What do Rush Limbaugh and Bettie Page have in common? They both appeared in Playboy magazine. Bettie Page was the “Playmate of the Month” in January 1955 and Limbaugh was the subject of the December 1993 Playboy Interview. Prior to reviewing Zev Chafets’s biography, Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One, reading the article from 1993 seemed like a good thing to do. In ‘93 Limbaugh was making a name for himself and well on his way to achieving “top-of-mind-awareness” in political media.
Limbaugh was interviewed by D. Keith Mano of The National Review and it was reported that, at that time, Limbaugh’s audience was larger than the population of New England. In his comments before the interview, Mano stated that Limbaugh presents his commentary, “more as satire than as politics...” and that “...even his detractors sometimes begrudgingly cut him the same slack they give Saturday Night Live.” Mano also reported that Limbaugh describes himself, “not as a social critic but as an entertainer.” Finally, Playboy asks, “Can the Limbaugh phenomenon stay alive? Can the man behind the myth behind the mike survive the four slow years between elections?” [Ironically, that’s where Limbaugh finds himself today, in the second year of the Obama Presidency.]
Also, in 1993, the New York Times sent Maureen Dowd out to meet with Rush Limbaugh. She reported, “beneath the bombast, there beats the heart of a romantic.” Now, here comes Chafets on behalf of the New York Times with a full scale biography. In a meeting with Limbaugh regarding Senator John McCain, Chafets asked if he would cooperate on an article about himself. “In The New York Times?” Limbaugh asked incredulously. “That, my friend, will never happen. If you think the editors of the New York Times are going to do a story on me that isn’t a hit job, you are naive.” Limbaugh was wrong and Chafets wrote the story.
Readers can decide for themselves if Chafet’s book, An Army of One, is a hit job or not. Chafets has authored 11 books covering such topics as media criticism and social and political commentary. His work often appears in The New York Times Magazine. He even tried his hand as a diplomat with an attempt to arrange a golf outing with Limbaugh and the President. Limbaugh, “If any president asked me to meet him, or play golf with him, I’d do it.” Chafets made the suggestion to Limbaugh as a way to reach out and show the country that there were no hard feelings. The President declined.
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