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Mark Levin

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Mark Levin

Mark Reed Levin ( lə.ˈvɪn ) is an American conservative radio talk show host. Levin was born on September 21, 1957, of Jewish heritage.

Education

Mark Levin holds a 1977 Phi Beta Kappa and magna-cum-laude B.A. from Temple University and a J.D. from Temple University School of Law.

Professional Career

Levin has served as a top adviser to several members of President Ronald Reagan's Cabinet —including as Chief of Staff to then United States Attorney General Edwin Meese. In 2001, the American Conservative Union named Levin the recipient of their Ronald Reagan Award. He currently practices law in the private sector, and serves as President of the Landmark Legal Foundation in Leesburg, Virginia. In addition, his radio show is broadcast from New York's News Talk Radio 77 WABC from 6 to 8PM ET every weekday.

Book and Punditry

Levin is author of the bestselling book, Men In Black: How The Supreme Court Is Destroying America (ISBN 0895260506), about the perils of what Levin and others believe is judicial activism. His judicial philosophy is straightforward: Levin is a strong believer in originalism as the proper theoretical framework for Constitutional interpretation. He is also a strong advocate of the unitary executive theory, and often criticizes liberals in the Congress for what he feels is an attempt to stack the Supreme Court of the United States with activist judges who aim to "legislate from the bench;" or in otherwords, to achieve an agenda which others of their political persuasion have been unable to seek through the legitimate, Constitutional process, the means of which is the legislative branch.

Levin is also a contributing editor for National Review Online, and writes frequently for other publications. In 2006 he began his own blog at National Review Online.

Contributions to Other Institutions

For many years he was a frequent contributor of legal opinions to Rush Limbaugh, who referred to him on-air as "F. Lee Levin", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the famous defense attorney F. Lee Bailey. He and Sean Hannity, who both have talk shows originating from the WABC studios, often call-in to each others' radio programs, referring to each other playfully as "Doctor Hannity" or "Doctor Levin". Levin mainly calls Hannity's program to debate or insult a liberal caller, most often calling to deliver a one-line insult or off-color joke only to then quickly hang up.

"Liberal Baiting"

Levin is known for using the catchphrases "Are you a lib?", "You're annoying!", and "Get off the phone, you big dope!" on the air. He is also known for using two ranges of voice pitch on the air, and switches between them to indicate anger or for effect. For comic relief he occasionally does a show as an alter ego, the effete "Maurice", who is a "lib". He also makes fun of the names of politicians and others whom he disagrees with; a particular target of his toilet humor has been the last name of New York Representative Anthony D. Weiner.

Music

More than most talk show hosts, Levin plays music, beyond just the standard metal-flavored bumpers. Favorites played at length include Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" as well as the service hymns "The Army Goes Rolling Along", "Anchors Aweigh", "Marines' hymn", "The U.S. Air Force", and the Coast Guard hymn. Mark also frequently plays the song "Walking Around in Women's Underwear" Lyrics Here, a parody of "Winter Wonderland" produced by Bob Rivers. The song was first played on the show in December 2004 and was only intended to be played during the holiday season. However, when many people started calling up to request the song, Mark decided to continue playing the song throughout the year.

On-air jargon

Levin is well-known for nicknames he has created to poke fun at liberal politicians and institutions. The following is a sample of those pseudonyms:

  • "The Dumbest Man in the Senate" - Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE)
  • "The Man with the Worst Comb-over in the Senate" - Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
  • "The Shortest Politician on Earth" or "The Dwarf Senator" - Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
  • "The Cape Cod Orca" - Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)
  • "Hillary Rotten" or "Hitlery Clinton" - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)
  • "'Little' Dick Durbin" - Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL)
  • "Howard 'Dr. Demento' Dean" - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean
  • "Chucky 'Schmucky' Schumer" - Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)
  • "Senator Frankenstein" - Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
  • "John 'D Student' Kerry" - Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA)
  • "Harry 'The Body' Reid" - Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)
  • "Olympia Snowball" - Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
  • "Goober Graham" - Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
  • "The Coward Marine" - Representative John Murtha (D-PA)
  • "Lincoln Chafing" - Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)
  • "Carl 'I Want to Vomit Because We Share the Same Last Name' Levin" - Senator Carl Levin, (D-MI)
  • "Blanche 'I Wish She Was Dead Like' Lincoln" - Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
  • "John McLame" or "The Despicable John McCain" - Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
  • "Robert 'KKK' Byrd" - Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV)
  • "Nancy 'Stretch' Pelosi" - Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
  • "Madeleine Half-Bright" - Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
  • "B.J. Clinton" - Former President William (Bill) Jefferson Clinton
  • "Jimmy Farter" - Former President James (Jimmy) Earl Carter
  • "Harry Untrue-man" - Former President Harry S. Truman
  • "Screwball with Screwball" - Hardball with Chris Matthews
  • "Countdown to No Ratings, with Keith Overbite" - Countdown with Keith Olbermann
  • "Fatty-Fat Tim Fat Russert" - Tim Russert
  • "Pandery Gooney" - Andy Rooney
  • "Bike Solace" - Mike Wallace
  • "Meet the Depressed" - Meet the Press
  • "Depraved and Sick-sty Minutes" - 60 Minutes
  • "M.S.L.S.D." - M.S.N.B.C.
  • "The New York Slimes" - The New York Times
  • "The Washington Compost" - The Washington Post
  • "The Atlanta Urinal Constipation" - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  • "The Chicago Solar Eclipse Anti-Times" - The Chicago Sun-Times
  • "The Puke-ston Moronicle - The Houston Chronicle
  • "Left Angeles Slimes" - The Los Angeles Times
  • "Hollyweirdos" - Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
  • "People for the Un-American Way" - People for the American Way
  • "Center for No Constitutional Rights" - Center for Constitutional Rights
  • "Department of No Education" - U.S. Department of Education
  • "American Criminal Liberties Union" - American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
  • "Doctors Without Brains" - Doctors Without Borders
  • "Alliance for Injustice" - Alliance for Justice
  • "National Organization for Ugly Women" - National Organization for Women

Syndication

Since 2006 his show is carried by five other stations besides WABC-AM: WBAP-AM (Arlington, Texas), WMAL-AM (Washington, District of Columbia) and WJR-AM (Detroit, Michigan), WFSO-AM (San Francisco), KABC-AM (Los Angeles). As announced on a press release, Levin's show will be syndicated by ABC Radio.

Radio Stations

Listening to Levin's radio show via the websites of the radio stations which carry it is easy and free; it is often a matter of just clicking a button labeled, "Listen live," and having the proper software to handle the signal.

External links

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