Reviewed by: Kris

Written by: Al Franken

Titled: Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them) A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right

Former Saturday Night Live writer Al Franken directs his satiric skills at two large targets: the George W. Bush administration and the right-wing media embodied by Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, and others. While Franken is as outrageous here as he was in his previous RUSH LIMBAUGH IS A BIG FAT IDIOT AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS, he was taken very seriously by Fox News Channel which initiated a lawsuit just prior to publication, claiming copyright infringement because his subtitle borrows their "fair and balanced" phrase. The judge in the case declared the suit to be wholly without merit, and Fox News subsequently dropped its suit.

There are so many interesting, fun things I could say about this book. I just don’t know where to start. I don’t know that much about Al Franken. I know he is a comedian and has been on Saturday Night Live on occasion. Other than those two things, I know he is a liberal. My friend was reading this book, and it sounded really interesting so I decided I would borrow it when he was done reading it. And boy, am I pleased that I did. This is a fun book that anyone could read and get a laugh out of. Yes, even if you are conservative.

Franken decides to take a look at the lies and inaccuracies of the conservative media. We get to find out who he really hates: Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and a whole slew of others. I have to say that he sure did a lot of research for this book. He even hired a bunch of college students, whom he decided to call TeamFranken, to help him research.

Now, even though he does do a lot of research, this is not a dry book. He introduces the statistics and facts in such a way that make you laugh. There were times when I could not stop laughing because it was so funny. There are few very funny parts, namely "Operation Chickenhawk" and "The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus." These are two very funny short stories that Franken writes to make some very good points.

This book made me laugh, but there were a few parts that made me want to cry. There is an especially long chapter on the Paul Wellstone Memorial and how it was used in the media. I read this chapter much more carefully than the others because I am from Minnesota and I know that I was affected by the death of Paul Wellstone. It’s very eye opening to hear how this memorial service was used against the liberals because it became a "political rally."

This is a must read if you are liberal or if you are a Franken fan. I don’t think conservatives will like this book a whole lot, but you could find some laughs I imagine. It’s eye opening and it makes me want to do research and find out what else the media is slanting so I don’t know the whole truth.