Conservative media infighting over Dr. Ben Carson deteriorated into name-calling when radio host Mark Levin attacked Fox News' Dana Perino. Levin's attacks were in response to a segment on Fox's The Five in which Perino claimed that the media are not doing Carson “any favors” by hosting him so often. Levin called Perino a “jerk” and suggested she was one of the “preening, elitist, country-club Republicans.” He also said that Perino's statements were “pathetic.”

Levin's vitriol came during the April 2 edition of his show and seemed to be a response to comments Perino made on Fox News' The Five earlier in the day. Perino criticized Carson's numerous cable and talk news appearances -- which included an appearance on Levin's show April 1 -- saying, “I do not think anyone does him any favors by burning him up on -- putting him out everywhere, all the time.”

Levin joined Rush Limbaugh and Megyn Kelly in defending Carson, but Carson has fallen out of favor with other right-wing media figures after he made controversial statements equating marriage equality to bestiality and pedophilia. Fox News has also received criticism for giving him a platform.