Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot (Paperback)

~ (Author) "IT REMAINS a mystery why the New York Times would ask me to review this dreadfully foul little book..." (more)
Key Phrases: big fat idiot, correspondents dinner, pilonidal cyst, Rush Limbaugh, White House, Phil Gramm (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Rush Limbaugh claims his talent is on loan. With this book, Franken demonstrates that he owns. The frankly Democratic author's shtick reminds us how much of a free ride conservatives have gotten in the mainstream media. For instance, he really drives home the weirdness of the conservatives' preachiness about "family values" in light of Newt Gingrich's and Bob Dole's first marriages, and Rush Limbaugh's first, second and third marriages. And he has great fun with Rush's and Newt's miraculous draft deferments in a chapter where he imagines all of the great conservative "chicken-hawks" out on a Vietnam war patrol under the leadership of Ollie North. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Franken, a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live and in feature films, does to Limbaugh what the conservative talk-show host has been doing to Democratic politicians for years. Using admitted half-truths and out-of-context quotes, he skewers Rush & Friends as no liberal has done in years. Franken does a retrospective of Limbaugh's life from when he "fed off the largesse of the government in the form of unemployment insurance"; how he failed to register to vote until he was 35; how he used two airline coach seats to fit his opulent hind-quarters; and how he got a 4-F deferment because of a pilonidal cyst. There are two hilarious sketches: "My 'Conversation' with Rush Limbaugh" uses out-of-context quotes to corner Rush in much the same way that Limbaugh once had a "conversation" with Hillary Clinton; and "Operation Chickenhawk," with Ollie North leading Vietnam draft-dodgers Limbaugh, Quayle, Buchanan, George Will and Clarence Thomas to their demises in Asian rice paddies. Franken also doesn't have anything nice to say about Newt Gingrich, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Phil Gramm and others of the haranguing right. A mean-spirited, albeit funny, diatribe that will delight liberals. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Dell (January 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440508649
• ISBN-13: 978-0440508649
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (389 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #62,634 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #90 in

  Books > Entertainment > Humor > Political

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is hilarious., February 24, 2000

By	Silverwoodchuck47 "silverwoodchuck47" (Chesapeake Beach, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations (Hardcover)

Let's face it: If you are conservative then you probably will agree with Rush but if you lean towards liberal then you probably can't stand him.

In my case, I've read Rush's first book "The Way Things Ought to Be" and found it to be full of inaccuracies, unsubstantiated and outrageous claims, and misinformation. That's not to say Rush is a complete moron because he does put forth some good arguments, but overall, I think Al Franken proves his case to convince me that Rush is a (big fat) idiot.

I like this book because it is hysterically funny and quite entertaining. Al's wit is dry and sometimes vicious. I laughed to tears when I read the chapter about Phil Gramm ("I own more guns than I need, but not as many as I want.")

He lampoons the right wing, and I think he does it well. If you are a conservative with no sense of humor, you will not like this book.

26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Regardless of politics...Limbaugh is an IDIOT!, September 21, 2004

By	SBJ400 "SBJ400" (Mt. Laurel, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

Finally someone has come out loud and clear against Limbaugh! I love how Limbaugh has bullied and criticized only the liberals, leftists and independants but yet he plays softball with the most insane and "Salem Witch Trial" type conservatives.

I did so dearly love when he was caught with drugs! Too bad Franken's book was written before that! DARN! What a missed opportunity!

Franken's book does not hold back. He quotes Rush's lies and BS, he gives the facts behind the actual story or person and regardless of what Franken thinks...the info allows you to create your own INFORMED opinion.

If your a liberal...don't read this book. You already know he is an idiot. If you are a Republican or someone on the fence...get this to teach you how the vampires conservatives and Banana-Republicans think so you can do the opposite!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Somebody Has to Do It, April 1, 2009

By	Donna Brown (Kennewick, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Ironically, just as I was finishing Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, I happened upon an essay by Limbaugh's niece, Julie Limbaugh,* about the ups and downs of being second cousin to a man who makes a living by (in his own words) making half the people in America hate him. She calls her cousin's long-playing farce a "self-aware self-parody," a "caricature"--in other words, a phony act (which, not incidentally, has made him a millionaire many times over).

In this book, Al Franken, who has no fear about wading into shark-infested waters, pulls no punches in lampooning Rush and his cohorts on the lunatic fringe of Republican conservatism. Franken is a very smart guy, and if his prose is often bent, he shoots accurately and straight from the hip.

After a poignant description about her conflict between love of a family member and discomfort at being judged by her name, Julie Limbaugh summarizes her current state of mind by saying, "it seems that Rush is no longer just playing the political game he plays so well. Rather, he has been attacking hope, and now it feels like there's little room for that."

That's exactly why Franken's book (first published in 1996) is still relevant. As long as Rush Limbaugh continues to be a parody of a man, an ambassador of hate, and an assassin of hope, someone out there has to call him on it.

*"Rusty and Me," Salon.com, April 1, 2009.