Rating: 
Summary: FAST-PACED, SKIM-FRIENDLY, AND FULL OF DELICIOUS FACTS..
Review: Franken is a tough call. That a satirist-cum-political-commentator can speak with such rapier wit and make a convincing case of Bush-clan's ludicrous misgivings is pretty neat in and of itself. I mean, the book even has charts. WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT THE BOOK: Although I don't relate to some of the people referred to in the book (e.g., Bernie Goldberg, Sean Hannity), at its heart the book is about the core political debate between conservatives and liberals - and the ideological divide between the Bush administration and Democratic opposition which has been sorely deepened by the Iraq issue. This is a universal theme, and anything well written about it, especially when corroborated by accompanying facts, is a delight. Second, Franken showcases some fascinating case studies on the way reporters report and commentators comment without the rigor that should be expected from their profession by definition. Once something is in the electronic cuttings, it's endlessly recycled whether it's true or not; and some of the funniest passages in the book are when Franken takes columnists to task over their dodgier claims. Thirdly, like it or not, many of Bush's follies are ripped to shreds. I did not delude myself into thinking that Bush's is the only administration with these shenanigans, or goof-ups (I mean, burning off a 4.6 US$ surplus in 3 years is not a small feat!) But somehow Dubya lends himself rather well to being the brunt of such humor. It's entertaining, at the very least. AND WHAT'S BAD: Franken's tone is ultra-sardonic, and thus quite soon into the book a bit gratingly shrill. Constant references to attempted humor such as "God spoke to me" get a bit irksome after 30 pages of refrains. Come to think of it, as intriguing as Franken's factoids and analyses are, if the needless fluff of language was chaffed out this book could easily be 60% its current size. But a minor quibble perhaps. NET NET: If you genuinely thought you'd get some insight into which wing lies more, you're probably not asking the right question. Irrespective of that though, "Lies and the Lying.." is a fast-paced, skim-friendly read. Recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT book, funny and informative...
Review: Franken is absolutely hilarious while also demonstrating his open-mindedness and lack of haughtiness/self-importance. Every American should read his book. It's a little too leftist, but far more fair and balanced than anyone on Fox News!
Rating:
Summary: What do we want from our media?
Review: Franken is an avowed liberal, but this book is not about policy, it's about honesty and the larger question, "What do we want our media and political system to be about?" Do we want a significant portion of our media operating as if it's a wholly-owned subsidiary of one political party? Do we want lies regarding issues of public import to go uncovered? Do we want politicians to feel secure from the prying eyes of scrutiny? Regardless of whether these facts give the advantage to your favorite political party or not, I hope the answer is "NO". This book details some very serious lapses in honesty and fairness that were created by a right-wing media establishment and perpetuated by our lazy, if well-meaning mainstream media.
Rating:
Summary: Al Franken: an intellectual for our modern times
Review: Franken is an intelligent (a Harvard grad!) and articulate writer and unlike blondie Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly, he backs his stuff up with the TRUTH. It's rare to find such a fearless leader who is honest and funny! This book is awesome. Get this and Michael Moore's "Dude, Where's My Country." I am a liberal and I'm proud of Al Franken!
Rating:
Summary: I wish this book never ended!
Review: Franken is brilliant. This book amused me greatly while angering me at the same time. As Franken illustrated so many of the ways that this administration has lied to, cheated and misused its power and the people of the USA, I laughed at the satire while becoming increasingly disgusted with those currently in power as well as the media, who spin it and twist it in order to continually deceive the American people. Everyone should read this book and try to absorb what Franken is saying here. I eagerly await his next book and his upcoming radio show!
Rating: 
Summary: Liberalism is a fanatical religion
Review: Franken is catering to a demographic that is dumb enough to buy into these lies. America is the best country in the world because the people with the lowest intelligence and ability (liberals) are not rewarded for the work of others. Liberals are simply unable to answer the following questions that destroy their intellectually bankrupt arguments that buckle under the slightest scrutiny. He exemplifies why Liberals believe the following seven lies : 1) America is rich only because it has stolen money from other countries. Africa would be rich if America had not stolen from Africa. Even the wealth created in the last 10 years from software development was the result of exploiting the Amazon jungles and the Congo.
2) Blacks in the US deserve reparations, even from people who's ancestors came to the US much later than the Civil War. Even Asian American taxpayers who arrived in the 1970s must pay reparations to Blacks who would otherwise be wealthy in Africa had they not been taken from there. Blacks are continually discriminated against by whites to this day at every possible opportunity. The fact that black immigrants from Dominica and Jamaica are doing much better than African Americans means that they are selectively not subjected to racism, even though their skin is even darker.
