I’m not sure what to make of this review in the NY Times.

In the kicking, spitting spirit of current all-star political discourse, Al Franken gives as good as he gets. His quintessential ad hominem attack title, “Rush Limbaugh Is a Big, Fat Idiot,” has already established his flair for the requisite games. Name calling, fact molding, gotcha!: all figure prominently in Mr. Franken’s instant best seller “Lies,” just as they do in most of the books that “Lies” attacks. Whatever their partisanship, these sporting diatribes share two underlying attitudes: “What gray area?” and “It’s all about me.”

Ok, I can’t quite tell if she’s saying Franken has resorted to fact molding and she’s going to criticise that, or that she’s referring to the jokes he makes. And the last two assertions, there’s really not any proof in the review of it.

Although Mr. Franken refers to “my wife, who, I have to tell you, is not usually funny,” he writes of living in “a comedy household.” Here is one of many indications of where the center of his particular universe lies. In addition to promoting his earlier books, lucrative corporate speeches and gonzo confrontational tactics (as in trying to con Attorney General John Ashcroft into writing a confessional article on sexual abstinence), Mr. Franken has assembled a team of 14 research assistants from Harvard. They are pictured in this book wearing T-shirts that read, “TeamFranken” � what else?

Lighten up lady. It’s a joke (referring to the TeamFranken shirts). You’re going to criticise him for being self-centered when he’s obviously writing these things to be funny.

Mr. Franken and his Harvard elves fuel future arguments by barely annotating much of this book’s data and skipping a closing index entirely. A weakness for oversimplifications undercuts it, too. So: “Clinton-hating was to the Bush White House what terrorism-fighting was to the Clinton White House.” And on patriotism and the Civil War: “You know who were the worst traitors in the history of our country? The Confederates.” He has a little � but only a little � more to add to the latter remark.

She’s got a point here. Although, most of the claims are researchable in other books.

Once again Mr. Franken assails Mr. Limbaugh for name-calling invective while displaying his own commensurate skills in this regard. “Rush, I know you have a three-hour show every day that leaves precious little time for bothering to know what you’re talking about,” he writes. And: “The old fallback. Blame Clinton. That always works with your audience when you’re trying to make something up.”

All the name calling Franken does in the book is done in jest. And I hardly see how those statements are name calling.

So anyway, I think it’s an odd review. Seems like she wants to criticise him, but doesn’t really find anything. At times she seems to take things too seriously, but then there’s no criticism of Operation: Chickenhawk, which if you’re going to criticise some of his humor, that could be a legitimate target.