The Truth (With Jokes) is an American book of political satire and humor by Al Franken, released in October 2005. The book's main focus is on the 2004 presidential election and Franken's research into the Republicans' strategy in their victory—as well as examples of subsequent political overreach which he predicts will be their downfall. Finally, he makes some predictions.
Book I: The Triumph of Evil
The book opens with a retelling of the aftermath of November 2, 2004, as all the major news stations claim that incumbent U.S. President George W. Bush—reelected with an historically narrow margin over his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, of less than 2.5 percentage points—won an "ideological mandate" in this election. Franken points to the previous low point for incumbent presidents' reelections, Woodrow Wilson's 3.2-point 1916 victory, juxtaposes them with the landslide reelection victories of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, Richard Nixon in 1972, and Ronald Reagan in 1984, and counter-argues that Bush's margin of victory was nowhere close to these lopsided contests; further, Franken points out that Bush's margin was 6 points narrower than that of Bill Clinton in 1996 over Republican challenger Bob Dole, and that nobody considered that victory a "mandate".
Franken then enumerates the reasons he believes Bush won, as summarized in three rhyming words: Fear: He used the threat of terrorism to scare voters into believing John Kerry wouldn't be able to protect them; Smear: He misrepresented Kerry's record; and Queers: He turned gay marriage into a wedge issue.
Fear
Franken uses several quotes from throughout the 2004 campaign to illustrate the point of "How Bush Won: Fear". In several instances campaigners heavily relied on the events of 9/11 to paint President Bush as a strong military leader and John Kerry as a waffler. Franken counters with direct quotes from the 9/11 Commission that suggest Bush ignored or overlooked several key pieces of intelligence from the CIA that, if acted upon, could have prevented the attacks altogether.
Franken also writes that Bill Clinton received similar intelligence regarding potential attacks on January 1, 2000, and was able to quickly raise the security level and prevent terrorist activity.
He also talks about terror management theory and its relevance to the 2004 campaign, including numerous "conflations" by Republicans, particularly at their national convention, of the Iraq War with the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Almost no mention is made at the 2004 Republican National Convention of Osama bin Laden, whose terrorist group al Qaeda is considered to have perpetrated the events of 9/11; across all the speeches delivered during television prime time, there was only one mention, by then-Governor of New York George Pataki. Meanwhile, the words "terror"/"terrorism"/"terrorist", and mentions of Iraq, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and 9/11 occurred 178 times in total.
One chapter is devoted to exploring the idea that 9/11 was used, as the wife of blogger Dwight Meredith phrased it, as Bush's "little black dress"—something he could slip on for any occasion, something he could use to justify any action he took.
Smear
In "How Bush Won: Smear," Franken addresses the accusations of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group that alleged during the 2004 election that John Kerry's medals for valor were actually based on an act of cowardice. The incident, involving Kerry's killing of a Viet Cong soldier, was not witnessed by any of the group's members. Moreover, the group dubiously claimed that Kerry shot a potentially unarmed and wounded teenager in the back while he attempted to escape.
Franken surmises, using the testimony of the soldiers who were actually there, that Kerry's original version is the correct version. Franken also quotes a Ted Koppel story from 2004 when Koppel went to Vietnam and spoke personally with the commander of the Vietcong attack, who verified the man killed by Kerry was an adult, and military records that show the man was in possession of a grenade launcher.
The chapter ends with Franken delving into Karl Rove's record of smears. John McCain is mentioned briefly, as the victim of a claim by Rove (during Bush's 2000 search for the Republican presidential nomination) that McCain's adopted Bangladeshi daughter Bridget was actually an illegitimate African-American daughter, a claim which was spread via in infamous push poll. The chapter also contains a detailed account of Alabama Supreme Court justice Mark Kennedy, whose record of advocacy for children was twisted into an accusation of pedophilia.