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jenmat1197's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
Al Franken takes a look at the political right during the time of George Bush's presidency. He takes a group of 14 Harvard students and combs through political speeches and news stories - mostly from Fox News - looking for contradictions and then calling those politicians and talking heads on it.
This was an okay book. I did not find it particularly funny, and at times it got a bit dull. I have read funnier and more informational books from left wing comedians. I appreciate that he did use Harvard students to get his research, and I wonder what book he would write now (this one was from 2003). I cannot imagine if he was told in 2003 - "wait until you see what is coming" he would even believe it.
yates9's review against another edition
2.0
Personally I didn’t find the book funny and kept thinking that this sort of intense satire might actually facilitate ignoring real problems. The author amplifies the distance between everyday views and the incumbent. Somehow it seems logical that the response from an angry right would be to care even less and try to trample the values of this satirical “left”.
Satire works best when it creates new ideas that are not so overtly partisan, rather capture something human and universal.
Satire works best when it creates new ideas that are not so overtly partisan, rather capture something human and universal.
ericthec's review against another edition
3.0
Read this when it came out. Loud, over the top and nasty. Some fun but forgettable.
jon_a's review against another edition
4.0
A really funny book, if a bit dated. The commentary is hilarious, but well researched and sincere. It is interesting that many of the people that Franken satirized almost a decade ago are still in the media, performing the exact same routines, e.g. Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh.
lauriestein's review against another edition
3.0
funny but a little too self-satisfied despite constant self-deprecation
gimpyknee's review against another edition
4.0
A timeless and humorous read. I doubt that 14 years ago Franken could have foreseen an even more lying Right led by the most dishonest and fact-challenged president ever. Imagine the fun Franken would have with these gems: “I guess it was the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan”; "They say I had the biggest crowd in the history of inaugural speeches”; “There’s nobody on the campaign that saw anybody from Russia”;“Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated”; and my personal favorite, “No, I don't benefit (from his tax reform plan). I don't benefit.”
evilstudygroup's review against another edition
2.0
A good read on the pot, when your stuck in a snow storm, or down and out with the flu.
bupdaddy's review against another edition
4.0
The chapters are highly variable in humor, and the comic-book chapter with the chicken hawks in Vietnam isn't very good, but all in all a pretty funny, and important book at the time.
I wonder if it would still be funny 8 years on.
I wonder if it would still be funny 8 years on.
ris_stitches's review against another edition
5.0
My mom read this a few weeks before I did, and she kept calling me, randomly throughout the week to say "LET ME JUST READ THIS TO YOU" and she would proceed to read me a page or two, all the while either laughing hysterically or searing with hatred and anger. I had to read it for myself.
This book was hysterical. Totally outdated now and probably not worth reading if you haven't already, but it gave me a laugh when I really needed it the most. Although, it also pissed me off, but that's why I don't tend to read non-fiction...
This book was hysterical. Totally outdated now and probably not worth reading if you haven't already, but it gave me a laugh when I really needed it the most. Although, it also pissed me off, but that's why I don't tend to read non-fiction...