Rating: 
Summary: It's not just for liberals anymore
Review: One thing I have always admired about Alan Colmes' political views and the way in which he presents them is that he has the ability to compartmentalize an issue. I am not a liberal, nor a conservative thinker. As one of the other reviews mentions, this is a collection of Alan's ideas and arguments... agreed. But, with all of the Powells and O'Reillys of the world, isn't it nice to read a different perspective every now and then? I believe anyone interested in learning would enjoy reading this, regardless of political stance.
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Summary: All hail Alan "Mr. Toothless" Colmes!!!!
Review: Sometimes (usually when I can't find the remote), I find myself watching "Hannity and Colmes" on the Fox News Channel, and I feel sorry for poor Alan Colmes. He invariably finds himself interrupted and talked over by both Sean Hannity and whatever moron they happen to be interviewing. Then when they go to commercial, I can almost see the bile rising in Alan's throat when he says the Fox News Channel features "Real Journalism--Fair and Balanced!!!"So when I saw his book for sale I bought it, thinking that this was his chance to finally speak his mind uninterrupted about his views. The result is one of the most milquetoast tomes I have ever waded through. He, of course, tries to defend his network (and not very well)...if he didn't work for Fox News (and if his publishing company wasn't another Rupert Murdoch division), he actually might admit exactly how biased it truly is!!! There is also an awful lot of empty space in the book, which makes me wonder if he really had that much to say. A lot of the book is taken up with excerpts from the show and emails that he has received over the years. Every time he uses emails or show clips, it's space that he didn't have to fill with his own words. Also, I really didn't enjoy the "O.J. Is Innocent" chapter, simply because the O.J. Simpson trial was nearly ten years ago, and I didn't think anyone cared about it anymore. So I would recommend that you wait for it to wind up on the clearance table. The wait shouldn't be too long, since I recently saw it for 75% off the cover price.
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Summary: A wonderful, well-written book
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a well-written book with insightful and directive views. He clearly laid out his viewpoints in a take it or leave it, no nonsense manner. It was humorous when it needed to be, and serious when important points needed to come across.
I really recommend this book to anyone who is either interested in seeing the "other side" or is a truly, proud liberal, such as my self. It is an intelligent, well thought out book. The points are well intentioned and direct. It was a pleasure to read, and one of my favorite political books yet.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother
Review: I not going to try to sound sophisticated or intellectual, I'm a simple person with politically independant views. To sum this book up, pure garbage. Any person sharing the same views as Colmes is dooming the American democracy. It's so left, I'm not so sure he believes what he wrote. Bill Clinton the greatest president that ever lived! OJ innocent! Those two statements alone should be enough to keep you from wasting your money.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Book
Review: This book is a must-read for all liberals and conservatives alike. It really puts things into perspective. Colmes cuts through conservative BS to get hard and fast with the facts. Even if you hate liberals and can't stand them, read this first. It's refreshing to see a liberal write a book for once.
Rating:
Summary: The other side of the same coin
Review: I picked up this book and read it cover to cover based solely on a challenge Colmes writes about in his foreword when he states "I'm especially grateful if you are a non liberal reading this. It shows a willingness to hear another point of view". (Page 1) OK, that and the fact that due to flight delays and a packed laptop charger cord, I have hours with nothing better to do. But that notwithstanding, I always like the feeling of someone being grateful for something I do, so the invitation worked.
What is this book about? I had high hopes that it would be some sort of explanation of why "liberals" (although more likely merely Colmes) believe the way they do on a variety of issues. Given the media promotion of this radical split in ideologies, the idea of hearing the far left side explained is compelling, even though in reality most people are moderate in practice. Sadly though, this book does little deep introspection into the philosophical worldview of liberalism aside from a few political rants and hints of moral relativism, and I would best describe this book and it's position as merely "the other side of the "Coulter" coin. Lot's of gross overgeneralizations, the occasional witty and funny caricatures, and the shrill voice of protest. Not that there is anything wrong with that of course.
There is a huge section on the war on terror. I suggest skipping over nearly all of pages 39 to 95, as it is one sided drivel. What was disappointing is that there is the opportunity for real discussion on the topic. I would respect a dialog on why everyone, from the liberal left to the far right, came to the exact same conclusions on WMD's, and on the war decision itself. Why and how our intelligence gave us (all) apparently flawed information is a dialog worth having. However, what we see here no mention whatsoever of this fact, until page 149, when Allen uses it to justify and promote Hillary. Seriously, no mention at all in 50 plus pages of the discussion regarding WMDs, namely that all sides made the same lies. So, skip this section unless you are really into one-sided Bush bashing, then it will be fun for you.
He states on page 78 "Embracing true liberal values will move us toward a better world". These are strong words, with lots of implications; however there is little information throughout the book that clearly articulates what these values are, or how they make the world "better", or even what "better" means. This is unfortunate, because I thought that was the whole point of this book. If you think the dictionary definitions of the words will suffice, look them up and save your money, because that is about all he provides here directly.
