enough to write a scathing review while claiming to have read the book. Get ready for the fun to begin. (Okay, now I'm ready for my "34 out of 278 people found the following review helpful:")
Rating:
Summary: This one of the funniest book I've ever read
Review: I can't say enough good things about this book. I found myself laughing out loud many times. I read it in just a few days; I couldn't put it down. Al Franken is just hilarious. His interactions with conservative political figures are so funny. His conversations with Barbara Bush, his challenging Rich Lowry to a fistfight, his exchange with Mr. O'Reilly were so funny I nearly peed in my pants. Woven into all of humor is a fair criticism of how conservative politics is so unapologetically full of BS. It is nice to see somebody pointing how frequently and how badly conservative talking heads just make stuff up that fits their point of view. I'm no fan Bush, so I was happy to devour every page of this book. I recommend this book to anybody; I hope everybody in America buys a copy of this book
Rating: 
Summary: The reader reviews - predictable!
Review: I can't stop laughing about the reader reviews for this book - they're so predictable! With a very few exceptions by thoughtful readers, the reviews are all either one star (indignant conservatives with no sense of humor) or five stars (gleeful liberals hugging themselves with joy). As such, the star rating system for these 1200+ reviews is meaningless. However, the number of responses alone is enough to tell you that it's worth reading, if only to see what all the fuss and feathers is about.
Rating:
Summary: Amusing and Revealing Satire
Review: I cannot improve on many of the reviews below, so I shall not try to do so. I would like to highlight one reason to read this book and suggest one reason for concern about the book. The most compelling reason to read this book is to see how easily some of the misleading statements might have been corrected by the authors skewered by Mr. Franken. Perhaps the most revealing part of this book is that so many statements in the books of others are flat-out untruths. [Whether they are lies is another issue!] The authors, their editors, and their adoring fans appear utterly impervious to the principle that oen should only contribute reliable information to the public debate. What may be worse, many of our fellow citizens seem indifferent to the specious or false information that some of the targets loose on the world. Mr. Franken's volume, read in concert with similar works by Joe Conason and David Corn, suggests that some misrepresentation or mendacity is not even considered an ethical lapse any more. Has our culture gotten so used to self-evident falsehoods that we do not even worry about spreading misinformation if it suits our purposes to do so? The only concern that I raise is that Mr. Franken's satiric use of irony and other rhetorical devices provides him an escape route that he would not permit and has not permitted Ms. Coulter, Mr. O'Reilly, or President Bush. Mr. Franken gets to say "Just joshing" or "Can't you take a joke?" when he veers over the line. That gives him an easy out that he denies to others. I hope that fair readers will consider this difference between the satirist and his sanctimonious targets. Both the reason to read the book and the caveat about Mr. Franken's humor may tell readers much more about the sorry state of public discourse than they care to acknowledge!
Rating:
Summary: burn this book now!
Review: I cannot tell you how much I hated this book and urge you to boycott it. I am a lifelong Republican and activist. My party stands for those who are successful, Christian minded, and controlling those who want to hurt American business. - First of all, how dare you oppose Bush in not supporting of the glorious war and Crusade against non-Christian infidels? What's all this bull about WMDs? Saddam killed, so we killed, might makes right in any sensible mind. So all those who are against Bush are going to hell.
- Democrats are all renegade swine, quite frankly, and it's a crying shame they are even allowed to vote. Jesus would have supported Bush in his war against muslim sheep and cutting funds for people who are disabled, crippled, retarded, old, etc. It's their own fault, Bush didn't make these losers the way they are.
- So Bush didn't win the popular election; God wanted him to be President, God didn't trust the 'popular majority' and God wanted a military hero like Bush in office. Thank God for our unbiased Supreme Court.
- Furthermore, how dare you show narrow-minded animosity at Bush when he is a self made man. Don't believe those who say the US doesn't have enough jobs. If the Mexicans can find jobs, so can you. Republicans get better jobs because we know the game, know how to take advantage of the system, and because of our Godly contacts. You should buy Anne Coulter books instead. She is the leading spokeswoman for the Republican party because she knows and speaks our truth. Quotes from her:
• "I think [women] should be armed but should not [be allowed to] vote...women have no capacity to understand how money is earned. They have a lot of ideas on how to spend it....it's always more money on education, more money on child care, more money on day care."-- Politically Incorrect, 2/26/01
• "...a cruise missile is more important than Head Start."-- Speech, 11/01, rebroadcast by C-Span in Jan. 2002
• "In his brief fiery ride across the landscape, Joe McCarthy bought America another thirty years. For this, he sacrificed his life, his reputation, his name. The left cut down a brave man, but not before the American people heard the truth."-- The Drudge Report, quoting from Coulter's new book, Treason, 6/19/03 • "We hate them. Americans don't want to make Islamic fanatics love us. We want to make them die. There's nothing like horrendous physical pain to quell anger. A couple of well-aimed nuclear weapons will get our opposition out of the way."-- Column, 9/25/02
• "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."-- Column, 9/13/01
• "We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors."-- Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference, January 2002 • "Soldiers are just cowards with their backs against the wall. The lowest IQ men in our society, those incapable of normal careers enlist. Their choice in life; prison or the military. Some will have to die in the support of our cause."-- Intervention Magazine, 11/06/03
• "The only beef Enron employees have with top management is that management did not inform employees of the collapse in time to allow them to get in on the swindle."-- Column, 1/24/02
• "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building."-- New York Observer interview, 8/20/02
• "Then there are the 39 million greedy geezers collecting Social Security. The greatest generation rewarded itself with a pretty big meal."-- WorldNetDaily, 12/10/03 My hero is the Ex-House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, GOP presidential prospect, and architect of the Republican Party's failed impeachment of President Clinton. He only failed because Newt was having an affair. Who could blame Newt, his wife went and got sick with cancer. That was completely different from Clinton.
Unlike Clinton, Newt was smart enough to divorce his wife after she got sick and could no longer drag him down with her. Lastly, how dare you stumblingly expose your miscreant incompetence with rantings against the Patriot Act. In my mind
Some Americans have too many Constitutional rights. The Bill of Rights should not even apply to the blue-collar middle classes who are too stupid to get involved. No Bush hating media or newspapers should have 'freedom of the press,' since they only have their rights and freedoms because the rich allow them to have them. Ever see some poor slob or middle class idiot who owned a newspaper company? You defamatory libelous, uneducated swine should keep your comments to yourselves or we'll send your job overseas. Go out and burn this book now!
Rating:
Summary: Poorly written. Not funny.
Review: I cannot understand the positive reviews that have been given. The book is poorly written and not funny. "Petty" also describes many of the arguments. It seems that the author could only find minor faults with the people he was criticizing. This was in the comedy section of my library. Out of curiosity I also found Bill O'Reilly's (sp?) "Factor" in the politics section of the library and read some of it. That really is well written and professionally done.
Rating: 
Summary: Facts have no place in this book
Review: I checked out Al Franken's book hoping to find an intelligent and funny look at modern politics from an opposing persepctive. What I found was a multitude of lies and cheap shots. Al Franken even failed at being funny, as his jokes mainly consist of swearing at people. I tried to give this a fair chance; I really did. However, a man who finds the New York Times to be 100% objective and finds Fox News to be so right-wing that it's fascist has some serious issues. His writing is on the level of Michael Moore's (that is to say, horrible and full of lies and slander). You would think a book that pruportes to be a "Fair and balanced look at the right" would do more than just insult everyone with whom he does not agree. If you wish to read a liberal who knows how to write and actually is funny, check out Bill Maher. But, please, leave this one on the bookshelves and stop buying into the publicity.
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