Rating: 
Summary: ZERO STARS...SAD NOT FUNNY
Review: They just don't get it on the left. Not everyone agrees with them! But they can't seem to Deal with it! They react like spoiled kids. Attacking anyone that disagrees. They think they are smarter than most, you can just hear the smug elitist attitude ringing loud and clear even in the other reviews...please Al Franken and his supporters are the people that no one wants to sit next to in school the annoying know it all(losers)that whine and blame others. Totaly twisted up with hate they sound paranoid and irrational. This Book is Sad not funny. As for the people he makes fun of and Fox news...keep an Open mind...why not give it a try? Get both sides and MAKE YOUR own decision don't get your information about something as important as politics and our society by someone as twisted as Al Franken.
Rating: 
Summary: a thoughtful and well-researched book!
Review: They Live! At least that is what I have been thinking the last three years, after witnessing the Bush Administration's corrupt dictatorial rule and the "news" networks' selective propaganda. OBEY. STAY ASLEEP. SUBMIT. CONSUME. MARRY AND REPRODUCE.I felt like I was Rowdy Roddy Piper in John Carpenter's classic 1988 movie. Only I and a few others had those neat special sunglasses which let us see the lies and fact-twisting being done by the USA's wealthy-crusading-Christian-fundamentalist leaders. Only I and a few others could see the rapid unraveling of our civil rights and liberties, our economic fairness, our environmental protections, and our aversion to imperialistic invasions.
But not any more! With "Lies and the Liars Who Tell Them," Mr. Franken and "TeamFranken" have essentially given readers a mind-awakening tool just like Roddy's ghoul-detecting sunglasses! This intelligently-written, insightful, well-researched, and fact-based book exposes the shrill propagandistic offal spewing from the media's and government's rich conservatives. And although the book is speckled throughout with a good dose of laugh-out-loud humor, it is mainly a sobering exposé of our country's takeover by the wealthiest 1 percent of our population and their malevolent intertwining of capitalism and fascism; their turning a blind eye to white collar crime and stockholder ripoffs while angrily shaking their fingers at drug users and welfare recipients; their focus on "moral" issues so they can divert our attention from the common person's economic woes and lack of health care; and their evangelical support of George W.'s blind determination to "finish" his dad's war. The stories about Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, and Hannity and Colmes are side-splitting. The chapters on Karl Rove and Republican machinations and newspeak are frightening. And the chapter on the Bush Administration's trashing of Clinton's national security programs before September 11 is truly horrifying. Although most of the book is a delightful, fact-based, and well-deserved skewering of conservatives, Mr. Franken bravely does admit times he has been wrong, such as his attempt to get dirt on Bob Jones University. And the book is not perfect, as it includes a few stories which undermine TeamFranken's brilliance, such as the nasty, trivial, and rude confrontation of Mrs. Barbara Bush. This book is a MUST READ for every American. It is also a MUST READ for people who live outside the USA and are fearfully watching the Earth's giant bully its way around the planet.
Rating:
Summary: Conservatives should read this book
Review: They should, but they probably won't. Unfortuantely it seems that most pop-politics books written from a particular "side" of the left-right divide get read mostly by people who already agree with the premise. It would be nice if Coulterites would take an objective look at how many of her descriptions of articles and accounts are completely distorted or even made up. Then crawl over Franken's book with a microscope and find a single inaccurary if you can. No one has yet. It would be nice if people would base their assessment of a book on whether it is based on facts and fairness rather than whether it supports their ideology. But I'm afraid it won't happen. The few negative reviews of this book come from people who may or may not have read it, but are rejecting Franken's politics rather than the accuracy of his examples. (And for good reason ... they're accurate.) I have nothing but praise for his accurate research and his analysis of the right-wing propaganda machine and the dangers it poses to honest intellectual discourse. And I think if you're basing your assessment of it on your political persuasion, you would be well advised to consider whether a political persuasion that depends on misleading people for support is worth maintaining. Also recommended: "Big Lies" by Joe Conason and "What Liberal Media?" by Eric Alterman.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent.
Review: Thieves, liars, and cockroaches beware. Al has flicked the switch on the kitchen light. If you carefully read any of the "negative" reviews, you'll see a trend in their style. Vague accusations of unfairness, name calling, but no meat to back-up their complaints. Al has researched this material more than your cursory negative-reviewer has the time for. Raking up the slime and muck at the bottom of the political cesspool we call media and government in an amusing manner is his job and passion. The material is clearly there for all to read and refute if they can. Keep that in mind when reading this book and enjoy the laughs.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect Answer to Right-Wing Media Bias
Review: Think there is a liberal bias? Read this book and learn about how big a myth/lie this theory is. You'll also find out what airheads Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity really are. This is a first rate, hilarious and eye-opening book.
