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Summary: charles dickens from Philadelphia should read the book
Review: Franken clearly addresses your concern within the book itself. He goes after O'Reilly on a number of levels. The 2 Peabody awards turned out to be a Polk, which the tabloid show Inside Edition was awarded _after_ O'Reilly left the show. Afterwards, O'Reilly falsely accused a journalist of lying when he exposed the story (and as Franken points out, its somewhat ironic that the award was a _journalism_ award). Everyone makes mistakes, weasels lie about them.O'Reilly also compared the Koran to Mein Kampf (and then lied about having done so), lied about his party affiliation, lied about where he grew up, and repeatedly gives false statistics to support his arguments (claiming that they're dead accurate). And the wonderful picture of O'Reilly on the cover (and the lawsuit it sparked) is worth the price of the book alone.
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Summary: It's easy to mistake hate mongering for irony if you're dumb
Review: Franken continues his comedic political assault on the mis-informing. People challenged in this book are those who are willing to dish it out, but unwilling to take it. Franken does a lot of dishing out. Instead of making grand points, Franken relies on his targets to provide misinformation. Then he deftly pounces on their errors, corrects them and often proves that their original point is greatly mistaken. Franken takes on the bullies and beats them with weel-referenced facts. Oh, by the way, he does a good deal of clever name calling. Not as much as he did in 'Big Fat idiot', but a lot nevertheless. . .
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Summary: Hilarious, but also timely and important
Review: Franken demolishes the right-wing propagandists with style, wit, and deliciously subversive humor. This book is very readable, but doesn't skimp on the meat. It's required reading for any liberal/Democrat who wants ammunition against the thoughtless rants of the self-described dittoheads. More importantly, it is written in so accessible a manner as to be an invaluable tool for the vast majority of Americans who don't go to sleep each night thinking about how loathsome Sean Hannity really is. This book demolishes (again!) the myth of the liberal media, and it does it in a very simple manner. There are enough facts, examples, and sources to make Franken's argument compelling, but it isn't so comprehensive as to be off-putting to the casual observer of politics/media. The book is not a painstaking and methodical refutation of the liberal media myth, as was Eric Alterman's brilliant "What Liberal Media?". Rather, it's a flip and funny takedown of the right-wing media machine. The achievement of the book is that it doesn't use its humor to avoid the hard work of making a strong case. Rather, it uses humor as the sugar to make the pill (rigorous and well-researched political argument) go down easier. The research is in there, and the arguments are tight. But the book isn't intended to be comprehensive or authoritative. On each of Franken's topics (including Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Rove/Cheney/Bush, etc.), Franken presents a paradigmatic example (or two, or three) of their propensity for telling outright lies. He infuses this point with truck loads of biting and acerbic humor. But he's not simply an attack dog. Like any good comedian, his goal is to produce laughs. He's as likely to send you into paroxysms of helpless merriment with a smart defense of Gore's supposed lies as he is with a wicked smackdown of one of the right's more odious talking heads. The book is smart, funny, clever, sharp, and right on target. If you're not already a zombified disciple of conservative political "thought", then reading this book will prevent you from ever becoming one.
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Summary: A hilarious voice from the left
Review: Franken directs his wilting sarcasm at the likes of Coulter, Goldberg, Bush, and O'Reilly. He attacks the perpetuation of the myth of the "liberal media" and demonstrates how shrill demagogues like Ann Coulter talk out of both sides of their mouths. Particularly enjoyable is Al's deconstruction of the GOP's attacks on President Clinton. One of my college professors once spoke of the "consistency theory," where people tend to only read or explore that which supports their existing belief system. I am a liberal (not a Democrat...there is a difference), and while I have read and enjoyed the works of Michael Moore, James Carville, and Franken, I have also worked my way through Bias and books by Coulter and O'Reilly. I would encourage all those hardcore conservative types out there to read through this book and see if you come away with the same opinion of those people. Franken provides examples of REAL lies by those authors (even reproducing documents and newspaper articles to prove his point). People will believe what they want to believe...but in the face of Franken's evidence, it's hard to maintain any sort of respect for the so-called credibility of the screaming branch of those who have been blinded by the Right.
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Summary: Exposed Lies
Review: Franken does a fantastic job in exposing the lies and lying liars who tell them. This book clearly identifies the propoganda and lies conveyd by right-wing conservatives in a rigorous and researched manner. Everything is referenced to a legit source. This book serves a reading with outstanding humor for those who seek entertainment while maintaining a tone of serious political dialog, in terms of the issues most Americans are primarily concerned with. Al Franken's stand is the kind of steadfast approach needed in the Democratic party. On a personal note, reading this book had me laughing all the way. Read every print in the book to ensure I didn't miss any of Al's hilarious! humor.
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Summary: He does make me laugh...
Review: Franken does a wonderful job marshalling facts about the way the right-wing propaganda machine uses lies, name-calling, and hypocrisy in their quest to gain and hold power. When I read about their lies in other books, I get so angry. It happened when I read this one too. Luckily, Mr. Franken knows how to lighten my mood. I laughed out loud every chapter. Shoot, I laughed at the footnotes! Anyway, I highly recommend this book. It's entertaining and informative. Thanks, Al, for making unpleasant material very pleasant to read. And thank TeamFranken too!
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Summary: Why can't the media do their homerwork like TeamFranken
Review: Franken does do his homework. His research stunned me. Granted his bias is liberal, and he admits this. But his work is far more Fair and Balanced than anything Foxnews has produced. I was expecting it to be more humorous, and for sure there are some humerous points. But that didnt really matter, because his insights into the conservative media are outstanding.
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Summary: Great Objective Comedy
Review: Franken does it again and exposes various right wing republicans for who they truely are, liars. Franken combines satire with sarcasm to present an honest account of conservative SOBs. Franken may be one sided in his account of the right wing media, but never the less remains honest and completely factual in his account. Franken makes me proud.
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Summary: It IS fair. It IS balanced, and the right DOES lie.
Review: Franken does the best job so far of exposing the idiocy, deception, and outright lies of right-wing pundits. He does it in a way that is funny, factual, and at times self-deprecating. Franken lacks the ego-centric blindness of those he goes after (in at least one case by invitation) in this book, and his experience in doing his research is revealed, warts and all. Ultimately this book will raise the awareness of the reader to better analyze the information they are being spoon-fed by corporate media, and in particular by television personalities masquerading as political experts - a club Franken acknowledges he himself belongs to. BUY THIS BOOK.
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Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Franken does to the Right wing's "media echo chamber" what Michael Moore does to greedy corporations, gun lovers, and corrupt politicians. He tears holes (or just rips open the existing ones) in books by Ann Coulter and Bernard Goldberg (no relation, thank God). Most of the humor stems not from Franken's wit (which is not to be discounted), but from the people whose lies he exposes. Only you don't want to laugh with them, you want to laugh at them, and at the public who eat up their rants (actually, it's not really funny at all that the Fox crew is poisoning the minds of readers across the country with their hate and lies...) The one thing missing from this book is the motivational stuff that Moore puts in his books to get people politically active. It's been fun reading this (and seeing its staying power as the #1 bestselling book on Amazon).
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