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

Rating:
Summary: More blathering hypocrisy...
Review: I checked this out of the library. Franken was funny--about 20 years ago. He hits humorous strides a few times here but this is basically another one of those dopey mad-as-hell-liberal books written for the absolutley humorless and self-righteous political clones that now make up the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. One example of this phenomenon: MoveOn.Org, the lib group that like Franken has been puking all over Bush with its newspaper ads, just took one out in California saying how despicable it would be for Californias to allow a serial grab-ass like Schwarzenegger to become governor of California. This is the same group that took out ads saying how despicable it was to impeach lying, serial grab-ass Bill Clinton over HIS sexual pecadillos, though the accusations against him included sexual assault. These people, like Franken, have high double standards. The hilarious thing to me is how they've become most like the people they most mock--the religious right--in their orthodoxy and willingness to smear anyone who posits a view opposite to theirs. This must be very satisfying to the zealots--but it also explains why Gray Davis is in the dock in California and the White House and Congress belong to the Republicans.

Rating:
Summary: Bravo Al!!
Review: I commend Al Franken for having written this book. It is a lucid and often hilarious analysis of what passes for political discourse in the US today. Too many good chapters to name a favorite but "Loving America the Al franken Way" stands out because it focuses on the difference between how progressives and right wingers love their county. Brilliant stuff.

In the post 9-11 environment political dissent has been stifled by a poisonous patriotic fervor that threatens the health of American democracy. Franken highlights the inherent dangers by lampooning the demaguogery of the right wing nutjobs like Hannity, Coulter and "O'Lielley."

Bush takes his licks later in the book and Franken puts his disastreous fiscal and foreign policies under his satirical microscope - the chapter with the tax lawyer and waitress particularly illustrating the shameful misrepresentation of his tax cuts to the working masses.

With humor, Mr. Franken has managed to expose the mendacity of the American right for all to see and it is not pretty.

Rating:
Summary: Proving that Right is often wrong...
Review: I confess some bias here, since I have long been highly suspicious of the motives, and credibility, of the neo-conservative media and its celebrities. But, unlike his "literary" counterparts on the Right, Franken builds his case on sound research and first hand experience.

Compared to Coulter and Hannity - whose books overflow with supercharged emotion, skewed facts, and vicious partisan hyperbole - Franken is indeed "fair and balanced" here. This does not mean that Franken is agenda-free...far from it! But his agenda is to expose the New Right media for the sham that it is; to deliver a counter punch in the 24-7 assualt on liberal ideology from the Right. Using a powerful combination of data, humor, and instinct, Franken delivers a knockout!

With this book, the right wing media is exposed for what it really is, and the emperor has no clothes...

Rating:
Summary: Funny AND Smart
Review: I confess that I prefer Franken's "Limbaugh" book, because that was funnier, and there are a lot of darker essays here--but I suppose that's because we live in darker days. Still, Franken brilliantly combines the intelligent if pedantic style of Joe Conason ("Big Lies") and the in-your-face ad hominems of Jason Johnson ("I Hate Bush and So Do You"). Republicans who criticize the book for not being even-handed apparently overlook the fact that Al Franken backs up his statements with FACTS, which, I also noticed, the Bush defenders don't deny.

Rating:
Summary: Blinded by the right?
Review: I consider myself a centrist with leanings to the right and fairly conservative in my views but I found this one of the funniest books I've read in a long time. I think Al Franken tackles a lot of what I see is the biggest enemy our side has, our own liars (both sides have them). I've always thought Bill O' Reilly was an arrogant blowhard and reading about him getting caught and sand blasted with his own B.S. was worth the book price alone, but it gets even better as you go along. If you are "blinded by the right" I am sorry for you, he makes some great points and is truly entertaining. (Obviously written by some Farleft pinko POSING as a right winger)

Rating:
Summary: Better Than Most of Its Ilk
Review: I consider myself a conservative, but in trying to keep an open mind about things, I read books from the "other side" from time to time. I read "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" by Al Franken. Even though I agreed with only about 20% of what he wrote, the book was well written and funny at times. I think Mr. Franken communicated the message he set out to convey. This book is much better than the more venomous books of Michael Moore.

