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. A wickedly funny collection of essays that takes ahard-edged, insightful look into the wonderful, terrible,complicated world of American politics.Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot by Al Franken. Copyright 1996 by Al Franken, Inc.Copyright 1996 by Al Franken, Inc. 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 un Book Review   January 7, 1996 RUSH LIMBAUGH IS A BIG FAT IDIOT AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS By Al Franken 288 pp.  Delacorte Press: $21.95 by Jeane Kirkpatrick IT REMAINS a mystery why the New York Times would ask me to review this dreadfully foul little book.  I am an expert on geopolitical strategic paradigms, not on the sort of cheap, mindless mockery that seems to be Mr. Franken's forte.  It is almost as if this were the result of some awful mistake by the Times.   Why, for example, would humorist P. J.  O'Rourke be assigned this very same week to review Nigel Hodgeson's wonderful tome The Falkland Islands War--Six Hundred Years in the Making? Is it possible that because O'Rourke and I have the same agent, some simple mix-up occurred? Perhaps P.J., our agent, or I should have tried to sort this out.  But I have simply been too busy trying to slog through this repugnant collection of vile, unfunny essays. Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations is not just unfunny.  It is confused.  While Mr.  Franken decries "the loss of civility in public discourse," he himself is a most egregious offender, not just calling Rush Limbaugh "a big fat idiot," but Newt Gingrich "a big fat jerk," and House majority leader Richard Armey "a big dick." Mr.  Franken seems to want to have it both ways, criticizing Limbaugh for "demonizing" those who disagree with him, but all the while attacking his enemies with invective and scurrilous assertions that remain totally unproven.  For example, nowhere in the 288-page screed does Franken actually show any real evidence that Limbaugh is indeed fat.  There is not one footnoted reference concerning Limbaugh's body weight, and Mr.  Franken