Rating: 
Summary: Evil cannot abide Mockery
Review: The truth is, this book could have been stronger. More powerful attacks on the neo-propaganda machine include "What Liberal Media" and "The Bush Dyslexicon", both more accurate (Mr. Frankens doesn't let the exact facts stand in the way of a good joke), factual, and not nearly as readable (Sorry Mr Alterman).That said, they certainly set up Franken to deal a good public blow to an increasingly arrogant right that has "gotten away with it" so long they've forgotten this isn't a natural law. The fact that Fox, under pressure from Bill O'Reily, actually thought they could sue Al Franken and his publisher on the basis of his using "Fair and Balanced" on the cover is an example of just how out of touch with reality the far right has gotten. Al Franken succeeds in puncturing the bombast with facts and humor, of people that would simply scream louder when confronted with facts. He is not only correct, factually, but he is honest, keeping the facts in context. He admits when he was wrong (The chapter on Bob Jones university would *never* have made it to print if a Right wing author did such a thing to a left wing university.) with a refreshing candor. In other words, a refreshing change from people that can't tell obvious forged letters, claim to be independents but are registered republicans, or brag about having 780 footnotes, but actually have page upon pages of endnotes that actually have nothing to do with the claims they make.
Rating:
Summary: The Scales of Justice
Review: The two words that best describe this book are fair and balanced.
Rating:
Summary: Catharsis
Review: The ultimate appeal of this book is expressed in one word: catharsis. There was even a group catharsis from participation in the large scale purchasing of this book with the publicity engendered by the Fox/Faux News lawsuit. You know, someone won out not only in court, but in the old marketplace of ideas. Franken's book doesn't offer that much more to an aging sixties (or was it seventies?) generation member. Just look at the list of recommended authors and related books this website offers. While a minority viewpoint in the bookstores here in South Carolina (and I assume even in New York), it's not like it can't be found. The information is not new to me. However, my 17 year old son found tons of information new to him. He took it to study hall every day; I had harbored vague hopes of being the first to review this book. But besides catharsis, I hope this book can help educate a new generation, which gets its news information so much from humorists. The catharis did not stop with the purchase, or with the title, or with the funny introduction, but is maintained throughout the book. Not every moment, but more than you typically find in political humor. It's the style that differentiates this book--Franken's willingness to get down in the dirt and fight the right wing on its own unfair and unbalanced terms. But always with a wink, so that his irony is labeled irony; he claims to be a comedian, not a politician, not a journalist. As the right wing media does. For the reader, it's a bit like watching mud wrestling, a guilty pleasure. The book does have its surprisingly humble moments. There are two (and I believe that is the final tally) issues about which Franken confesses to having been wrong. I'd rather not spoil the moments by going into detail. As it is, those moments add substance and nuance to what otherwise would mostly be a long rant. Mostly, of course, it's a long rant. And for that, I say, "Thanks, I needed that."
Rating: 
Summary: The Great American Snit Continues
Review: The war of words and battle for audience among the TV/radio/print political "commentators" rages on. The funniest part of the battle is not the slings and arrows between "liberals" and "conservatives", but the fact that the Limbaughs, O'Reillys and Frankens of the world actually think that they're important to the political process, that their rants have any meaning. Consider that the highest rated TV blowhard, Mr. O'Reilly, gets but a smidge more than 1% of the 107 million American TV households to turn into him indicates that this ideological battle royale is a rather intimate event.
So, the release of yet another political blowhard's book comes along, and because he has the gall to crib the Fox "news" channel's slogan, he's front page news. But is the book actually any good? Compared to his conservative colleagues, no more so or less so. Like Ann Coulter, he's not above callous and childish name calling. Like Bill O'Reilly, he's every bit as pompous in faux-academia. Like Limbaugh (and, frankly ALL celebrity political "commentators"), he's like a kid in the back row of a classroom, shooting spit-balls.
