I find that Al Franken’s book, Lies and Lying Liars Who Tell Them, is a hard read.  I do not know the insiders of the Bush Administration as he does. I do not know if the lies he reports are real.  Other than being a successful comedian there is no proof that his exposures and explanations are truthful. His accusations about the perfidy of the liars he exposes fall into empty space. It takes a while before he stops being cute and tells the intricacies of the way the Bush administration deals with the truth. If you do not know the players it is difficult to determine the facts. Franken looks like he in on a vendetta against some Republicans.

Lying is not an art usually. It is something most of us do since the early days of our use of language to get what we want.  We never grow out of the childish thought processes that tell us that getting what we want now is worth being spanked if caught out.  As we grow older we learn that there is a whole world of meaning in telling someone something they want to hear and avoiding the real truth that you hold back – in order to get along with them.

If true, the reportage of events in Mr. Franken’s book tells us a few things we did not know about the current administration and its administrators.  If true, it is a shameful mess.  If true, the voters in the next election for President can - but will probably not throw the rascals out.  Bald-faced liars in positions of authority affect our lives adversely.  We know  there are people who lie to us for our own good – but that rankles even more.

One of the things that Al Franken does is refute with the fervor of a believer, the lies the Bush Administration administrators have told about Bill Clinton. They do this in order to cement their position as arbiters of truth, justice and the American Way.  I do not question Mr. Franken when he takes the Republicans to task. Mr. Clinton has proved his value to the Republicans as a whipping boy who is perpetually tied to a stake for continual trouncings.  I suspect that Mr. Clinton has told additional lies other than that he ‘did not have sex with that woman’.  He and Hillary have had the tables turned so that they have been made into the King and Queen of a Democratic conspiracy to sell out America.  The Bush Team has continually harped on the Clintons’ threat to America and energetically spread the word that all the problems faced by the current administration were the Clintons’ fault.  In other words, both of them are in league with the Devil.

The most sickening thing that floats to the surface of all this garbage is the fact that a significant percentage of Americans buy the Republican story and saintliness of George W. Bush.  We need the Frankens of this country to tell the truth.  We need the Democrats to stop bowing and scraping and expose the lies.