Rating: 
Summary: Funny, yes, but really, really serious.
Review: Read it. Zany, visceral, hilarious, weird as it may be, the book drives home a concrete and valid reality: Americans are being misled by con-artists, political spinsters, and sloppy well-intentioned "journalists" who tacitly or overtly accept untrue information, and then feed it to casual news watchers.Franken is a comedian, but through the hilarity (and a few flop jokes) is a most serious premise. And it is not so much a polemic rant as his adversaries will claim. In fact, Franken rips his right-wing enemies a new one with the help of a crack team of Harvard research geeks. He employs scholarship and journalistic integrity to discredit a variety of right-wing frauds, including the President. His "TeamFranken" documents how mainstream media allows right wing fringe press to blow its horn loud enough to be recognized, even when (or especially when) the facts are bogus. This is a central theme of the book. It is an old trick to get a falsity published in headlines, knowing no one reads the retraction (if one is published). Hence, liars abound. Lies sounds rather extreme off the bat, and Franken's willingness to describe persons in a profane manner (the way we really do it) might take a humorless person or a republican aback. But TeamFranken, in fact a machine of credible research, pours a solid foundation for Franken's accusations - a stage for him to cut loose. And why use sugar? Franken is almost shocking in his exploits. He describes not only his charges against his foes, but his interaction with them. Franken confronts the people he discredits (if they will see him). In doing so he is delightfully obnoxious and courageous. His loud, crude bragging is intentional. He is Al Franken, and that has been part of his act forever ("And I'm Al Franken"). His tactic is honest, and it is one that other scholarly media critics cannot access. He sees that news has become the business of entertainment, and that often the truth is compromised for professional-wrestling-style debates that evoke memories of Morton Downey Jr. He counters. He uses his celebrity status and his comic talents to mix entertainment with brutal reality. He sees the necessity. But, unlike many "news" outlets, his facts are real and his intentions are on the table. Perhaps the most profound element in this book is Franken's corny idealism. It is not corny, but we have been trained to see it that way, haven't we? By contrast, the deserving targets of TeamFranken seem incredulous when they are exposed. Dirty tricks are just part of the game, Al! Everybody's doing it, right? Wrong. Bill O'Reilly and company will need MLA manuals (in addition to cortisone) from here out.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb
Review: Read the sheer hatred from the negative reviews below. That should tip you off to how truthful this book is. Truthful and hilarious. Well-researched and well-written. If you're not one of the sheeple, then you'll have a blast reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Whatever you say Al
Review: Read this book if you: 1) Believe in paying higher taxes.
2) Refuse to take responsibility for your own actions.
3) Think it's fair to take money from people who actually work for a living and give it to people who are too lazy to work.
4) Wish this country was more like Cuba.
5) Actually believe that Bill Clinton was an honest man with high morals.
6) Are totally ignorant on how the electoral college works and thinks Bush "stole" the election. I find it ironic that a washed-up "comedian" is one of the leading voices for the left. The title for Mr. Franken's book is also ironic considering he wrote an apology letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft, admitting that he was not truthful when he previously sought Ashcroft's views on abstinence.
Rating:
Summary: sly, clever, and hilarious
Review: Read this book the day I got it. Hilarious lampooning of right wing talking heads, chickenhawks and all who believe anyone speaking against "W" is an unpatriotic traitor. Laughter, as always, is the best revenge. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Laughing out loud and crying at once
Review: Readers (and Al),
This book is wonderfully written -- intellectually appealing and emotionally confusing -- leaving me laughing out loud one moment and trying to contain the sadness the next.
Franken is not "just a comedian", unless you think Jon Stewart of the Daily show is too. He is insightful, honest, and explains complex social and political issues in blunt transparent terms. I don't think it's possible to offer an analysis of the state of our political discourse and our policy choices without pointing out the humor in it.
By making the analysis and commentary humorous, Franken shows exactly how serious this is in a way only a good comedian with great Harvard researchers can do.
This is obviously not a fair and balanced reporting. Fair -- yes. Balanced -- no, but the points need to be made loudly. My goal is to get as many conservatives I can to read this book, if only just to put more money in Franken's pocket, but hopefully to help them see the world from a more honest and less selfish perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: It's Franken who's the liar
Review: Readers of this book beware: When Franken accuses conservatives of doing something unethical, HE's the one who's actually doing it.
Franken starts slamming Ann Coulter in Chapter 1, so I spent some time with "Lies" in one hand and Coulter's "Slander" in the other. Turns out Franken's accusations of Coulter are either wrong, suspect, or petty (He calls her a liar for using the word "footnote" to mean "endnote". Gimme a break!). He says Coulter dazes and confuses readers by writing misleading endnotes, but if you check the direct source, you'll discover that Franken conveniently abridges Coulter's full citations, thereby misleading his *own* readers. Franken also calls Coulter a liar for claiming Evan Thomas is the son of 6-time Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas (Coulter did inaccurately say 4-time). In an endnote of his own, he provides the punchline: Evan is Norman's GRANDson. Well, Franken needs his glasses checked, because Coulter wrote "grandson" all along.
In short, Franken is another liberal whiner who just can't stand being on the losing side.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, someone is taking it to the right with intelligence
Review: Reading Al Franken's "Liars, etc" was so refreshing! It is about time that the right wing media and Bush administration had a sufficient tongue-lashing with facts, not rhetoric or half-baked, wishy-washy protests. Franken gives it to you straight with facts and figures in a most hilarious and incredibly intelligent way! God bless Franken--we want more!!!
Rating:
Summary: total waste of time
Review: reading this book was a waste of my time.... the only people Frankin will be able to convince are the weakminded and the ignorant.
just because you site sources doesn't mean what you write is true, or even close to the truth.
just like his stuart smally bit... this book is a work of comedy than any investigative truth
Rating:
Summary: More shrill whining from the left
Review: Reads like the democratic debate the other night, shrill shrill shrill. Might find some ground on college campuses though. Some mildly amusing parts in the book, hit and miss like his writing on SNL. Don't bother.
Rating:
Summary: Book? More a collection of cartoons and "Thoughts"
Review: Real analysis hardly matters anymore, really. Who has the attention span to really focus on an issue, after all? Certainly not this guy. This book is a chopped-up collection of paragraphs and pictures for the MTV crowd. A little flash from a comedian that has a lot of friends in the press who think being droll and satirical is an indication of superior intelligence. Hell, Howard Stern's book had more substance. Not much difference between the two.
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