Rating: 
Summary: Just the facts, man......
Review: I find it amusing that all the negative reviews of this book fail to bring up any inaccuracies or misleading statements contained within this revealing bestseller. If you look at these reviews closely, it becomes quite clear that the reviewers may not have even read the book. They are mostly attacks on Mr. Franken, Democrats and Liberals. Find a review that disputes the facts. I'll save you the trouble. YOU CAN'T. Franken's book is very well researched and provides irrefutable evidence, (mostly the words and deeds of those he criticizes). One would expect George Bush, Dick Cheney, Bill O'Reilly, or Anne Coulter, (the LIARS depicted on the cover) to at least make a case about the so-called hatchet job that Franken has afforded them. You won't see it. That's because it's tough to refute the truth. ... READ THIS BOOK!!
Rating: 
Summary: Conservatives just have no sense of humor
Review: I find it astonishing that the conservatives writing their critical reviews (eventually I grew tired of their bile and stopped reading them) are universally general and resort to typical Limbaugh rhetoric of "oh yeah? Well Clinton was worse." Actually, he wasn't, but that's beside the point. These individuals seem unable to differentiate the humorous satire portions of the book against the specific, provable examples of right-wing inconsistencies that were plastered all over FNC (and Murdoch's other holdings). Team Franken obviously went to painstaking efforts to ensure their accuracy, pre-empting a counter-attack from the right. Before you demean his work and his credibility, at least check these facts on LexisNexis and Google as he suggests. Whether you have a sense of humor and are able to laugh at a conservative pundit's mistake is your own issue. Perhaps a therapist can help you with that. Mr. Franken's book was funny and well-written. The change of tone was a little inconsistent toward the end and read a little more like sketch comedy (as opposed to the real comedy of conservative pundits being caught in their own exaggerations), but I enjoyed the book entirely. I'm glad he has the temerity to put his opinions unabashedly forward. He's right. It's about time we took back the word "liberal" and stopped the conservative right from making it sound as though it's a travesty to be in favor of civil and environmental rights, not to mention the truth. Bravo, Al! Keep those books coming! Can I join the Team Franken v. 2.0?
Rating:
Summary: Don't wake this sleeping giant.
Review: I finished this book feeling a lot like I felt when the U.S. beat Russia at hockey in the Olympics. Take that, tough guys! Our side can get tough, too! "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" is brilliant satire and undeniable truth. At times Franken's wit is caustic enough to make even the most confrontational liberal squirm. But, if "we" -- the liberals and moderates -- must sink to "their" (the verbal bullies like O'Reilly, Hannity, and Limbaugh) level to prove we can bite back, it's good to do it with style, intelligence and solid research. Lies..." is informative, thought provoking, and hilarious. Speaking of hilarious, some of the reviews are pretty funny, too. For example, the one predicting that a liberal media network will fail "...for lack of real intellectual debate." Oh. Real intellectual debate like when O'Reilly argues that our Constitution is based on the Ten Commandments and not the Magna Carta? Or when Limbaugh says the same thing , even quoting (wrongly) one of the founding fathers as his source? Come to think of it, Al Franken has a lot of nerve taking on such intellectual giants as these. But he does, and it would take a far more high-minded liberal than I not to enjoy it. Buy this book. It's great.
Rating:
Summary: A pageturner
Review: I finished this book in two days. It was that hard to put down. Franken, as usual, points out the dishonesty in the arguments of the right wing. If you start reading the book thinking that right-wingers are merely people with bad judgement, you'll finish believing they are nefarious devils willing to tell any lie to get power. "Lies" lacks a fifth star because, even though comedy is Franken's day job, the book isn't really that funny. Sometimes it's hard to tell when Franken is making a joke (a fact that may reveal as much about the conduct of his targets as it does about his style). Too much of Franken's comedy revolves around simple vulgarity, and his whimsical story about Republican draft-dodgers in Vietnam is unreadable. That said, I still recommend the book highly to anyone with an interest in politics.
Rating:
Summary: Good enough to buy it 4 times!
Review: I finished this book in two days. Within minutes I went online to send three more copies to my family members around the country!
Rating:
Summary: Franken shines again!
