The Truth (with Jokes) by Al Franken

There's truth in all good comedy, but at what point does the truth begin to hurt so much that the jokes lose their humor and become horrifying mirrors of society? And should any book review begin with such a bleeding heart, philosophy major type of opening? The answer to both questions is, "maybe".

Franken's latest book uncovers some truly inexcusable misdeeds from the friends of those currently in power, from Tom Delay to Jack "Saipan Slave Labor - Made in the USA!" Abramoff. While there is the expected amount of Bush-bashing (and surprisingly few shots at Limbaugh, O'Reilly, and Coulter, there is a soberness to the book that was a bit unexpected. Franken wrote his last book (Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them) as a sort of prelude to regime change. His dreams didn't come true, the in "The Truth", there's a bit of an exasperated "what the Hell is it going to take to get through to you people?" feel.

Franken expressly promises exactly two jokes in the book, although a close reading my provide more. Franken gives his views on diverse topics like Republican "morality" ("From what I understand, if you cut out all the passages in the Bible where Jesus talks about the poor, about helping out the least among us, you'd have the perfect container to smuggle Rush Limbaugh's drugs in") to Bush's social security "crisis" (The number Bush kept using, $11 trillion, represented the total shortfall from now until the year Infinity. If you think about it, $11 trillion over infinity years is nothing. Over the first 11 trillion years, that's just one dollar a year. Easy. After that, it's over. You're done. What, exactly, is the problem?".

He has a gift for defusing the most bull-headed of right-wing arguments. His true gift comes in his view of the issues: people, he argues, are for the most part good. We all want the same things: happiness, more money, security, a clean environment and a hopeful future. Franken isn't afraid to admit that there are Republicans out there with hearts (he even names three or four! See? Detail-oriented! Painstaking research!), and for the majority of his book, he tries to reach those that have forgotten how to use theirs.