Sympathy for the Palin (Levi Johnston is the most shirt-tail of relatives)

The Oregonian ^ | October 19, 2009 | David Sarasohn

[presidio9]

I have, over the past year or so, expressed occasional dismay over Sarah Palin. I think she has the issue understanding of a Kodiak bear and an Arctic wolf’s eye for the main chance, and I think the idea of her being president, devising a national budget and having access to nuclear weapons is the kind of horrific vision that might come to you after weeks alone in the Alaskan wilderness.

But I don’t know what she did to deserve Levi Johnston.

Johnston, if you miss both the political news and the supermarket tabloids, is the former high school classmate, boyfriend and father of the child of Bristol Palin, the former governor’s teenage daughter. And if that were all, the whole thing gets filed under These Things Happen.

And from all indications, Bristol Palin herself is a lovely and charming young woman, even if she was slapped into line after saying that abstinence really wasn’t a realistic approach and caused to become a spokeswoman for an abstinence advocacy group.

But Johnston, it seems, views his unmarried fatherhood as his Golden Ticket, and while in limited contact with his son has maintained a nonstop eagerness to chat with the media. He appeared with Larry King — which may be, admittedly, almost mandatory once your name is in a newspaper — and took the occasion to complain about the Palins’ parenting skills, suggesting that at one point only Johnston kept the younger children fed.

Now, moving into the cash-on-the-barrelhead phase of celebrity, Johnston has reportedly signed to appear nude in Playgirl. In a move that’s even more classy, he now appears in a TV ad for Wonderful Pistachios, eating nuts preceded by a burly bodyguard, with the copy, “Now Levi Johnston does it with protection.”

Get it?

Nobody, not even the most powerful politician, gets to choose his or her relatives. This has to be particularly aggravating since, to the former governor, Johnston is the most shirt-tail of relatives; he’s not her son-in-law, just her grandson’s father. Nobody makes greeting cards for that relationship.

For even the most blog-watching and Peace Prize-cheering liberal Democrat, it’s enough to make you feel for Sarah Palin, and hope that Johnston’s 15 minutes of fame is down to its last few seconds.

One touch of nature, people used to say, makes the whole world kin.

So does one touch of kin.

[detective]

Levi Johnston is an irresponsible child who lucked out by having Sarah Palin named VP candidate after he he had impregnated her daughter. He has no accomplishments and nothing interesting to say. His only marketable skill is his ability to embarrass the Palin family in the media. He has made no attempt to provide either financial or emotional support for the mother of his child. I wish he would just go away.

[pray4liberty]

Levi is no father, just a sperm donor, with all the rights and privileges accorded to thereof (namely none).

[appleton14]

Apparently the sport of the day is beating up on Sarah Palin. However, can one possibly imagine Joe Biden as president in case anything should happen to Obama? Does Joe actually know enough to come in out of the rain?

[appleton14]

Are you kidding? Bristol is the only teen-ager in history to get pregnant? She didn’t have an abortion so we all knew that she was pregnant and gave birth to a child and for that y ou vilify her?

[Lorianne]

I don’t think you read my post.
I said ALL teeanagers screw up.
Bristol’s screw up has larger implications than most people’s.

And I’m not talking about pregnancy and having the baby. I’m talking about her disastrous choice for a father. That will be a lifetime problem for not only her and her family but for the poor innocent child as well.

Can you imagine having a whore for a father?
That poor child.