The truth (with jokes)

by Al. Franken

Paper Book, 2005

Status

Available

Call number

973.931

Genres

Collection

Politics, Government

Publication

New York : Dutton, 2005.

Description

A work of political satire draws on a wide range of resources to expose the mendacity of the Bush administration and its conservative Republican supports.

Media reviews

The Atlantic

He is really quite witty—which is much better than being funny—when he is being purely political. But he is barely even funny when funny is all he is trying to be.

User reviews

LibraryThing member DevourerOfBooks

Al gets angrier and less funny with every book. This book includes a footnote that says something to the effect of "here is one joke, can you find the other one?". Unfortunately, that is correct. I don't blame Al for getting angrier and angrier (or more and more serious) about the direction the

country is taking, but I miss the light-hearted days when he could just make fun of the multiple marriages and hypocrisies of prominent Republicans.

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LibraryThing member mcelhra

I didn't think this book was as funny as his other books. Al has gotten a little angry and bitter (with good reason) and it comes through in this book. I listened to the audio book, which Franken reads and I could barely stand to listen to his Dick Cheney impression. It's even more grating than

listening to the real Dick Cheney! But overall it was still a good book and I feel like I learned a lot about the 2004 election from it.

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LibraryThing member madamejeanie

I'm disappointed. I didn't even finish this book. Once upon a time, Al
Franken's wit was razor sharp and right on the money. His intelligence was
obvious and, while the stuff he wrote was funny, it was also well thought
out. Something has happened to him. I think it is his Air America
satellite radio

program. He's got "the big head" (as my mother used to call
it), so full of himself and his own importance that he's got nothing to say.
Between the back-slapping he does to himself and the truly hateful way he
has of saying things now, he comes off sounding like a Rush Limbaugh clone,
just sitting on the other side of the fence. He should go sit next to Ann
Coulter at the next dinner party because he's getting to be just as nasty
and mean-spirited as she is. Bah.

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LibraryThing member ThothJ

"The Truth (With Jokes)" is long on both the truth AND the jokes. Al Franken, the author of such hard-hitting (and also very funny) books as "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot" and "Lies and The Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at The Right" and now Senator Franken from Minnesota,

hit another one out of the park. Less funny the the other political texts I mentioned, it is a much more series book on the state of politics, and political malfeasance in particular, in America. Though particularly damning of the Bush Jr. administration, he has criticisms to spare for all Right-wing blowhards, nut-jobs and criminals who are ruining our country here at home and ruining our reputation abroad. While the conservative movement is what is wrong with this country, Senator Franken is a breath of fresh air and hopefully a movement in the "right (meaning correct in this instance)" direction.

Read this book to learn the truth (and jokes)!

Power to the Liberals!

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LibraryThing member AlexTheHunn

This is a fine collection of topical poltical/social humor. Franken takes no pains to disguise his liberal views - quite the opposite. His liberal position is the point. Admittedly, I am biased as a fellow liberal, but I admire and applaud Franken for holding his position in the face of such

opposition and with such relative lack of support.

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LibraryThing member dvf1976

I'm not sure which is more obnoxious, Al Franken's continuous hammering of the Bush administration or the Bush administration itself.

(Not that the Bush administration doesn't deserve some hammering, but it got obnoxious after about 2/3rds of the book)

LibraryThing member The_Hibernator

This is my first Al Franken book, so I can’t compare it with his past books. There seem to be an awful lot of angry reviews about it! I got a few good chuckles out of the book, both at Franken and with Franken. Of course he’s so biased that his left leg is probably 2 feet shorter than the

right—but that’s to be expected. One thing I had to laugh at was when he said (paraphrase): “the one thing that doesn’t lie is numbers.” And then he quoted a bunch of stats. I’m not sure if that was supposed to be a joke, or if he seriously thinks you can’t “lie” with numbers? Hasn’t he ever met a statistician, scientist, or politician? (As a scientist I can say this—numbers lie! It’s all in the assumptions!) Anyway, it’s an interesting book to read if you want to hear some liberal arguments. Nothing breathtaking about it though!

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LibraryThing member ThothJ

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LibraryThing member ThothJ

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LibraryThing member ThothJ

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LibraryThing member RosemerrySong

Thoroughly researched and fact-checked and written in Al Franken's trademark comedic style, Franken presents a humorous, in-depth look at recent events and makes the happenings on Capitol Hill clear even to newcomers to the political scene. Highly recommended.

LibraryThing member ritaer

Read some time ago so I don't really remember much. I assume I liked it since I kept it several years. I think it is a shame that Franken was railroaded out of the Senate on such specious grounds.

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