Al Franken: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

[No Passaran]

Anyone read this book. I just picked it up yesterday at the airport and read it on the plane. I wanted to read everyone's opinions on this. I really don't have time to check all the facts in this book, but if everything is true, then... what now?

[rusty charly]

1. i'm about 3/4 done

started out kinda thinking al was funny and laughing at some of it, but boy, it gets pretty depressing after a while...

[salin]

10. It is well documented.

As to veracity? Look to the rightwing response criticisms - they are about Frankton - not the information in the book. Very telling. Conversely look at the leftwing criticisms of any Coulter book - while she will be criticized - her books are brutally debunked (brutal due to the sheer volume of debunking of her facts-er-imaginings).

[robbedvoter]

2. I couldn't stop reading it! It's brilliant and funny and true.

[realFedUp]

3. Good and funny

I almost thought that he and Joe Conason shared researchers
but no, Al used cheap school research labor called TeamFranken.
I hope he paid them. It's a good quick read and I loved
the chapter on pig poo farming.

[oceanpoetry]

4. I haven't read the book yet

but want to soon! He has a team of Yale researchers working for him, I have heard, so he knows what he is talking about. Amazing how truth is stranger than fiction. This goes true for Greg Palast's book too "Best Democarcy Money Can Buy" - some of the stories about the Bushistas are pretty shocking!

[Brucey]

5. Franken is right on!

Funny too.

[ET Awful]

6. If you want to see depressing . . .

Look at the slanderous assaults on Franken since it's publishing, trying to make him out to be insane or a liar (even though he has meticulously researched everything in the book).

I put out the challenge to some conservatives on another board to disprove ANYTHING in his book, the best they could do was to say that a letter he talkeda bout sending mentioned a future book he was publishing (the reference to the abstinence book, Savin' It or whatever it was called) and tried to insinuate that that was a lie because he didn't intend to publish such a book :).

Of course, I had also told them that anything obviously intended as satire was not eligible for the challenge. They couldn't find anything :).

[scarlet_owl]

7. Can't read it yet

I have it on hold at the library, but it looks like the stupid library has only ordered one copy, so it will be out for a while. I wish I could afford to buy it.

[slor]

8. I just purchased it...

will read it right after I finish BIG LIES...which is also quite good!

[ixion]

9. reading it right now...

about half way through... Franken is fantastic. His mix of comedy and scathing reality really hits home. I was sitting in a restaurant yesterday and had a couple laugh out loud moments. Really, Team Franken is a national treasure. :bounce:

[in_cog_ni_to]

11. I read it

and it's funny, intelligent and factual. It's a GREAT read! Enjoy! My favorite chapter was the Bob Jones University visit.

[salin]

13. that was a hoot, wasn't it

he did have the good grace to be appologetic to some who were encountered there at the end of the chapter. That was a nice touch.

Also got a hoot out of the interchange with Mamabush.

[Red_Viking]

15. He was in Austin last night

Gave a hilarious rendition of his encounter with Babs. There were about 1000 people packed into a Barnes & Noble to see him. He was very warm and funny and gracious, and stuck around for a couple of hours autographing books. He rocks.

RV

[wryter2000]

12. Yup

Pretty amazing.

IMHO, he should have given more details on exactly where he got the information in the chapter on Operation Ignore. If that stuff can truly be proved, it makes a very damning case against the WH.

[ronzo]

14. Outstanding read.

The facts are dead on and it's funny as hell.

[Scairp]

16. Um, actually

oceanpoetry (229 posts) Sun Sep-14-03 01:19 PM
Response to Original message

4. I haven't read the book yet


but want to soon! He has a team of Yale researchers working for him, I have heard, so he knows what he is talking about. Amazing how truth is stranger than fiction. This goes true for Greg Palast's book too "Best Democarcy Money Can Buy" - some of the stories about the Bushistas are pretty shocking!


Team Franken was made up of HARVARD students.

[oceanpoetry]

17. thank you for correcting me scairp!

Team Franken consists of Harvard students researchers, I knew it was an Ivy League. Yale is the school that came to mind...HARVARD... I stand corrected corrected and my apologies, let's give credit where credit is due! :)

[devinsgram]

18. Finished in record time,

loved it, my husband is reading it now and can't believe his eyes. Passing it on. A must read.

[Postman]

19. Act on the book. Vote Bush out of office.

eom