3) The SAT is racially biased. The fact that Korean, Chinese, and Indian students do better than whites still means that it is biased against blacks.
4) All rich people are rich because they had rich parents. If someone has poor parents, they have no chance. Communism, which fairly redistributes the fixed amount of dollars in the US, is the only fair solution. Even the immigrants who became rich after coming here (Andy Grove, George Soros, Vinod Khosla, Arnold Schwarznegger, etc.) have exploited others.
5) Bush's tax cut only favors the rich. The person making $300,000 was paying $100,000 in taxes, and now will only pay $80,000, getting a refund of $20,000! The person making only $20,000 was paying $2000 in taxes, and now will still pay $1500, getting a refund of only $500. It is unfair that the rich person gets a refund that is 40 times larger than the poor person! They should get a refund of the same size! The fact that the rich person is STILL paying $80,000 while the poor person is only paying $1500, or less than 2% as much, is irrelevent. The rich are evil, and we have to take it away.
6) We have NO right to attack the Taliban, even though they don't allow girls to go to school and force women to wear a burkha. Women in the US, however, are still held back by the glass ceiling.
7) All the world's cultures are equal. The fact that immigrants from every part of the globe want to leave their countries and come to the US is not a valid point. I do not need to visit Africa, China, Brazil, or Iraq to know that their cultures are better than America. It is okay for China to massacre its own students at Tianamen, and conduct genocide against Tibetans and Uighurs, but it is wrong for the US to attack the Taliban while providing food for the Afghan people. If you are a conservative who is angered by liberals who put forth these arguments, you will the vacuum of liberal thought in this book. You will also know when you have WON when liberals say 'you are dumb' or 'you don't know' without putting forth an intelligent sentence. If you are a liberal who thinks this book is true, get out into the real world and gain some common sense for a change (liberals usually only believe in free speech when it consists of their own liberal intellectual incest.). Note that the fools giving this book five stars do not actually point out any flaws in conservative reasoning, but just scream about things not relevant to common sense. That is because CONSERVATIVES HAVE ALREADY ANALYZED AND DEFEATED THEIR POINTS, and they have no choice but to cry in protest to their being outwitted and embarrassed. It is easy to win a debate against some liberal pseudo-intellectual. Liberals are so dumb that their fanatical beliefs have actually become their religion. They are religious fanatics to just as great a degree as a Crackpot Christian. Liberals are also incredibly racist - they hate educated minorities only because they are dark-skinned people who do not subscribe to their fanatical religion of liberalism
Rating:
Summary: This is true comedy, not political satire
Review: Franken is flat out hilarious in this novel. Even if you are a Republican, you can't help but laugh at most of the hilarious ideas that Franken uses in this book. This isn't a political movement, this isn't a book to advance political ideologies like most other novels are nowadays... it is simply a book about being honest in the media. I will definitely bring up this book in my upcoming college class 'Media and Politics'. I don't think there is a soul out there that can disprove any of what Franken is saying because he lays such a solid foundation upon what he writes. This book is definitely a new weapon for liberal thinkers to advance their idea of neutral media bias.
Rating: 
Summary: Book Left Out Biggest All Time Liar
Review: Franken is funny, but this book crosses into political bashing. I like good comedy like Franken, Carlin, Hendrie but if you are going to write a book about liars, what about Bill Clinton? Franken picks on Coulter, Limbaugh, Bush and many conservatives. The cover of this book should have Bill Clinton, not Al Franken. The media lies, more of my opinion can be found at remotecontrolwars.com, but this book is too slanted, not all encompassing. The biggest liars of the past were Martha Stewart, Bill and Hillary, and a host of liberals, left out of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Pants-Wettingly Funny, Yet Sad
Review: Franken is in top form, sparing neither myths (Liberal Media!) nor people (Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter). The book is a catalog of right-wing truisms, each carefully taken apart by Franken's irreverent wit and--better still--his team of fact checkers. Franken does not go light on the ad hominem attacks, but I felt no qualm-- his targets richly deserve it. A must read. The book is ultimately depressing, however, because it will change few minds; it will only briefly anesthetize us from life in Ashcroft's America.
Rating:
Summary: A well researched book that keeps you laughing.
Review: Franken is on target. Did those reviewers signed anonymous even read the book? Thank you Mr. O'Rielly for bring that stupid law suit or I would probably never have heard of this book.
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