Al Franken's newest book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," is so offensively humorous that readers may have to check their "fair and balanced" mindedness at the door. His insolent criticism of anything and anyone conservative seems to blur a libelous line, but Franken has just enough certified truth in his arguments to keep the pages turning.
Franken, a former writer for "Saturday Night Live," is as far away from the Washington scene as a political satirist can get, and this makes the book work. He has no constituency and is employed by no major networks or newspaper. Creating new enemies will simply serve as new material for his next book.
In many of the book's 43 chapters, Franken spares himself little decency in embarrassing but entertaining run-ins with his latest adversaries, whether at the White House correspondents dinner, with admissions officials at Bob Jones University or with National Review editor Rich Lowry.
Franken wrote "Lies" during a fellowship at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. With the help of his self-assembled "Team Franken" - a group of Harvard students who were responsible for much of the book's research and fact checking - the satirist picks apart lie after lie from conservative media personalities like Anne Coulter, who has several chapters devoted to her dishonesty, Bill O'Reilly, who Franken names as a "lying, splotchy bully," and, of course, Rush Limbaugh.
Offensive sarcasm aside, "Lies" takes a serious look into contemporary media, conservative political press spin and dishonesty. The book is a side-splitting read, and the humorous simplicity of the entire thing allows even those not well versed in political discourse to appreciate Franken's work.
