Mark Levin smacks down "backbenchers" David Frum, Rod Dreher and Conor Friedersdorf

Mark Levin has gotten a lot of attention lately for his showdown with Conservative author and former Bush speechwriter David Frum. Levin has also caused a commotion on the blogs for some off-color comments he made towards a taunting caller.

The disgusting Mark Levin
MARK LEVIN: Answer me this, are you a married woman? Yes or no?
CALLER: Yes.

MARK LEVIN: Well I don't know why your husband doesn't put a gun to his temple. Get the hell out of here.

Listen to the offending clip between Mark Levin and the female caller here

One of the chief complainers of this patented outburst from Mark Levin has been Conor Friedersdorf. Conor deconstructs Levin's performance in a debate with Levin- friend and defender Dan Riehl:

Debating Dan Riehl -- Top of the First Inning
His words are problematic. On substance, the leap he makes is illogical. It is perfectly possible to love the United States and to believe that President Obama possesses the authority to move War on Terrorism detainees...

Mr. Levin is smart enough to know that. Perhaps anger clouded his thinking, as is common among folks who suddenly begin screaming loudly during conversations about politics. Or maybe the whole thing was theater, in which case the host unfairly berated a fellow American for the sake of entertainment....

Mark Levin responds to his critics Rod Dreher and Conor Friedersdorf directly

Mark Levin On Dreher, Frum And Friedersdorf
And while Rod represents the future of conservatism (just ask him), he doesn't understand my appeal. I mean, he listened to 15 minutes of my radio show and he just doesn't get it. No, Rod doesn't get it and he never will. He's just not that smart or interesting.

Mark Levin seems uninterested in addressing conservatives of little influence. Levin's rebuttal moves on to a higher profile target in David Frum, who Levin takes exception to for attacking his personal friend Rush Limbaugh in this provocative column: -

David Frum on Rush: "A walking stereotype of self-indulgence"
On the one side, the president of the United States: soft-spoken and conciliatory, never angry... He is at the same time an apparently devoted husband and father. Unsurprisingly, women voters trust and admire him.

And for the leader of the Republicans? A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic... With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence—exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party. And we’re cooperating!

Listen to audio of Mark Levin and David Frum's debate

The audio is entertaining like every Mark Levin debate. Mark in typical fashion uses his bully pulpit for advantage which Frum desperately pleads to the ref about. Unfortunately for Frum the referee is Mark Levin.

DAVID FRUM: Mark you're the one fiddling with the volume control of the microphone... [bullying] by fiddling with the volume control button... it's the only way -- It's a substitute for argument. It's a substitute for evidence and it's a substitute for thinking

David Frum takes his own shots by describing Mark Levin's radio aesthetic thusly

DAVID FRUM: Your educational background and your intellectual prowess is just as impressive as you said of yourself. But I must say, you have to choose between that and someone's walking up Broadway shouting at passing cars... I said what I had to say but I just didn't sound like a crazy person when I was saying it...

Returning to the earlier observation that Levin values the influence a critic holds. Mark "deviates into questions of ego" of Frum

MARK LEVIN: (interrupting) How many books have you sold? I'm curious
DAVID FRUM: What is that?
LEVIN: How many books did you sell?
FRUM: Over 25, 000. Why does that matter?
LEVIN: It matters if you're gonna have influence.
FRUM: How many -- (exasperated) Oh boy!
LEVIN: It's OK if you sit there and write to yourself... I'm gonna let you make your case to a big audience by the way. The fact of the matter is you've had no influence... it matters
FRUM: Whether I have influence or not will not alter whether what I'm saying is correct or not. If I'm right and I have no influence that's a calamity for others. And if i'm wrong and I have great influence that's a calamity for others also