Customer Reviews

The Truth (with jokes)

5 star:		(295)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(72)

 

 

I spent all morning reading this. If you liked "Lies," you'll love this.

Republicans, of course, will gnash their teeth and trot our their usual vitriol. They hate facts.

Franken's penchant for speaking the truth (and citing his sources in footnotes so that his research is on the table for all to see), is already legendary. Let me be straightforward here: I hate this administration. Bush is the worst president of my lifetime and probably in the history of the United States. The lies, distortions and damage of all kinds that have come out of this presidency are disgusting. I truly can't imagine how anyone other than the CEO of Halliburton could still like the guy. And thanks to Al Franken (and some other humorists like Stephanie Miller), I can get through these eight years without screaming myself hoarse or causing harm to myself and others. Humor is the key, folks, and thankfully this book is brimming with it. Oh yes, and it does contain TRUTH as well!

My Amazon ordered copy of The Truth (with Jokes) finally arrived. I just finished reading it in one sitting (it's a rather short book and a quick read). And boy am I depressed, angry and grief stricken... oh wait, I'm optimistic and joyful. Oh hell, I don't know what I'm feeling.

The TRUTH (both the book and um... the literal truth)is disturbing. Thankfully, the last chapter relieves much of my indignation. The sweet and hopefully non-fictional future letter to his grandchildren made me want to cry. If only...

And Al, if you do run for the Senate in 2008, I may just move back to my home state of Minnesota just so I can vote for you.


p.s. Next time, more jokes please... maybe next time we will have more to laugh about.

Like his previous books ,particularly 'Lies & the Lying Liars Who Tell Them' AF hits on all cylinders when he catches
conservatives in bold face lies.
This book is not as often laugh-out-loud funny as 'Lies' ,
but clever & sad, in the same mode.
If you still have faith in this countrys' leadership, after
all the abuse they have heaped on regular people, aka anyone not
a millionaire, then AFs' book will not change your mind.
- To do that that I'd suggest a crowbar, since your obviously incapable of logical thought.
Bruce Kay
Atlanta GA

I'm a retired, life-long Republican and until I read this book, I suffered migraine-level headaches trying to understand what had happened to American Democracy. Franken serves up the cure: a healthy dose of coherent documentation and analysis of G.W. Bush deciet, conspiracy and incompetence. Now we can see clearly what an insult and total embarrassment to American democracy Bush has been both at home and abroad. Extensive refs are provided and so far, they check out 100%. Without fear of seeming a tad too dramatic, I'll go on record right now as being one Republican who will support prosecution and impeachment. Think about it: what a great way to re-establish faith and confidence in real American values and to inspire citizen initiatives around the globe.

Franken includes just enough humor to keep his presentation bearable. Were it not for that humor, 'The Truth' would be unbearably painful and enraging. Don't stop reading until you finish his concluding "Letter to My Grandchildren". It's an inspiring vision that lifted me out of despair, and one I think every American can strive for. Thank you Mr. Franken.

For those that responded negatively to the book because they didnt like it, I respect your opinion, if you read the book. But for most of you posting on this website book review forum, that want to post negative reviews because you disagree with Al Franken's politics and just dont like him are hypocritical. I dont go on a Anne Coulter book review and run her down because I disagree with her politics, because I havent read her books so why would I go to a book review site and write about a book I have not read? The bottom line is that some people just want to be negative and bash anyone that disagrees with them. Al Franken I applaud you and your work is excellent and yes Al you are funny! So do me a favor if you are reading this, and read this one on your show on Sundance and Air America Radio. All in all a great read.

-JPM

Like Lies, this book is both hilarious and insightful. I was surprised by the number of negative reviews that hit early this morning, the DAY THE BOOK WAS RELEASED. Got to love those fast readers. (The vast right wing conspiracy to lower the book's star rating I guess). Anyway, do yourself a favor and read this, or better yet get the audiobook. Franken's delivery is great. A Winner!

Like others who've read all of Franken's books, I at first thought this one was a bit less funny than they were. But the more I read it, the more I realized it was very valuable in terms of clear explanations. I hadn't been able to follow the social security thing too well b/c I found it complicated; well, Franken's explanation is simple and clear. It's so obvious that Bush wasn't trying to save it but destroy it, and Franken is persuasive in arguing that it's a necessary program of government. The stats and marketing strategies by the Administration to make their case are just outrageous, and I just hadn't taken the time before to get the nitty gritty.

