Guardian: Of Lies and Men (Al Franken)

[kskiska]

Part comedian, part investigative reporter, Al Franken is a thorn in the flesh of rightwing America. He tells Oliver Burkeman about media lies, Dick Cheney's sex life, and seeing Fox News laughed out of court

Al Franken does a convincing impression of being a well-balanced and friendly guy as he relaxes at the grand dinner table of his apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side, reaching down occasionally to scratch the stomach of his enormous black labrador, Kirby, while his wife, Franni, taps at a computer in the kitchen.

Apparently, though, he is really a shrill and unstable parasite who often appears intoxicated or deranged, and whose views lack any insight or depth. That, at any rate, was the picture painted in court documents last month by Fox News, the hard-right American cable channel owned by Rupert Murdoch, as part of its effort to sue Franken for trademark infringement over the title of his new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. "Fair and balanced," improbably enough, is a slogan much used by the exuberantly biased Fox, which claimed that Franken - originally famous in the US as a performer on the comedy show Saturday Night Live - would "blur and tarnish" its reputation.

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1054951,00.html

[mistertrickster]

1. Freakin' Franken is a national treasure . . . I read his book twice.

He's smart, insightful, a good writer, and very very funny.

Also saw him speak live for ninety minutes and I laughed so hard I thought I was gonna lose my liver.

[kskiska]

2. And no one can refute

anything he says.

[spooky3]

3. Great find, thanks!