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Author | Topic: "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
nator Member (Idle past 2191 days) Posts: 12961 From: Ann Arbor Joined: |
...;A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right", by Al Franken.
Oh, man, is this a good book.
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Asgara Member (Idle past 2324 days) Posts: 1783 From: Wisconsin, USA Joined: |
Schraf,
Once I started reading that book, I couldn't put it down. Next on my list of Franken books is "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot". Michael Moore has some great books in the same genre - "Stupid White Men" and "Dude, Where's My Country" ------------------Asgara "An unexamined life is not worth living" Socrates via Plato
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Mammuthus Member (Idle past 6497 days) Posts: 3085 From: Munich, Germany Joined: |
Hi Asgara,
I actually liked the recent Franken book more than Moore's books (though I just bought Dude, where's my country? but have not read it yet). I thought Franken, besides being really funny, was extremely meticulous with his references and cites which is critical. His main point is that lots of things are said in the news that are mere rumors but become fact by mere repetition or by a systematic push from an ideological group. By being so meticulous it is much harder to criticize him for just being a partisan hack like the people he attacks in his book. Moore is not always so meticulous and throws in more opinion but is still very entertaining and I am glad he is out there doing what he is doing...he is a bigger here in Germany than in the U.S. The only problem with Franken's book is it starts out really funny but then as you think about the content, it really is not very funny at all and in fact what it says about the U.S. today is sadly accurate and horrible.
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MrHambre Member (Idle past 1415 days) Posts: 1495 From: Framingham, MA, USA Joined: |
I didn't like Moore's books either. Downsize This! in particular was a disappointment. His writing has little of the creativity of his film and TV work. Of course I agree with the guy, but he seems to be better at getting other people to say ridiculous things on camera than to come up with interesting things himself.
I've always hated Franken's onscreen personality, but his potshots at right-wingers are always welcome. I bet he even takes the credit for turning Rush into a bloated pill popper, and I wouldn't blame him. ------------------The dark nursery of evolution is very dark indeed. Brad McFall
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Mammuthus Member (Idle past 6497 days) Posts: 3085 From: Munich, Germany Joined: |
quote: I am sure that Franken convinced Limbaugh that he would get a better high by popping the pills in his ears as a joke leading to Rush going deaf...in Limbaugh's case deaf and dumb should be in reverse order...maybe Limbaugh can finance his drug addiction from former education secretary Bennett's gambling profits...oh, forgot, he only loses money. Actually, the most recent thing I heard about Franken is that he plans on running for for political office in Minnesota.
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Lizard Breath Member (Idle past 6717 days) Posts: 376 Joined: |
He's definitly dropped some major tonage from when he had his TV show. Back then if you told him to hall ass, he'd have had to make two trips.
As far as an idiot? The man has little formal education beyond high school, he's worth millions of bucks, has a staff of people working for him who have college degrees and has the ear of millions of people every day, some with no education and some with PHD's. Controversial, yes - absolutely. An idiot, not by a county mile. Like him or hate him, Rush has a solid platform that he stands on and you always know what side of the fence he will be on in an issue. Now take the salvation of the liberals in 2004 - Wes Clark. Now there's a geletinous mass of ideolgical funk that rolls like chilled fat in the direction the plate is tilted. I do repect Howard Dean. He is deffinitly a real person with real convictions. Trouble is for the Dems, he'll never be allowed to capture the nomination. He's the GOP's Ross Perot.
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Dan Carroll Inactive Member |
quote: "If people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."-Rush Limbaugh
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Lizard Breath Member (Idle past 6717 days) Posts: 376 Joined: |
So what is it about how he has dealt with his problem of drug abuse do you have the biggest problem?
What do you think he should do and what do you think should be done with him?
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zephyr Member (Idle past 4572 days) Posts: 821 From: FOB Taji, Iraq Joined: |
Can't speak for Dan, but I will say you seem to be ignoring that he's pointed out one issue on which Rush is undeniably a hypocrite. That is, a factual contradiction of your statement.
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Dan Carroll Inactive Member |
Yeah, Zephyr pretty much nailed it. How solid is his platform on illegal drug use? What side of the fence is he on, exactly? I don't see him retracting his earlier statement, or insisting that he be sent to jail.
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helena  Suspended Member (Idle past 5866 days) Posts: 80 Joined: |
I do like Moore's books, although I think that he is being hyped far too much. Unfortunately, I have not - yet - read anything by Franken. I personally have enjoyed reading Greg Pallast's "The best democracy money can buy", which seemed to be well researched and thoroughly backed up by reference material.
regards
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Lizard Breath Member (Idle past 6717 days) Posts: 376 Joined: |
Actually, even though he didn't live up to his own ideology in this area, it's still factual to say we know where he stands on the issue of drug abuse. Now I'm sure he has tempered his judgements concerning those caught in drug abuse situations since his own experience with it. People do learn and change from time to time and is not limited to liberals. I bet those 5 weeks gave him lots of time to eat crow buffet as he replayed some of his statements.
Even though he admits to being powerless over the drug he was using, he still would be against the idea passing out clean needles to heroine addicts.
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Lizard Breath Member (Idle past 6717 days) Posts: 376 Joined: |
I wouldn't expect to see him demanding to be sent to jail anytime soon, although in Rush's world it seems the proper punishment.
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Zhimbo Member (Idle past 6033 days) Posts: 571 From: New Hampshire, USA Joined: |
You might say that "Rush has a solid platform that he stands on and you always know what side of the fence he will be on in an issue."
I'd rather put it as "predictably towing the party line, totally lacking the ability to thoughtfully consider his own prejudices and biases". Surely somewhere there's a political figure who is neither a mindless demagogue nor an invertebrate poll worshipper?
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Zhimbo Member (Idle past 6033 days) Posts: 571 From: New Hampshire, USA Joined: |
Moore's a rabble-rouser, Franken, at heart, is really an academic. A damn funny academic.
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