Steve Coffey: Why, You Must Be A Nazi

It's not enough to object to a political opinion today. Language beyond the bounds of acceptable criticism has to be invoked by people who can't control themselves.

Such as calling someone a Nazi.

Meet Steve Coffey, a prominent attorney with the Albany firm O'Connell and Aronowitz. Self-control is not one of Coffey's specialties, to put it mildly.

Last week during an appearance on WGDJ's Paul Vandenburgh Infomercial Show, Coffey called nationally syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin a Nazi. Levin's show is heard on the station every night and I listen to it often. Because I agree with nearly every word Levin utters.

Vandenburgh, the part-owner of the station and program director, sat there like a potted plant and said nothing in response to Coffey's slur.

Calling Mark Levin a Nazi is calling me a Nazi.

I rarely dial into a talk radio program. But the combination of Coffey's reckless language and Vandenburgh's pathetic failure to mount one syllable in defense of a show he decided to put on his own station was too much to tolerate.

"Why did you call Mark Levin a Nazi?," I asked Coffey. He was unprepared to answer and responded weakly by citing "hate" on the radio.

"Give me a specific example for why you believe Mark Levin is a Nazi," I demanded. Again, he failed to answer. He couldn't provide one single example for why he believes Levin is a Nazi. Mark Levin is, of course, not a Nazi and that's the reason Coffey was left floundering for the words to explain himself.

What could he possibly say? Levin was a guard at Buchenwald?

Shortly after I informed Coffey that Mark Levin is Jewish, the phone call was cut off. To save him from further embarrassment.

Mark Levin's career is deeply admirable. He has served his country as a senior official in the Reagan administration. He is the author of the bestseller Men In Black: How The Supreme Court Is Destroying America, a relentless champion of our troops overseas and the head of the Landmark Legal Foundation.

I wonder what Coffey's partners and colleagues at O'Connell and Aronowitz think about him blathering "Nazi" at a respected Jewish American who is heard on hundreds of radio stations nationwide. Levin has over 5 million weekly listeners.

Millions of Americans don't turn on their radios to listen to a Nazi every night. Yet, Steve Coffey is so deluded he believes Mark Levin walks around with an invisible swastika on his arm. Perhaps he should think twice about the evil Adolf Hitler unleashed the next time he decides to attack someone with one of the most disgusting words in human history.