Rating:
Summary: Louie DePalma
Review: This Al Franken book reminded me in a most unususal way why I'm a Democrat. The blatant lies and distortions by numerous conservatives in positions of governmental and commercial power, all in an unashamed attempt to manipulate us smaller folk so they can have their way, must be fought with vigor and ridicule. It's likely someone cautioned Franken that, by soing so, he would be no better than those he has written about. And thinking this, I was reminded of a "Taxi" episode in which character Elaine Nardo (Marilu Henner) is given the ugliest of hairdos by an arrogant, high-pricing coiffeur (Ted Dansen). When she is about to dump a bowl of hairdressing goo on his head, she is stopped by Alex Rieger (Judd Hirsch) who says she would be stooping to Dansen's level and that she is better than that. But Louis DePalma (Danny DeVito) says he "aint better than nobody" and promptly upturns the bowl on Dansen. And that's how Franken comes across: he doesn't consider himself to better than anyone. He'd simply like everyone to know how they are being lied to from the other side. And he's done it. Thank you, Al.
Rating:
Summary: readable and funny
Review: This and James Carville's Had Enough? are the best of a good crop of liberal reading out now. Carville's gets very specific in his recommendations about what he is FOR (not just what he is against)--which is refreshing and helpful. Franken's book is funnier and goes into more depth about the hypocrisy and mendacity and cruelty and elitism that are the Bush Administration. That is, it's more about what he is against. But who could reasonably NOT be against such things. Even Bush pretends to be, which is why he has to lie so much. Two of the very short chapters are brilliant and priceless. Franken sent an Abstinence Endorsement letter out to the bigwigs in the Administration--Ashcroft, Rice, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Bush, etc.--and asked them to send back personal accounts of how they maintained sexual abstinence and how they profited by it. None of them wrote back--presumably because they didn't practice it. The other is "Supply Side Jesus," which captures in nice, Chick Comic style, the hypocrisy of Bush's Pharisees, who believe that Jesus was for the rich and against everyone else. A great and funny and illuminating book. Franken is even honest enough to admit HE was deceived by Bush's lies about Iraq and at first supported the invasion. This is his main point: Bush lies because lies work.
Rating:
Summary: Al Franken is the idiot
Review: This author can't even defend himself in a public forum. When attempting a response, it's obvious that his claims are based on lies.
Rating:
Summary: The truth hurts the liars... and those who stick up for them
Review: This book (and Jim Hightower's Latest: Thieves in High Places...) has both entertained me and given me the strength and determination to get more active in politics. I had known all along about the right-wing shaft-job that has been going on lately, but did not have the time or energy to do the research myself.
Franken is very funny, but the humor is only the icing on the cake. He exposes some of the truly nauseating facts about the right wingers stationed on Fox news and AM talk radio where they can delude the easy-to-fool older folks into believing that giving money to the rich will somehow benefit old-timers on social security. Let's face it, the media has become so skewed by corporatization that no fact that we read in a newspaper or see on TV can be trusted at face value. You know that you should be skeptical about what people say in a newsgroup on the internet, but you have yet to understand that you need to apply the same scrutiny to EVERYTHING you see on TV, hear on the radio, or read in your local paper. No more can we rely on news outlets (with a few exceptions like public television and public radio) to make sure that we get the truth...all they tell us is what we want to hear and what their owners want us to hear. But enough from me... read this book by Franken and the other by Hightower, too... then think about them both.
Rating:
Summary: An Absolute Page Turner!
Review: This book absolutely astonished me. I found it hard to put it down. I also found it a little unnerving (the dirty underhandedness of the right), but hey, I'm glad I'm no longer living in ignorance. Al is a true American in every sense of the word, because he cares enough to exploit these liars for just what they are. I would encourage anyone who hasn't read it to beg, borrow, or steal (well, maybe not steal) a copy because you owe it to yourself and your country to be better informed of the liberties taken my the media and how it affects us all. My only regret is that Al isn't running in the next Presidential election. I think Michael Moore would make an excellent running mate. Hats off to you Al, keep up the good work!
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