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Mark Levin

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Mark Levin

Mark Reed Levin (b. September 21, 1957) ("Le Vin", lə.ˈvɪn ) is an American conservative radio talk show host.

Education

Mark Levin holds a 1977 magna-cum-laude B.A. from Temple University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, 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 has practiced law in the private sector, and serves as President of the Landmark Legal Foundation in Leesburg, Virginia. His radio career began in 2002 as a Sunday evening host on New York's WABC. In the fall of 2003, he was promoted to the weekday 6 to 8PM ET timeslot, where he remains today.

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. 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 judges who aim to "legislate from the bench."

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

Contributions to other radio shows

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 a liberal caller.

Radio show

Levin's radio show is a mix of political and social commentary from a conservative point of view. He also frequently covers legal and judicial issues in great detail, calling on his experience in the Reagan Justice Department and his subsequent legal career. He follows the traditional talk radio model of taking listener phone calls throughout the show and takes particular delight in encouraging Liberals to call in and debate him. He is known for using the catchphrases "Are you a lib, sir?", "You're annoying!", and "Get off the phone, you big dope!" on the air. 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, media outlets 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. Sean Hannity has nicknamed Levin "The Great One."

Since 2006 his show is syndicated by ABC Radio on over 15 stations including WABC-AM: WBAP-AM (Arlington, Texas), WMAL-AM (Washington, District of Columbia) and WJR-AM (Detroit, Michigan), KSFO (AM)-AM (San Francisco), KABC-AM (Los Angeles) and WLS AM 890 Chicago.

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", Ray Charles' "America the Beautiful", the theme from the motion picture "Patton, " as well as the service hymns "The Army Goes Rolling Along", "Anchors Aweigh", "Marines' hymn", "The U.S. Air Force", the Coast Guard hymn, and the Merchant Marines hymn. Mark also frequently plays the song "Walking Around in Women's Underwear," a parody of "Winter Wonderland."

On-air jargon

Levin often uses derisive nicknames for politicians and institutions with which he disagrees. The following is a sample of those pseudonyms:

External links

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