But unlike the conservative tome-loaders, at least he makes no bones about the fact that (a) he's a punk, and (b) he's screwing around as much as he's pontificating. And, with that, it's actually pretty funny.
Of course, if the liberal vs. conservative cage match is serious to you, then regardless of your leanings, this book will anger you. If you're like me, though, and think the nightly blatherings from these so-called pundits are really pretty funny on their own, then this book will be a real entertaining read.
Rating: 
Summary: a pretty good read, though bogged down in statistics in part
Review: The whole book is a pretty good read, though it does get bogged down in statistics in parts. And as Franken also admits, it is kind of the same thing as Eric Alterman's book, but funnier (and probably reaching more people). Many of the points have been made before, but need to be made again until enough people listen and we get Bush out of the White House. Fortunately, thanks to Bill O'reilly and Fox news, Franken hardly needed to publicize the book at all and could just sit back and watch it float to the top of the bestsellers.
Rating:
Summary: Franken is a welcome voice of dissent
Review: The world needs Al Franken. In fact, we could use a few of them. Comedian, Harvard Fellow and Liberal commentator Al Franken is a man who has the courage, wit, and smarts to not just stand up to the Conservative Right, but to do so intelligently, and with a sense of humor (something the right is wholly devoid of). In this book, he blows the lid off of the selective editing, obfuscation, and downright untruth often used by the Right Wing when it comes to advancing their political and social agenda. He uses factual reasoning and extensive bibliographical resources to illustrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Right...hardly ever is. He reserves particular vitriol for Conservative media figureheads like Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Bernie Goldberg and Sean Hannity, punching holes in their inflated facades, and letting the air out of their needlessly overblown egoes. But it's not as though the Bush administration gets off light, either. He takes the Bush team to task on the economy, environment, foreign policy, and education. His chapter on pre-9/11 intelligence failings is seriously eye-opening, and worth the price of admission alone; as are his views on the Wellstone Memorial (or lack thereof), Fox News, and "liberal bias in the media." Franken also dismisses the "with us or against us" domestic policy of the Bush administration, wherein voices of dissent are universally (and incorrectly) colored as being borne of anti-American sentiment, by drawing an apt analogy: Liberals don't hate America, Liberals love America just as much as conservatives do. It's just that Conservatives love America like a four-year-old loves her mommy: Totally, completely, and without question. Mommy is Wonder Woman. She is perfect, beautiful, and can do no wrong. Liberals, however, love America like a spouse: Affectionately, but with maturity; and with an understanding that he or she is human, and will have faults that must be overcome or overlooked in the larger picture. All in all, "Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" is a necessary thorn in the flesh of the blustery bullies who would rather shout down than debate, rather win an argument than state the facts, and tell only part of the story rather than admit their dearly-held "truths" are actually cut from whole cloth. If you're offended, then it likely means you're part of the problem.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Quit Your Day Job Al...
