In 2003, Al Franken published a hilarious book skewering several prominent Republicans. Entitled "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," the book featured the face of Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly on the cover.
During the book's production, Franken and O'Reilly had a "dust-up" at the L.A. Book Expo. "O'Reilly didn't like his picture on the cover," Franken later recalled. The comedian confessed that he had not given the choice much thought. "I just want something with you lying," he told O'Reilly. "Anything with your mouth open will probably do."

[Epilogue: O'Reilly later lashed out at Franken during the National Booksellers' Convention. "If this was the wild west," he declared, "I would have shot him between the head!" Franken remarked that "O' Reilly was out promoting his new book, Living with Herpes." Fox filed, and withdrew, an absurd lawsuit over the book. "Satire," Franken wryly observed, "is protected speech -- even when the subject of the satire doesnt get it."]

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