Pants on Fire: How Al Franken Lies, Smears and Deceives Review
If you read the more critical reviews of this book, you will note that the vast majority of them resort to personal attacks which would make Al Franken proud.
Those that do not...simply use the exact same talking points Franken himself uses to "refute" Skorski. Ironically, these reviewers do not address what the book actually says.
Now, a review of the book, which I HAVE read.
This is, to be frank, a book years ahead of its time. Al Franken has long styled himself as a sage of the Left who tells the truth (with jokes), while exposing the lies (and the lying liars who tell them) of the Right.
To be honest, a red flag should have gone up in the minds of readers everywhere, when in the author-note to his book of Lies (From The Lying Liar Who Tells Them), Franken writes, "Thanks to TeamFranken, you can rest assured that almost every fact in this book is correct. Either that, or it's a joke. If you think you've found something that rings untrue, you've probably just missed a hilarious joke, and should blame yourself rather than me or TeamFranken."
Apparently, his book is full of "jokes".
As Skorski, and others, have pointed out, this is Al's convenient excuse whenever an untruth, however major, is detected in his portfolio. Of course, the consequences of this "humor" often prove to be severe, as far as the hearts and minds of his fans are concerned.
Skorski's book is not perfect: his refutation of Al's "minimum wage" numbers is not the best. (For a far better rebuttle of Al's typical "Rush-pulled-the-numbers-from-his-butt" talking point, see the article on this at "lyingliar-dot-com") Nonetheless, his hard-hitting and detailed research of Franken's biggest claims and smears makes this one flaw pale by comparison.
I strongly recommend this book. You may not agree with all the conclusions Skorski draws...but your mind WILL be challenged, as will everything you thought you knew about one of the biggest names in political "satire" of today.
That's all. Thanks for reading.
Pants on Fire: How Al Franken Lies, Smears and Deceives Overview
Al Franken was a "nobody" in the arena of political punditry before he wrote two best-selling books, Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Now one of the most prominent figures on the liberal Air America radio network, formed to counter the mostly conservative voice of mainstream talk radio, he consistently boasts "I tell the truth" and "I hold myself to an impossibly high standard when it comes to telling the truth."
Until now, says Alan Skorski, Franken's continuous smears against his enemies while promoting himself as the "ultimate truth teller" have gone unchallenged by the mainstream media. Surprisingly, even conservative or right-leaning media have not challenged the falsity of much of what he says, although Franken does not define what he believes is a lie, except to say that conservatives "get away with it." In contrast, Skorski defines a lie as "intentionally telling an untruth with the purpose of trying to cover up or get away with something," which he then accuses Franken of doing with impunity.
Alan Skorski has researched the facts regarding the allegations in Franken's last two books, monitored his daily radio show, spoken with people cited and referenced in Franken's books, and exchanged approximately 30 e-mails with Franken in order to provide readers with an accurate insight into how Franken thinks and operates. What Skorski finds is something very different from what Franken claims, and he concludes that, unlike many of the petty "lies" Franken writes about in his books—whether Bill O'Reilly's Inside Edition show won a Peabody or a Polk award or whether Ann Coulter said that she and Franken were "friendly"—...Pants on Fire reveals that Franken himself regularly lies, smears, and distorts what others say and do, ultimately discrediting himself as a "truth teller."
Indeed, according to Skorski, while Franken has called many people—from Rush Limbaugh and Brit Hume to President Bush—a "liar," "hypocrite," "cheater," "lazy," "shameless," and/or "dishonest," ...Pants on Fire amply illustrates not only that many of his claims are false but that Franken employs the very tactics he accuses the right of using.
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