Also, the whole Abramoff, Indian casino thing is very clearly explained and feels wholly relevant still. It's outrageous (I can't think of a better word--sorry. I'm getting outrageous fatigue with this administration) what these jerks did to make a buck, and their emails back and forth are shocking in their contempt for Native Americans. It's almost like a cartoon.

I could go on and on, but the point is, this book will illuminate some of the lesser well-known details of the abuses of the Republicans. He gives the Iraq war a rest, which is fine b/c most of us are plenty aware of all those issues. I got the book from my library but kind of wish I owned it so I could highlight all the relevant material and use it in arguments with my (too) numerous Republican friends.

The most prominent feature of this book is (believe it or not) its near-consummate lack of humor. For those that know Al Franken from his previous projects, including two of his previous bestsellers, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, And Other Observations" and "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," this may seem to be hard to believe. But in addition to having a title that's less than ten words long, this book is the most serious, most somber, of all of Franken's projects that I know of. Yes, true to the book's subtitle, there are jokes. But then again, I know of no writer that is completely humorless (and if there were, I don't want to read him), but almost completely gone (save for the occassional barbs thrown in the direction of his usual nemeses: Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Coulter and Hannity) is Franken's trademark satirical and often ribald skewering of conservative pundits.

This is not to say that without Franken's characteristic humor, the book is without merit. Far from it. Only that we're seeing a markedly different Al Franken. Not a deadly serious Al Franken, but still one much more serious than we're used to.


And his targets, this time are not the pundits, but the leaders in the conservative movement, such as the very recently indicted Tom DeLay, his close compatriot Jack Abramoff. And the issues are more serious than which suburb Bill O'Reilly grew up in. This time his bones of contention are with the severely bungled Terri Schiavo case, the war in Iraq, and the smear campaigns conducted against John Kerry.

The book answers, or should I say, reconfirms, what I believed about conservative leadership for quite some time: they care only about the rights of major corporations to make money. That's all. The sum total of the conservative agenda.

And don't get me wrong. I have nothing against corporations making money, as long as their rights to swing their fists stops where my nose begins. Or perhaps I should say, their rights to produce pollutants stops where my right to breathe clean air and drink safe water begins.

Some might say that the conservative leadership nobly champions the rights of the unborn. But if that's true, then why are they overseeing a situation in which female sweatshop employees in Saipan (a U.S. territory) are forced into not only prostitution, but abortions, under the threat of losing their fourteen hour a day jobs? (Chapter 10)

So much for this "culture of life" that would champion the rights of those in persistent vegetative states, such as Terri Schiavo, detailed in Chapter 9. The inconsistencies are resolved, in Franken's mind, only when you realize that the Republican leadership cares only about staying in power so corporations have free reign to screw us all. Everything else is just a payoff to thier supporters, such as the Religious Right.

Yes, the book is very cynical. But Franken does remain optimistic, as noted in his final chapter, where he indulges in a little flight of fancy, in which he sees the Republicans being systematically voted out of office, barely retaining fifty seats. A Democratic president is elected and the lame duck Bush is impeached and convicted, a loophole granted by the fact that Congress (of which, Al Franken is one of them) is sworn in a few weeks before the president's inauguration.

My husband bought me this book as a treat for my birthday--I'm normally not a fast reader, but I couldn't put it down. I read it into the night and woke up the following morning (early) and read it some more. When I got back from work, I sat down first thing and read it even more. Franken's writing and wit has an aura that grabbed me and held my attention from beginning to end.

What struck me most about his book was how he managed to, for his readers including me, relive the disappointment and near-despair of those of us in the progressive movement who were devastated when Kerry lost the 2004 election. Through his writing, I felt Al's depression, disappointment, discouragement, and anger at the gloating of an overconfident Right who were overly impressed with themselves and their narrow win.

In later chapters, I felt disgust at Al's relating the "dirty tricks" of the Bush team in deceiving the American public, time and again, into not only fighting an illegal and unwarranted war based on lies, but believing its spinning an honorable Vietnam veteran into a traitor and deceiving the Bush voters into supporting him a second time. At the end of the book, I felt hope and encouragement from Al's poignant letter to his future grandchildren, and felt more motivated than ever to work for positive change in our country's landscape.

Those of you reviewers who are "one-starring" this excellently-written book are most likely doing so without reading it. Therefore, you are not only doing Amazon's readers a disservice by discounting this book unfairly; but like babies, you cling onto your preconceived opinions because you fail to see the damage that this administration has done to this country, and you don't have an open enough mind to consider an intelligent point of view that differs from yours.

Please put down your ignorant and infantile ways for a moment; and for the good of the country and your own lives, learn to pay attention to the circumstances that befall real American families and those in the world who need our help rather than hurt.