The Truth (with jokes) Review
I just listened to this audio book five years after the Bush/Kerry election it focuses on. I think the added perspective makes it even funnier. Franken is p.o.'d about Kerry losing and Terry Schiavo and many other things, and he exposes the Karl Rove spin and smear approach better than I've ever seen it described. I voted for Bush in 2004 and Obama in 2008--I guess that makes me an independent. The audio book features Franken's perfect Dick Cheney impression, which is worth the price of admission right there. Franken even roasts Kerry in this book, a little--it's funny first and political second. It's non-partisan, in the sense that while Franken certainly leans toward Obama (four years ahead of the crowd, by the way), he's not pushing the Democratic Party per se. He says what he hates most about politics is "I'm going to stop you from doing good because then you'd get the credit." I think he's dead on, but it's even funnier now that he's a senator.
The Truth (with jokes) Overview
Al Franken's landmark bestseller, Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them�a Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, was praised as a "bitterly funny assault" (The New York Times) that rang "with the moral clarity of an angel's trumpet" (Associated Press). Now, this master of political humor strikes again with a powerful and provocative message for all Americans.
Because after Lies, comes The Truth�.
Al reveals the alarming story of how:
� Bush (barely) beat Kerry with his campaign of "fear, smear, and queers," and then claimed a nonexistent mandate
� Republicans decided that Terri Schiavo would make "a great political issue"
� Conservatives sought to undermine Social Security by using a strategy borrowed from� Vladimir Lenin
� Tom DeLay is just an absolute horror show
This is truly a book for everyone.
If you were a Bush voter, Al wants to set aside partisan bitterness and talk about the better future Americans can build together for their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. (Generations beyond that will have to fend for themselves.) But first, Al must show you how Republican leaders are, at this very moment, betraying your trust and quite possibly lighting a Cuban cigar with a burning American flag or Bible.
If you're a liberal, this book is for you as well. Maybe even most of all. You will find evidence for what you already believe: that Al Franken is among America's finest prose stylists, and that the depravity of the Bush administration is only outmatched by the rot in the heart of the Republican Congress.
And finally, if you are a member of a future generation who has found this book in a pile of radioactive rubble, Al apologizes. Not because he didn't do his best to control the proliferation of nuclear weapons from rogue nations to non-state actors taking refuge in so-called "failed" states. But because his countrymen evidently failed to listen.
In any case, enjoy the book.
The Truth (with jokes) Specifications
Nearly a year after the presidential election of 2004, Al Franken is still checking facts, exposing lies, and trying to clear the record as he sees it. Sneering at President Bush's declaration of a mandate after a two-and-a-half percent victory, he deconstructs Bush's 2004 platform of "fear, smear, and queers," and explains how the president has done some flip-flopping of his own. He offers comment on well-known stories, including the Terri Schiavo case, and some more obscure, such as reports of forced prostitution, indentured servitude, and squalid conditions at clothing factories in Saipan (which is part of the American Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). Franken focuses on Tom DeLay's connection to the territory and his efforts to prevent bills from being passed that would have required Saipan to follow U.S. labor laws. Iraq, too, is discussed, from its planning stages to the huge sum of money currently unaccounted for, including .8 billion missing from the Coalition Provisional Authority's coffers.
On the home front, Franken covers President Bush's attempt at Social Security reform, explaining how they came up with the projected shortfall figure of trillion. For one thing, they adjusted life expectancy to 150 years, while leaving the retirement age at 67: "That's an eighty-three-year retirement. They're never gonna get to that without stem cell research." He also takes some wickedly funny swipes at Karl Rove, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, pundits and hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Tim Russert, and Sean Hannity, and, of course, President Bush. The Truth succeeds in providing ammunition to liberals and others dissatisfied with the current power base in Washington, D.C.--only this time (with jokes). --Shawn Carkonen
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Customer Reviews
Not That Good. Lies was Much Better - Wood is Good - Orange County, California
I really enjoyed Lies but found this book by Franken to be bitter, unfunny, and just demoralizing. Franken spends most of the book just complaining about the fact that Bush won the election in 2004 and how he is going to destroy the country by ending medicare and social security and blah blah blah; None of it happened - except destroying the the economy before he left office.
Bottom line, I felt like I was reading a book written by a whining 8 year old instead of the Al Franken I knew from Lies.
Most of the book is out of date now, and unlike Lies, I would recommend you just don't read this; it's really terrible.
Upsetting, even in audio - Tourist In The City - New York City
Upsetting: I paid a full two dollars at a Staples discount table for the audio edition and Amazon has a used copy for .46. Well, ok, it IS quite a bit old now, 5 years, in the middle of the last presidency. I'm old enough to remember that presidency although I've forgotton so much. Al Franken is here to remind me. Frankenly, "The Truth" is painfull and also funny. I'd say the audio edition is worth every penny of the .46, or even .50, you might spend. It was new. You like a bargain! It's a full dozen hours of unabridged talking, just Al Franken and you. Some of the quotes are done with Franken doing imitations of Cheney or President Bush or some random Scottsman. Sometimes he inserts real audio clips - the people he makes fun of do a much better job of making fun. It's a good book, a better audio read.
Great! - Reign Chelsin -
Very Good! See also George and Condi: The Last Decayed: A Collection of Poems from the Last Decade Beaver Tales and a Canada Goosing: Poems Illustrating a Uniquely Canadian Perspective (See ArtisanPacificPublishing Website).
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