In August 2004, Limbaugh was reported to be dating CNN television personality Daryn Kagan.
In 1996, Al Franken released a bestselling book and CD titled Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations which included harsh criticism of Limbaugh and his allegedly meager fact-finding efforts. The "Fat" portion of the title of the book was a jibe at Limbaugh's weight and in-kind payback for his alleged rudeness on the radio and TV during the time in which the book was first published.
Following Limbaugh's admission of drug addiction, his detractors reviewed prior statements by him about drug addicts as examples of hypocrisy. Several statements from the 1990s were found, in particular, on October 5, 1995:
- "There's nothing good about drug use. We know it. It destroys individuals. It destroys families. Drug use destroys societies. Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies and neighborhoods which become consumed by them. And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."
and in 1998:
- "What is missing in the drug fight is legalization. If we want to go after drugs with the same fervor and intensity with which we go after cigarettes, let's legalize drugs. Legalize the manufacture of drugs. License the Cali cartel. Make them taxpayers, and then sue them. Sue them left and right, and then get control of the price, and generate tax revenue from it. Raise the price sky high, and fund all sorts of other wonderful social programs."