Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them |
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right is a book of political commentary and satire by comedian and political commentator Al Franken, published in 2003 by Dutton, a subsidiary in the Penguin Group. The book s subtitle is an irony parody of FOX News tagline Fair and Balanced . Fox sued Franken over the use of the phrase in a short-lived lawsuit that is frequently credited with increasing the sales of the book.
=Summary=
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them is one of several books published in 2003 written by liberalism challenging the viewpoints of prominent conservatism such as Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Bill O Reilly (commentator) (although O Reilly considers himself an independent). These liberal-oriented books by Franken and fellow authors such as Joe Conason, Michael Moore and Jim Hightower have been described by columnist Molly Ivins as the Great Liberal Backlash of 2003.
Lies largely targets prominent United States Republican Party and conservatives, highlighting perceived inaccuracies in their claims. A significant portion of the book is devoted to comparisons between President of the United States George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton regarding their economics, natural environmental, and military policies. Franken also criticizes several journalism, especially those he believes to be the most dishonest, including Bill O Reilly and Sean Hannity.
In Lies, Franken divides American media into two groups, (a) the unbiased mainstream and (b) the biased right-wing :
The mainstream media does not have a liberal bias. . . . American Broadcasting Company, CBS, NBC, CNN, The New York Times , The Washington Post , Time (magazine) , Newsweek and the rest -- at least try to be fair.
But the right-wing media -- FOX News, The Washington Times , New York Post , The Wall Street Journal editorial page, talk radio -- are biased, the book declares. They have an agenda. They are not interested in conveying the truth. They concoct an inflammatory story that serves their political goals. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56418-2003Aug27.html]
Franken makes this distinction in an effort to debunk the claim, popular among some journalists, that the media is liberally biased.
The book also criticizes .
=Publicity=
Main article: Fox v. Franken
FOX News sought damages from Franken, claiming in its lawsuit that the book s subtitle violated its alleged trademark rights in the phrase Fair and balanced (marketing slogan) . The lawsuit was dismissed, and the attempt backfired on FOX News in that it provided Franken with free publicity just as the book was launched. The book was originally scheduled to be released Sept. 22 but [was] made available Aug. 21, according to its publisher. We sped up the release because of tremendous demand for the book, generated by recent events.
In the lawsuit, Fox described Franken as intoxicated or deranged as well as shrill and unstable. In response, Franken joked that he had trademarked the word funny , and that Fox had infringed his intellectual property rights by characterizing him as unfunny. The publicity resulting from the lawsuit propelled Franken s as-of-then-unreleased book to the #1 sales position on Amazon.com s best-seller list.
On August 22, 2003, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin denied Fox s request for an injunction to block the publication of Franken s book, characterizing the network s claim as wholly without merit, both factually and legally. Three days later, Fox filed papers to drop its lawsuit.
Franken, and others, said Fox s lawsuit was brought at its commentator Bill O Reilly (commentator) s insistence. Following the lawsuit s dismissal, a Fox spokeswoman stated, It s time to return Al Franken to the obscurity that he s normally accustomed to. Franken, in turn, suggested that the Judge had unwittingly supplied Fox with a more defensible trademark: Wholly Without Merit .
=Reviews=
Al Franken [is the man] of the hour. For years, we have suffered while right-wing bullies hijacked American politics and media -- persecuting a president for a consensual sex act; stealing the 2000 election; trashing the country s economy, environment and constitutional safeguards; handing the government over to the highest corporate bidders; deceiving the public into a bloody quagmire; and then brazenly smearing anyone who dared to criticize this orgy of dreadful leadership as un-American. The instant, runaway success of Franken s new book is not just a result of Fox News inexplicable decision to shoot itself in the foot and head by launching an idiotic trademark-infringement lawsuit, but also the author s bold -- and roaringly funny -- knack for confronting the Bush presidency and its prevaricating apologists. -- Salon.com[http://archive.salon.com/opinion/feature/2003/09/03/franken_dean/]
Al Franken is the SpongeBob Squarepants of the radical left. Outside of the obvious physical resemblance, Franken has other characteristics in common with the cartoon character. He is almost competent at what he does, has an over-inflated value of his self-importance, and is all too frequently given over to mindless bleeting [sic] when upset. The comparison is probably a bit harsh, and it s an unintended insult to Spongebob that my five-year-old daughter probably won t forgive. It is, however, true --- unlike 99 percent of what is in Franken s new book, Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them . -- Joe Hartlaub, Book Reporter[http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/0525947647.asp]
In the kicking, spitting spirit of current all-star political discourse, Al Franken gives as good as he gets. His quintessential ad hominem attack title, Rush Limbaugh Is a Big, Fat Idiot , has already established his flair for the requisite games. Name calling, fact molding, gotcha!: all figure prominently in Mr. Franken s instant best seller Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right , just as they do in most of the books that Lies attacks. Whatever their partisanship, these sporting diatribes share two underlying attitudes: What gray area and It s all about me. -- Janet Maslin, The New York Times .
=Book table of contents=
=ISBN numbers=
=See also=
*Liberal bias *Conservative bias *Media bias *Hostile media effect
=External links=
== Rebuttals ==
*[http://www.lyingliar.com Lying liar ] - Criticism of Franken and the book, in a satirical version of the commentator s site. *[http://www.frankenlies.com/ Frankenlies.com] - a website that purports to list assertions in the book that are lies or errors.
== Counter-rebuttals ==
*[http://www.alfrankenweb.com/smear.html Franken s response to criticism of the book]
== Reviews ==
*[http://publicbroadcasting.net/wnyc/news.newsmainaction=article&ARTICLE_ID=538974 Al Franken: Throwing Punches and Punch Lines] - a book review by Howard Kurtz in The Washington Post|
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