Review: Then again, maybe he should. He hasn't done anything remotely funny since...well, I guess he never was that funny. Franken's star-power peaked about as high as his sub-par movie, "Stuart Saves His Family," which is probably remembered by only a handful of people. So that really didn't pan out like he would've liked it to. I guess that meant it was time to try a new angle to get the mindless sheeple in America to fill his pockets. What better way than to pander to left-wingers and their agenda, since most of them really are simply mindless sheeple. There's an audience out there who are just so emotionally livid that a Republican is President, they'll eat up anything that is anti-conservative. That's where Al and his book come in. However, Mr. Franken has zero credibility and it is clearly evident that he verbally manipulates the things he choses to write about in order to suit his assertions. Here's just one of many examples from frankenlies.com that reveals such tactics: "Bush's 2001 tax-cut plan is another target of Franken (Chapter 35 of Lies). Franken spins an array of numbers to give his readers the impression that George Bush's tax cut is just a swell arrangement for the rich. What has a more objective source said about Bush's plan? Time magazine, certainly not a Bush administration sympathizer, admitted Bush's $1.6 trillion tax-cut plan, "is not a sweetheart deal for the rich. It's primarily a sweetheart deal for just the people whom, [Tom Daschle said], Bush's plan 'shortchanges' -- working families.'1 The lowest tax bracket under Bush's plan was reduced from 15 to 10 percent, a difference of 33 percent. No other tax bracket sees nearly such a change. Of course, if you want to look at the tax plan in pure dollars, as Franken does, Bush's plan is open to all sorts of spin. The bottom line is if you give a gazillionaire any kind of tax cut, he will obviously keep more money than someone in the bottom bracket. But that's because he's a gazillionaire. Any tax cut at the top end will benefit the top end in raw numbers alone. Under the Bush plan, the top bracket is lowered from 39.6 percent to 33 percent, a difference of almost 17 percent. Compare that to the 33 percent savings found among those in the lowest bracket. Now people can understand President Bush when he says, 'The bottom end of the economic ladder receives the biggest percentage cuts.'2 The President is telling the truth. But Franken? The issue of taxes has been major issue of debate between conservatives and liberals for eons. President Kennedy (a liberal) believed in tax cuts. President Clinton did not. Each side offers a respectable position. The least Franken can do is 'engage his readers honestly' (Lies, page 20)." __________________ Notes: 1 Frank Pellegrini, "Dissecting Bush's Tax-Cut Plan," Time, February 27, 2001. 2 Ibid.
Rating:
Summary: THE PERSON WHO SAID IF YOU WRITE BAD THINGS ABOUT PEOPLE...
Review: then your mom dies...I'd just like to say, "Mr. O'Reilly, don't you have better things to do then waste your time writing reviews on Amazon?" Perhaps, he has another trashy novel to write. Anyone who would say this is a heartless idiot who needs to be strapped on a shuttle going straight to the sun. Anyways, this book was awesome. I read it months ago and I loved it. I really just wanted to write this review since I read in "Mother Jones" that someone wrote a review saying that Mr. Franken's mother died b/c he wrote this book! Utterly disgusting....
Its almost as bad as lying about a war and sending young men and women to die for some worthless imperialist fight....
Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointing: This Is No Longer the Al Franken Decade
Review: There are times that Al Franken can be funny; though in this book he mostly strikes out (I do like the part about challenging the conservative pundit who called Democrats "feminine" to a fistfight!). I was hoping that Franken would objectively critique and maybe even puncture some holes in the credibility of some of the more opinionated media figures. Unfortunately he swings sloppily and misses almost always: You mean Bill O'Reilly has a temper and an ego? Fine but does he have journalistic integrity? Franken never gets around to that part.
Regarding the controversial pundit Ann Coulter, Franken comes out toothless. Consider that Ms. Coulter has accused many public figures and politicians of collaborating towards our nation's demise. She provides evidence that there were Soviet spies in the highest levels of government and some of their protectors and enablers in the Democratic party still have great power today. Franken avoids all of this and instead nit-picks on insignificant peripheral issues such as Coulter saying "footnotes" when she should have said "endnotes". Is that the most substantive "lie" that he could find? (I recommend "The Trouble with Treason", by David Horowitz - see FrontPagemag.com)
"Lies", holds to Franken's comedic roots, his greatest strength. But considering the subject matter he should have been able to bulldoze a few doors down. Instead he knocks lightly and whines at the other side.
Rating:
Summary: Lies and the lying liars who tell them!
Review: There couldn't be a better title for this book!
Al dives headfirst as instructed by God (Just read the intro!) into the craziest speakers for the right. I love the chapter on Ann Coulter! He continues to delve deeper into the lies certain conservatives have told, and makes his way to Bush! This is a funny yet anger invoking book, much in the style of Stupid White Men by Moore. Lies, however, is a little more well-researched then Stupid White Men, and Al is a little less all out extreme. I love Moore however, and if you liked Stupid White Men, you will LOVE Lies! Hell, I think anyone who isn't a die-hard rush limbaugh or ann coulter fan will love this book! Definatly the best political book I've read in a very long time!
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