Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot

Book, 1969

Status

Available

Call number

817

Collection

Publication

Publisher Unknown (1969)

Description

In the grand satirical tradition of Swift, Rabelais, and Twain comes... Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, and Other Observations... a scathing--but uncompromisingly fair--look at America's largest talk show host and the rest of the Republican right. Penned by the Emmy award-winning Saturday Night Live writer whom John Podhoretz of the New York Post has called "the man responsible for some of the most brilliant political satire of our time," Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot tackles the issues--and the politicians--in ways few have dared... Exploding Medicare Costs: "Why not shoot the elderly into space? Stay with me. Because I'm not just thinking about the budget here. I'm talking about science. Just think how many more manned space operations NASA could undertake if they didn't have to worry about getting the astronauts back." Crime: "I have a radical gun-buyback idea that I guarantee would be a huge success. Here's how it works: hand in a gun, get a free vial of crack." Newt Gingrich: "Many of us, like Newt, have acknowledged smoking dope and reading Toffler in the early 70s. But after reading his book, I think Newt's dirty little secret is that he smoked dope and watched The Jetsons." Phil Gramm: "If you get beyond the fact the Gramm is ugly, mean, hypocritical, has a boob fetish, and drives his wife like a mule, he does have a certain folksy charm." On the subject of Rush Limbaugh, Franken lets the facts speak for themselves. Listen to Rush, the "rugged individualist" and enemy of government handouts, explain how his second wife made him stop sitting around the house eating just food and go file for unemployment insurance. And learn all of Rush's several explanations for how he avoided the draft. Of course, when it comes to draft-dodging Republicans, Rush isn't alone. Reading Al's Vietnam short story, "Operation Chickenhawk," you'll savor the exploits of Privates Limbaugh, Gramm, Quayle, Buchanan, Gingrich, and George Will as Lieutenant Oliver North leads them kicking and screaming into combat. And don't miss Al's informative discussion with the man who has "the easiest job in America": Rush Limbaugh's fact-checker. And much, much more.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member ck2935
This book is hilarious. it is also sad in the sense of how polarized our political scene is becoming.
LibraryThing member ThothJ
Even though, this country has just barely survived 8 years of incompetent Republican leadership since this book was written, I find it even more timely and even more funny.
LibraryThing member Unreachableshelf
Some political humor does not age well, especially when it focuses strongly on specific individuals. That is not the case here. This book is as fresh and relevant as ever, and to me, funnier than when I first read it- although that has a lot to do with the fact that when it was new, I was 13 and
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only reading it because I knew Franken's name from SNL. Not only Rush but many others in this book are still prominent and still as deserving of mockery as ever, including but not limited to Newt, Pat Buchannan, and the now-Governor of Ohio Kasich. The only part of this book that feels dated is when Franken says he could never go into politics (due to his inability to write a good sports metaphor).
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LibraryThing member mellonhead
I read this a long time ago, but I remember thinking how impressed I was with his facts and figures (although I am always skeptical). It was funny and frightening at the same time.

I would recommend this book to any open-minded individual.
LibraryThing member doowatt34
Al Franken is dead on hilarious with his funny satire of public figures, politicians and their syncophants. He is so right to poke fun at the ignorant fodder thats spewed out every day on some media outlet.
LibraryThing member ThothJ
Even though, this country has just barely survived 8 years of incompetent Republican leadership since this book was written, I find it even more timely and even more funny.
LibraryThing member EdKupfer
Not just a one-title joke, there's actually quite a bit of meat in this book, which only drags occasionally. Dated horribly by now as his subjects have gone on to parody themselves far more than Franken ever did, this is still a good book to pick up used for a couple of bucks if only for the still
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hilarious index.
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LibraryThing member rcgibson
A satirical look at conservative political figures like Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and Pat Buchanan.
LibraryThing member Djupstrom
Al Franken was very funny on Saturday Night Live, and he is funny here as well.
LibraryThing member jburlinson
A little uneven, what can you expect, after all? "Operation Chickenhawk" is classic!
LibraryThing member Devil_llama
Typical Franken, funny, but spotty in the humor, often more involved with Al Franken than with his subject. Very fun if you are ideologically inclined to dislike Limbaugh.
LibraryThing member ThothJ
Even though, this country has just barely survived 8 years of incompetent Republican leadership since this book was written, I find it even more timely and even more funny.
LibraryThing member ThothJ
Even though, this country has just barely survived 8 years of incompetent Republican leadership since this book was written, I find it even more timely and even more funny.
LibraryThing member ecw0647
Al Franken in his new book, suggests several novel solutions for some of our social problems. To relieve Medicare and NASA budgets he says, "Why not shoot the elderly into space? .. we could learn so much. What is the effect of weightlessness on arthritis?" And for the next Republican ticket he
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proposes Gingrich and Gramm. "That way the President could write the pornography and the Vice-President could produce it."

Franken also finds it amusing that so many of those castigating Bill Clinton for avoiding the draft did so themselves. These would include Phil Gramm (deferments), George Will (deferments), Clarence Thomas (4-F), Pat Buchanan (bad knee), and Newt, who now says he regrets not having gone. I regret he didn't go too.
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LibraryThing member ThothJ
Even though, this country has just barely survived 8 years of incompetent Republican leadership since this book was written, I find it even more timely and even more funny.
LibraryThing member ThothJ
Even though, this country has just barely survived 8 years of incompetent Republican leadership since this book was written, I find it even more timely and even more funny.
LibraryThing member annbury
Pretty funny and a solid pasting of the conservatve viewpoint, which seems to be 'tax me as little as possible and everything will be fine; The problem is that with this jerk in the white house, the country hasnt changed much.
LibraryThing member MiaCulpa
Not being American, I had no idea who Al Franken was when I bought "Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot" at a small second hand bookshop in a town in southern Oregon during a US road trip twenty years ago. I did know who Rush Limbaugh was as it was very difficult to avoid the man on radio or
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television.

Watching Limbaugh one noted that he was a big man who certainly had a large ego. I didn’t agree with some things he said but I don’t think Limbaugh is an idiot. Anyway, Franken gets stuck into Limbaugh and other conservative figures and gets the odd laugh on the way as some of his claims stick while others do not. And I could do without the fictional interludes in “Rush Limbaugh …” as well. Still, the book sufficiently killed time on the train ride to San Francisco.
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LibraryThing member ThothJ
Even though, this country has just barely survived 8 years of incompetent Republican leadership since this book was written, I find it even more timely and even more funny.
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Would be really funny as a couple of articles but very repedititve as a book.
LibraryThing member Razinha
Having read "Liars" and "Truth" first, I left this one for a rainy day. Franken doesn't disappoint. He is quite funny and while less rigorous in his dismantling of his targets than in his later books, he is nonetheless still dead-on.

My favorite parts of any of his works are where he quotes the fool
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he is exposing, then wraps the quote in the context of the truth (which is verifiable). Intelligent readers will come to the conclusions he reaches, whether in satire (as in this book), comedy ("Lies"), or somber dismay ("Truth").
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Awards

Original publication date

1996-01-01

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