By the way, after a commercial break, this Levin character takes a call from a listener that's critical of his Ben Cohen ice cream indictment/segment and Levin simply says the caller just doesn't get the show, as if there was humor to all of it. Take a look at Levin's oh-so-impressive bio -- does any of it mention anything of comedy? Is there a hint of non-serious credentials? Nope, it comes across 100% serious and high-brow, which would tend to encourage a listener to regard Levin as a serious commentator. They want it both ways: to be taken seriously, but then to also have an easy-out escape hatch.

I've heard Limbaugh do the same thing: when pressed on an idiotic point that appeared on the surface to be serious, presto, he simply proclaims that he's first and foremost an "entertainer," as if this absolves him from any culpability to the many lies and absurd distortions regularly trotted out on his show. Once again, it's the three-card-monte used on the listeners, or sleight-of-hand trickery, but the listeners don't really care whether it's truth or not. They just want hate-filled, "red meat" thrown on the table for them to devour.