NYT: Franken Retorts, You Decide

[kskiska]

O'Reilly was sounding off about this article tonight.

In the kicking, spitting spirit of current all-star political discourse, Al Franken gives as good as he gets. His quintessential ad hominem attack title, "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big, Fat Idiot," has already established his flair for the requisite games. Name calling, fact molding, gotcha!: all figure prominently in Mr. Franken's instant best seller "Lies," just as they do in most of the books that "Lies" attacks. Whatever their partisanship, these sporting diatribes share two underlying attitudes: "What gray area?" and "It's all about me."

(snip)

Note to Bill O'Reilly, the de facto publicist for "Lies" thanks to Fox News's hapless efforts to block its publication: Never say "Never said it" or "You can't find a transcript where I said it" when a man with 14 researchers is on your trail. In a book that baits its targets with varying degrees of success, Mr. Franken makes a bull's-eye out of Mr. O'Reilly. First the prize: he shows how Mr. O'Reilly's erroneous claim that he won a Peabody Award evolved into even bigger fibs once it was challenged.

Then the porn: a mortifyingly stilted erotic passage from Mr. O'Reilly's novel "Those Who Trespass" is sent up repeatedly here. Then the political affiliation: a 1994 voter registration form is dug up, courtesy of National Public Radio, and reprinted to contradict Mr. O'Reilly's 1996 claim that he was not enrolled in a political party. (The form counts him as a Republican.) And finally the provenance: accounts of a childhood in Levittown, N.Y., are contradicted in The Washington Post by "an inside source (O'Reilly's mother)."

(snip)

The book also delivers a bitterly funny assault on Alan Colmes, whom Mr. Franken deems the milquetoast house liberal at Fox News. "Lies" says his duties include "adding toner to the copiers and printers, loofah-ing Roger Ailes," Fox News chairman, "in his personal steam room, and ordering Chinese food for editors working on misleading video packages."

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/01/books/01MASL.html

[Nicholas_J]

1. My girlfreiend wanted the book for her birthday

So I picked it up asan early present last week. It is a hoot.

[wtmusic]

2. What was O'Really saying about it? n/t

[kskiska]

3. Oh, the usual

Just bashing the NY Times and Janet Maslin, the journalist, and defending his lies about his deprived childhood in Levittown. He never, ever admits to a lie.

It was part of his "Talking Points" at the top of his program. You can catch it again at 11:00.

[southern democrat]

4. I've got to buy this book'

Also Franken was awesome on Letterman.That smug son of bitch O'Reilly is going down.

[kskiska]

7. Here's what O'Really said:

(from Kurtz)

And in our continuing effort to be fair and balanced, we note that Fox's Bill O'Reilly slammed the New York Times last night. His attack stemmed from a review of archenemy Al Franken's book that contained some unflattering (and, to O'Reilly, inaccurate) passages about the talk show host:

"That newspaper is leading the charge to turn America into a secular nation and return political power to the left-wing of the Democratic party. But the Times is a troubled institution. The Blair scandal badly damaged the paper . . . and as the 'Factor' demonstrated, the Times' inaccurately reported the battlefield situation in the opening days of the Iraq War. The paper's hard news coverage was shaded to bolster its editorial position that the war was wrong. I knew that once I took on the Times, the paper's character assassins would take dead aim on me. That is why few journalists will ever criticize the Times. They know the paper will come after them in a very personal way. Therefore there is no check on the power of The New York Times, it prints what it wants with impunity . . .

"The network TV news takes much of its point-of-view from the pages of the Times. And your local newspaper may very well reprint that paper's articles. The New York Times is extremely powerful in shaping public opinion, and God help those who go up against it. But that kind of power must be challenged when it becomes abusive. The Fox News Channel is one of the few media outlets that currently watches what that paper does, and that is why the Times attacks us so frequently."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18789-2003Sep3.html

[EFF BrandyWine]

5. About our good friend Al Franken...

he is a satirist. Apparently the vociferous, bullying, buffoon O'Reilly does not understand or recognize satire, which is a pity because he is just about the greatest model for satire since ol' Rush himself!

It seems the lawsuit by Fux News (oops, mispelling...not) was literally...I repeat; literally laughed out of court. How could a lawyer, even one representing that misbegotten organization, even consider bringing such a frivolous case before the court?

Did they actually believe words like "fair" and "balanced" could be copywrighted? OMG! Meanwhile Mr Franken's book has found its fair and balanced place on the best seller list. It's number ONE! I can't wait to read it.

[MarinCoUSA]

6. A laugh riot on every page

Ande he really really rips Hannity a new one.

Buy and read it w/ someone you love.

[Wetzelbill]

8. I usually read more serious fare

when it comes to politics, yet the controversy over this has me so interested. Plus, I love to see blowhards get bashed and much of the hard-right contingent are easy targets due to their narrow minds and big mouths. I'm going to get this at some point.

[Boreas]

9. This is far more interesting than Depp's remarks in France.

But look at the interest in his remarks in the LBN posts. Jeez.