Al Franken Tells it Like it Is

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm an Al Franken fan. I think it's mostly because he's planning on running for U.S. Senate from Minnesota against Norm Coleman. Now, I'm in favor of anyone left-of-center winning a U.S. Senate or House seat in Minnesota, because it will help balance out that horrible abomination that is Michelle Bachmann.

Lucky for us Minnesotans, like Michelle Bachmann, Al Franken is in direct communication with God.

In fact, according to Al's book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, God told him to write about how Al Gore had really won the election, how Bush had idiotically squandered the nation and world's goodwill after 9/11, and how it was making God mad.

Here's how the conversation between Al and God went:

"Look, God, I'm flattered, but if think you got the wrong guy. The kind of book you're talking about would require months of research."
And God said, "Let there be Google. And let there be LexisNexis."
"Very funny, God. I use Google all the time."
"Yes, I know," God said. "For hot Asian teens."
"You must be thinking of my son, Joe."
"Al? I'm omniscient."

Looks like God (and Al, for that matter) have a pretty good sense of humor. That sense of humor is what makes Franken's book a pretty good read. Like many things written about politics, from people on either side of the aisle, the constant reminder of how strict bipartisanship is screwing over America is a little depressing. And, if you happen to be a huge fan of Ann Coulter or Bill O'Reilly fan, this probably isn't the book for you. Some of the information--about Fox News, or about Cheney and Halliburton, for example--has been repeated in other sources, such as Michael Moore's documentaries.

That said, is is quite funny. I was sitting and reading it on the couch, giggling to myself. My husband would say, "What now?" and I'd read the funny bits out loud to him (he'd already read it). This book would not be a good bus book for me, since the people sitting next to me would think I'm nuts. (For the record, other bad bus books are The Education of Little Tree because it made me cry while I was reading it on the bus and Lolita because I'm pretty sure everyone around me thought I was some sort of pervert. I'm not.)

The other good thing about this book is that it inspired in me a healthy sense of outrage. It's pretty easy to sit on your couch, watch TV, and forget much of the crap the Bush administration has pulled. Reading Franken's book reminded me of a lot of that stuff--and not just stuff that would enrage liberals (like the claims about the 2000 election being rigged), but stuff that should enrage everyone, like the US pulling out of the Kyoto treaty and the enormous increase in the national debt. Books like this, even though they are biased a certain way, are an important part of a democracy because they make their readers feel something--either rage against the author, or rage against what he's writing--and that spurs them to get involved. Stay tuned to see how I've channeled my anger...

At any rate, this week's quote comes from Franken's book. Go ahead, read it. Get it? No? Read it again.....there you go :)

Hehehehe.