AND I QUOTE / What Political...

“doughnuts, Limbaugh’s consumption of, 27-31

eating, Limbaugh’s inability to stop, 14-156, 158

gas, hot, Limbaugh full of, 3, 27, 90

restaurants, Limbaugh’s favorite . . . waffle houses 7, 9, 72

self-loathing, Limbaugh’s weight as cause of, 47

weather, hot, Limbaugh sweating in, 43, 158, 182

zeppelin, Limbaugh size of, 6, 18, 76, 94 (see also blimp)”

--From the spoof index

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“Our era is supposed to be the 1950s all over again. Indeed we are experiencing anew many of the pleasures and benefits of that excellent decade: a salubrious prudery, a sensible avariciousness, a healthy dose of social conformity. . . But where’s our McCarthyism? . . . The fun part of McCarthyism is, as it always was, making out the enemies list.”

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With liberals barely able to take a joke, let alone make one, Franken helps fill a vacuum. And already he’s made the bestseller list. Limbaugh is the, ah, biggest target, but TV comedian Franken spares not the glass houses of Pat Buchanan, Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich or the religious right. Like all worthwhile political humor, Franken’s droll rat-tat-tat has a raison d’e^tre. “The point of Rush’s show is to punish you for actually knowing anything,” writes Franken.

As for O’Rourke, his enemies list takes on Gore Vidal, Angela Davis and the Maryknoll nuns. Is this actually funny? Every cranked-up Wall Street GOP investor’s favorite gonzo conservative, O’Rourke has run out of sizzle with this forthcoming effort (due in next month). Much of it is filled with his readers’ enemies lists, sometimes mean, mostly dull. Like the chap from Wisconsin who lists “McDonald’s, for its new environmental policy on fast food containers.” The joke here is on O’Rourke’s book-buying fans.