Local Cartoonist Has Hand in Franken's Right-Wing Roast (Used Harvard Aide to Prank Bob Jones U)

Post-Gazette ^ | Tuesday, August 26, 2003 | Tony Norman

[nickcarraway]

If I were to take a wild guess, I'd bet that Bill O'Reilly and his colleagues at the Fox News Channel spent the weekend, as many of us did, reading Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."

[weegee]

Fortunately, "Lies" isn't just about O'Reilly and his compatriots at Fox. What "Lies" does best is profile notorious right-wingers from columnist Ann Coulter and Attorney General John Ashcroft to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Pittsburgh billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, putting their contributions to the coarsening of political discourse into context. The author even outs himself for a cruel, though hilarious, prank that he and one of his 14 Harvard research assistants played on the guileless folks manning the admissions office of Bob Jones University.

And where does Al Franken's claim to "Fair and Balanced" come in? How is the book "fair" or "balanced" in it's coverage? It's a liberal's wetdream, there is no attempt at balance. Fox puts liberal pundits on the air to give air time to their views. Alan Colmes is on the radio here in Houston on a conservative station that wanted ties to FOX (for breaking news items like the pending war in Iraq).

Any critic who doesn't address the notion of "balance" in this book (especially after going to court to keep that slogan on the front cover) is a Rat shill.

[martin_fierro]

It takes this clown thirteen paragraphs to actually talk about the cartoonist subject of his article.

The PGH PG is fishwrap.

[Fawnn]

The guy can draw, but I'm not crazy about the content. (But then, we know that content isn't important to Franken either.)

[randog]

Gansta rap targets young adults...

Exactly. Ask any kid if he's read O'Reilly's steamy book and they're going to say, "Who?". Ask them about gangsta rap and they'll recite the words to any rap song by heart.

[weegee]

Simpson has done porn too (comics). Wendy Whitebread was drawn for Eros Comics (a porn subdivision of Fantagraphics Books).

At one point, it was the highest selling title in Simpson's career (although he did it under a pseudonym, Anton Drek).

Here are some reviews from Amazon:

open wide, June 16, 2000
Reviewer: kidd_vicious from IL, United States
Another well written porn by Drek. Pictures are very, very graphic, which is more appelaling. The story line is cheesey, but aren't all porns?

Brings new meaning to the term "Spread 'em!", November 11, 1998
Reviewer: An Amazon.com Customer
Bigger, better and raunchier than ever, this 144-page graphic novel collects the complete, totally offensive 'Wendy Whitebread', 'Forbidden Frankenstein', and 'Dracula's Daughter', as well as 'Anton's Drekbook' - a fest extraordinaire!

[Fawnn]

The author even outs himself for a cruel, though hilarious, prank that he and one of his 14 Harvard research assistants played on the guileless folks manning the admissions office of Bob Jones University.

That passage says a lot about the left and their compassion that's such that they equate "cruel" with "hilarious." I wonder if Franken and his 14 Harvard flunkies also called the local tobacco shop and asked them if they had "Prince Albert in a can."

[weegee]

"This is the biggest audience I've ever had," said the artist, who is best known in the comics world for his "Megaton Man" series.

Megaton Man came before Wendy Whitebread (no pun intended). His porn work sold much better than the other titles (which have been out of print for years).

I would have put him in a "Where are they now" article.

Someone at NPR enjoys this book. Who'da thunk it.

[xlib]

It's #1 at Amazon, but no one has reviewed it yet. Curious.

[weegee]

Amazon also withheld the negative reviews for Hillary's book. There were a few reader reviews and the rest were frozen for awhile.

The NY Time negative review was withheld as well.

Seems that they really don't want potential buyers to have a real idea of what's for sale.

[WOSG]

Sickening boot licking of Franken's juvenile production. So the reviewer likes trash-talking the right. This " heavily fact-checked tome " is junk.

[driftless]

Franken is about as funny as hair in your soup. Anyone who writes a book calling someone a big, fat, idiot in the title is extremely short on creative writing abilities. After reading parts of that book I concluded that Franken was just another lib who considers name-calling the height of wit. He completely misunderstands Limbaugh and naturally draws the wrong conclusions from what Rush says.

Franken is to P.J. O'Rourke as your local golf pro is to Tiger Woods. Coulter may exaggerate at times, but there is a lot she hits with all the lead she throws out. Libs only name-call with nothing to back their insults up. This writer is the same. They have nothing to justify their arrogance.

[Michael.SF.]

I thought that ``Franken'' in the title makes that redundant. LOL.

Two Shea ! (boycotting french words)

[nutmeg]

FoxFan ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my FoxFan list. *Warning: This can be a high-volume ping list at times.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Timesink]

Franken is to P.J. O'Rourke as your local golf pro is to Tiger Woods. Coulter may exaggerate at times, but there is a lot she hits with all the lead she throws out. Libs only name-call with nothing to back their insults up. This writer is the same. They have nothing to justify their arrogance.

Within days, if not hours, of Coulter's books hitting the shelves, we find ourselves engaged in a nationwide debate over serious political issues raised in the books. Franken's book's been out for a week now and the only point I've heard raised thus far is "Wow, he really nails O'Reilly!" QED.

[pogo101]

Why shouldn't some conservative REALLY PUBLISH a book-ette (one of those point-of-purchase small books ... about $5 at the Borders cash register area) like the one in this gag illustration? "Al Franken Is A Retarded Lying Leftist."

[Dutchgirl]

I had never read this columnist until this article was posted.

Let me compare his comments on 9/11 with those famous heart felt (applied) words of Ann Coulter- regarding bombing them, invading them and forcibly converting them to Christianity!!-sure to be reviled by Al Franken.

For Tony Norman, the death of thousands of innocent Americans evoked this response:

"Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon. For in one hour, your judgment has come."

The literal-minded may think it unpatriotic and even blasphemous of me to compare the ancient capital of sin and commerce to modern Manhattan. But it was a dark thought that quickly passed, once the horror of what had occurred to America at the hands of terrorists sunk in. No metaphor in the Bible could prepare us for the sight of the World Trade Center collapsing except, perhaps, Judgment Day.

Still, I've been struck by the free rein to hatred expressed by many of my fellow Americans since Tuesday's horrific events. It's hard not to notice and be ashamed of the percolating rage rising against Muslims here and abroad...

Are you still reading this drivel? I give you "free rein" to express all the hatred you want!