Rating:
Summary: A real wake up call for moderates.
Review: I consider myself a moderate. Therefore, when I read this book I was expecting a funny book more so than a eye-opening experience. Franken's wit is razor sharp and I was rolling within minutes of starting. However, the overall effect on me was to reveal some of the more despicable and underhanded "loose interpretations" of the truth employed by the conservative media. I am a frequent listener of several of the radio personalities named by Franken. On the whole, I used to find them entertaining more than enlightening. Now, I cast a more critical eye to these folks and their vitriolic brand of dialogue with the American public. While Franken appears somewhat vengeful in one particular dramatic chapter, this book is remarkably even-handed actually supporting factual allegations with sources. What a concept! A real pleasure and a real motivator.

Rating:
Summary: The hilarious truth.
Review: I consider myself a vehement independent (and am actually registered as such, unlike Bill O'Reilly), and usually look down upon such overtly partisan books such as this...BUT, Al Franken is a darn funny guy. He systematically dismantles his main "opponents" on the right, namely Ann Coulter, Bernie Goldberg, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and the current White House administration, with such wit and...wait for it...FACTS that I was left practically in tears at times.

First on his radar is Ann Coulter, who he calls a "nutcase" (subtly, as it is the title of chapter 2 - Ann Coulter: Nutcase). He dissects her best-selling book "Slander" and reveals countless blatant lies throughout her book, lies that any computer-literate person can expose in just a few minutes on google or LexisNexis.

His next target is Bernie Goldberg (after a second chapter dealing with Coulter). Goldberg's book "Bias" is revealed to be written using the most selective of sources to illustrate the alleged liberal bias in the media.

Franken moves on to the great Bill O'Reilly, who seems entirely incapable of telling the truth and has mastered the art of hypocrisy. My favorite of Franken's points in this chapter is his comparison of O'Reilly to the rap artist Ludacris, who was featured in a Pepsi ad that led O'Reilly to ask his viewers to boycott Pepsi. His reasoning: Ludacris "degrades women...encourages substance abuse, and does all the things that hurt particularly the poor in this country." Franken then reads to us from O'Reilly's own novel "Those Who Trespass" (available here on amazon.com!), which is "about 'a serial killer who will exact revenge on everyone who has sabotaged his rising TV career.'" It features a 15 year-old crack whore performing fellatio and depicts more murders than does Ludacris' hit album "Word of Mouf".

Franken then goes after the Bush administration and the war on terror with the same fact-based wit-filled vengeance he used on his fellow authors. This book is more truthful and a heckuva lot funnier than the rest (I know, unfortunately I've read many of them) and worthwhile reading no matter which side you're on. I fully expect a liberal/conservative amazon.com rating war to break out over this one, just as it did with all the others. I just hope a significant portion of the partisan raters actually read the book, especially those who would otherwise absentmindedly give it one star, and I challenge those one star raters to not laugh while reading this and to refute Franken's own refutations.

Rating:
Summary: The Right is WORSE than I thought!
Review: I consider myself well-read and informed, and yet I learned there's a lot I didn't know until I read Franken's book. Every single point he makes is well-documented and it is NOT spin. Those giving this book bad reviews probably have not even read the book! Buy this book, read it, and talk about it with your friends.

Rating:
Summary: More Gripping than the Florida Recount
Review: I could not put this book down any more than I could turn the television off during the Florida recount. Franken has provided illuminating, highly specific and in-depth coverage of the workings of the right wing media and the current government of the United States. He does so in an elegent combination of high quality humor and inspiring integrity. The book is a testament both to our First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech and to our need to protect it. A must read for anyone who cares about making a difference now and in the next election.