Al Franken. The Truth with Jokes (2006)

     Al Franken. The Truth with Jokes (2006) Paperback edition with added chapters. Franken is a proud liberal Democrat, and he’s mad. The book discusses how Bush won in 2000 and 2004, and goes on to describe his record of corruption, deceit, and most of all incompetence. The leaders of his Republican administration are very clever, but they apply their cleverness to fantasy problems. That’s stoopid. The cost of their fantasies and stoopidity has been hundreds of thousands of lives, in Iraq, Israel and adjoining territories, and without doubt in the USA also, because of the Libertarian neglect of their duties as governors. Franken tries to lighten the tone with humour and irony, but succeeds for only a few seconds at a time. Overall, this is a depressing book. Franken did predict the swing against the Bush regime in the 2006 vote, although it wasn’t the rout he hoped for. Let’s hope the Democrats produce a vision that attracts the political middle, the people who distrust both the extreme right and the extreme left. In the meantime, we have our own version of Bush. His substance is the same, and his style is more thoughtful. But the Harper Conservatives are as fantasy ridden as the Bush Republicans. *** (2006)