Review: I finished this book the day after I bought it, simply because it is the funniest thing I have ever read. This book is sure to make liberals laugh hysterically and conversatives grind their teeth, but that is not to say that the book is completly one-sided. Franken defends several conservatives, such as John McCain, berating Bush's people for playing dirty during the South Carolina Primary. The main people that Franken goes after are extreme rightists who, as he proves, lie to achieve their various ends. There really isn't a liberal bias in the media, not as long as Fox News exists. Lies is not intended as a manifesto on why "we are right" and "they are wrong," it simply tries to point out the absurdity of certain accusations against the Left from the Right. Oh, and the Harvard thing? There's a difference: Al Franken was 'lying' as a joke and did not intented to be taken seriously. People like Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly are lying, and are doing it in all sincerity. However, this book is not all fun and games. At several points, Franken lets all pretense and humor fall and presents sobering facts that would leave anyone human feeling numb and disgusted, such as where all of Bush's Tax Cut money really went. (He lied to the public about that too, by the way. Read about it.) In short: Read this book. You'll be laughing and crying all the way through. :)
Rating:
Summary: As title implies, this book is "fair and balanced"
Review: I finished this yesterday, and came on here to write a review of this book. I spent a few minutes just now, however, looking at other people's reviews, and I have to say that I am dumbfounded. The people who wrote bad reviews on here are remarkably illiterate: Their rantings are short, with most reviews a few words in length. None of the reviews I've read provide any details as to why Franken's book wasn't worth their time, just the kind of name calling that most right wingers resort to when their reactionary views collapse under scrutiny: "worthless punk," "pure crud", "foul mouth fool", "low life", "lying basketcase", "Moron" (all of these provided, amazingly, in one short rant by a particular reviewer, who nevertheless is unable to dispute any part of Franken's book), and names from other people so blatantly racist that I won't repeat them. Those attacking Al's book strictly on the grounds of his political leanings or his ethnicity are about as classy as the people who Al criticizes in his book. Still, I did not give this book a full five stars because I felt that Franken was too soft on the right in this book (the consumate nice guy, he held back a little). Otherwise, a solid book with very good information.
Rating:
Summary: Sue Al !!!
Review: I fired today because I fell asleep at work! I picked up this book last night and could not put it down till the sun came up. It's Al's fault I lost my job and he sould be held responsibe for my wakeful night of distrubing truth and humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Introducing Mr. Al Franken
Review: I first encountered Mr. Franken on the original Saturday Night Live over a quarter of a century ago. I loved that show but never quite understood why Mr. Franken was on there. He wasn't funny and detracted from an otherwise superb show. Since that time I have learned why Mr. Franken needs to have a platform to speak his views and why he uses comedy as that platform. He is obsessed with conservatives, so much so that he goes to great lengths to prove his views even to the point of, at best, distorting the facts (to give him the benefit of the doubt). He always assumes the motives of those he critiques are evil and works from that base. He is of the type that believes that 'the end justifies the means' and whatever it takes to destroy what he knows is bad is okay in the big picture. He is an intellectual eliteist from the same camp as the Clintons and the Gores, etc. These are people who believe that the general population is stupid and thay need to think for us. Since the end justifies the means, so whatever they need to do to force their ideas on the stupid commonors is justified. While at the same time always pretending to be 'one of us'. On the one hand the liberals want everyone to think like they do and on the other hand the conservatives want everyone to act like they do. Both sides seem to be out of touch with real people. Mr. Franken uses comedy because it allows him to be slanderous and insulting while avoiding the legal penalties. In the end he is niether funny nor insightful. Hiding behind comedy to spew his hyper-crital judgements is niether fair or balanced. He may be very intelligent but that horsepower isn't able to get to the pavement in this project. In the end it's a lot of wasted energy, both for the writer and the reader. This is one to avoid.
Rating:
Summary: Neither fair, nor balanced, nor well written
Review: I found a copy of this book (?) in an airline clubroom, where it had been discarded by the owner or previous reader. After merely a few pages it became obvoius why it had been tossed aside. I skimmed through the remainder of the publication and found only more shrill, ultraliberal, tired argument presented with a total lack of writting style, logic, or intellectual content. As I left for my flight, I tossed it in the trash bin where it most certainly belongs.
| 
