NEWS
Al Franken: visiting knee-jerk liberal
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by Rebecca Levie
Friday, November 7, 2003
Al Franken will be speaking at the Orpheum about his new book, “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right” Sunday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.
The event, which is sponsored by Canterbury Booksellers, will feature a speech, question and answer session as well as a book signing.
“While the main part of the speech will focus on his new book, I’m sure he will add some other information as well. He’s an entertainer and he knows how to please his audience,” Canterbury worker Soren Schoff said. “We’re really excited about him coming and we know he’ll put on a great show.”
Tickets for the speech are available at both the Orpheum Theatre and Canterbury Booksellers. General Seating is $10 or $8 for University of Wisconsin students with ID. Seniors are free if they buy a copy of the book at Canterbury prior to the event.
Throughout his book, Franken takes a look at the Bush Administration’s policies, commenting on their actions of squandering the surplus, ravaging the environment, and alienating the rest of the world, according to a press release.
He also takes on Fox News by putting Bill O’Reilley on the cover, and devoting an entire chapter to discussing his lies as Franken has witnessed them.
Also on the cover are President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and Ann Coulter, a writer of very conservative social criticisms.
“The book is really a criticism of Bush’s policies, and also a criticism of the media’s coverage of the war. But there’s a lot of humor mixed in as well. It’s a fun read,” Schoff said.
When released, the book was met with a lawsuit brought on by Fox News, suing over the phrase “A Fair and Balanced Look,” which they claimed was legally theirs as they had it copyrighted.
The judge presiding over the case found that the phrase was protected under free speech as it was making a social criticism.
Franken is best known for his stand-up and his role on Saturday Night Live as the “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me” therapist Stuart Smalley.
Franken has also made his mark in the literary world as a satirical writer with books such as, “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations,” “Why Not Me?” and “Oh, the Things I Know.” In 2003 he served as a Fellow with Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