On page 130, the true bashing starts, and the book gets interesting. The, "You might be a conservative if...." statements begin the assault in the form of the very generalizations and divisive language he decries from others. He lauds the Clinton economy with no mention or acknowledgement of the dot.com illusion that propped up most of the growth and provided the foundation for the corporate scandals that broke soon after. That he feels the O.J. case is as clear as your routine CSI episode, gives you some sense of delusion beginning, but it gets far more illogical than this. When discussing abortion he uses the propaganda and obviously irrelevant words like "anti-choice" to describe those he disagrees with. Even more amazing is his apparent disregard for scientific evidence commonly understood by the majority of middle-school biology students. He equates an unborn child to an "arm", just another body part, and missed the day in class when they discussed how he came to be. (Page 249). This is by far the most amazing revelation, in that he is entirely clueless of the basic physical and scientific facts of life, and uses his ignorance to promote his political agenda.
Overall, I liked the book. He includes lots of emails, good and bad, from people responding to his show. I also give him a lot of credit for writing a good book, albeit one that is merely the flip side of the same shrill coin he denounces in others. Of course that is hypocritical, but it doesn't mean it's not well done. The index and notes were messed up, but that is just a publishing error. Overall, good book, and a fun read, whether you agree with him or not.
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Summary: Liberal. Hah.
Review: Just look what book is being sold along with his at the top of the page. And then look just below that at the other books people who purchased this book have purchased. Books by Pawn Hannity, DICK Morris, and Man Coulter. Nice company Alan you big liberal you ! Ofcourse what can anyone expect ? Alan Colmes aka 'The Cryptkeeper' is Faux New's token 'liberal' he is a shill of the right wing.
You have 'Sean' sitting there the Nazi storm trooper far right wing fascist bigot and then you have the person who is supposed to counter balance him who is limited to announcing commercial breaks and saying 'Gee Clinton wasnt too bad' to prove what a big liberal he is [because he liked a moderate democrat *GASP!*] now and again.
I hope Faux News offices burn to the ground with everyone [Murdoch included ofcourse] associated with them trapped inside.
Rating:
Summary: Colmes is on Target
Review: I found that once I started reading this book, I couldn't stop until I devoured the entire thing. Colmes makes a great case for Democrats, without stooping to the low levels of his network. Rather than writing a book on how to blame the opposition, as his counterpart Sean Hannity did, Colmes gives solutions to problems without casting blame. He also gives some long overdue credit to former President Clinton. I'm sure all of the FOX viewers will love that.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't Finish it....
Review: First off, before you libs start hitting the "not helpful" button, I gave Al Frankin's book a five star rating and I liked Carvelle's book too, so my rating here isn't just because I don't agree with the information. I take into consideration both the writing style and the value of the information in my review. I couldn't finish this (or didn't want to) and that says something and even though I'm a conservative and disagree with most of the left's agenda, I still give good ratings to books I enjoyed reading (even if I disagreed with most of what they espoused).
Colmes writing style is a bit patronizing and some of his arguments are just plain silly. He inserts in this book some emails from viewers of his television show to show how mean and hateful some people on the right are. So what, I think, doesn't Alan realize that conservatives receive tons of hate email too? What's that prove?
His next annoying assertion is that if you look at the definitions of the words "liberal" and "conservative" in the dictionary, you'll realize that it's better to be a liberal. What? Does Mr. Colmes actually believe there are junior high school kids out there reading this?
Next he tells us that the really bad side of the left of the political spectrum is communism, BUT MUCH WORSE the really bad side of the right side of the political spectrum is totalitarianism. Huh? Alan, really, don't you realize that communism can only survive in totalitarianism? Maybe he should read some Ayn Rand.
Okay, so Mr. Colmes wants us to believe that liberals are more "right" than conservatives because the dictionary definition of liberal sounds much cooler and hipper and that communism isn't as bad as totalitarianism, and besides, some conservatives out there sent him nasty emails.
Yes, this is good reading, IF you're Alan's mother.
I can't report on the second half or so of the book, but I flipped through it and basically Colmes believes Ann Coulter is nice but is totally on the wrong side of politics and that Saddam should still be in power because we were bad to take him out. Bad USA, bad. Okay, I get the point, but unless there's some original thought in it, a good book it doesn't make.
On a final note I'd like to point out that Mr. Colmes states that he doesn't understand why the big bad old USA should either a) have nukes or b) have a say in who else has them. Then he wonders why conservatives call liberals unpatriotic.
I can't recommend this book, if you're a liberal and you want to be part of the choir getting preached to with the same rehashed message, go for it, but I can't see the value in reading this as a conservative, it's nothing but the same ole same ole and not entertaining enough to bother with.
Rating:
Summary: Fox News's Porch Liberal
Review: Sean Hannity is the vilest of the vile. And yet, somehow, Alan Colmes is worse for the simple reason that he obviously knows better. Alan, let me ask you a couple questions: Why do you give that swine legitimacy? You don't debate him. You don't make him answer for his bizarre distortions. Your book made me sad to see you get shouted down by demagogues night after night.
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