The latest development on the Levi Johnston, uh, front
Clark Coleman writes:
Remember, we were told that we should not worry about Bristol’s pregnancy and having Bristol and Levi in our faces at the GOP convention, etc., because Levi and Bristol are getting married and giving the baby a good home, etc. Besides, all that matter is beating Obama, so we can rationalize anything.
Now we find out this, from the AP:
Father of Palin’s grandson to pose for Playgirl
Levi Johnston is going for the ultimate exposure—the 19-year-old father of Sarah Palin’s grandchild will pose nude for Playgirl, his attorney said Wednesday.
LA replies:
Too much. And do you remember how some people chastised me when I said the Palin family situation had a “trailer park” aspect? Of course, that was unfair to people who live in trailer parks. I was using “trailer park” as a convenient, though unfair, short hand to express the idea that the Palin family did not have itself together and in any case was not in any shape to be on the national stage as a representative of the Republican party and of conservatism.
Newer readers, be sure to check out the great Sarah Palin debate, August-September 2008.
Here is the article on the irrepressible Levi:
Father of Palin’s grandson to pose for Playgirl
Levi Johnston is going for the ultimate exposure—the 19-year-old father of Sarah Palin’s grandchild will pose nude for Playgirl, his attorney said Wednesday.
To get ready for his close-up, Johnston is training three hours a day, six nights a week at an Anchorage gym with a local body builder.
A formal agreement hasn’t been reached with the online magazine, but the photo shoot is a “foregone conclusion,” said Johnston’s attorney, Rex Butler.
Johnston fathered a son with Bristol, the 18-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate who resigned as Alaska’s governor in July.
Publication of the photographs could be a source of embarrassment for Palin, often mentioned as a possible 2012 presidential candidate. Her memoir, “Going Rogue,” will be published next month and pre-sales already have made it a national best seller.
Just after Sen. John McCain chose Palin as his running mate in August 2008, Johnston was thrust into the national spotlight when Palin abruptly announced her unwed daughter was pregnant and the couple would marry.
The couple broke up after the birth of their son, Tripp, in December. The relationship between the Palins and Johnston since then has often been strained, mostly over visitation issues.
Palin’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment on the Playgirl job.
Johnston also has been marketing himself for a possible modeling or acting career, spending time in New York and Los Angeles. His first TV commercial, hawking Wonderful brand pistachios, debuted this week.
No date has been set for the Playgirl photo shoot, but Butler expects the world will get a gander of the finished product by the end of the year. Playgirl approached Johnston about posing in the buff, Butler said.
Playgirl spokesman Vincent Stevens couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
“We told him he would have to do what actors and actresses do,” Butler said. “They get in the gym.”
Johnston has been working out with Marvin Jones, a former Mr. Alaska competitor who has put the teenager on a low-carb, high-protein diet.
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Laura Wood writes:
Imagine how this might have worked out if the interests of the child had been placed first:
Palin would have declined nomination because her teen daughter was pregnant.
Bristol would have given birth.
Both Bristol and Levi would have agreed to put the child up for adoption.
Tripp would have been raised in a normal home with a father and a mother.
Levi would grow up.
Bristol would get married and lead a normal life.
Playgirl would never feature nude photos of a man who had been on the stage of the Republican convention.
LA replies:
And let’s remember who made Levi Johnson famous. It was Sarah Palin and John McCain who did that, when he offered, and she accepted, the slot as his VP running mate. Once they did that, they knew that the pregnancy would have to be announced to the whole world.
So this high school hunk suddenly found himself thrust into the national and world stage where he was required to go along with the hope/expectation that he would marry Bristol. That didn’t work out. And what was he supposed to do with himself then? He did what most people in modern America do, he made the best of his circumstances, he cashed in on his fame. And he did it by becoming Sarah Palin’s doppelganger, shadowing her everywhere, dumping ordure on her, not letting her or anyone forget him. But she was the one who created this monster that now haunts her. First, she let her 16- and 17-year old daughter sleep with him, in a relationship that went on for years, doing nothing to keep them from being alone together. Then she made him into a national figure, with the blessings and applause of McCain, the GOP, and the social conservatives.
So it’s not just Palin whom Levi is haunting, but the “conservatives” who have never admitted the mistake they made in approving the Bristol situation and who still see Sarah Palin as their great national hope. Levi will always be there, showing the unpleasant truth about Palin and the “conservatives” who gave her their unqualified, passionate support.
Presidents sometimes have siblings and children who are problematic: Billy Carter, Roger Clinton, and Reagan’s daughter come to mind. This is different. this is someone whom Sarah Palin knowingly allowed into her family circle and her daughter’s bed, or whom, at best, she did nothing to keep away from her daughter’s bed.
The fundamental disorder of the Palin family situation was evident that first week. That’s why Laura and I both said, from the start, that Palin’s nomination was a big mistake.
Laura replies:
You’re right, Levi will always be there. Despite his greed and self-interest, he does have legitimate cause for rage. He is the living symbol of all those adolescents to whom busy adults deny the adult authority they need and deserve. Indulged and ostensibly cared for, they are neglected in the areas that count most and allowed to make stupid mistakes that haunt them for years. This rage will likely animate him for a long time. Just think of how he will humiliate and confuse his son.
LA writes:
There is nothing on this story so far today at Lucianne.com. There are hundreds of items on it at google, but of the first 30 I’ve scanned, it is linked only at liberal media sites and liberal blogs, with the sole exception of the NY Post. So the conservatives are trying to ignore Sarah Palin’s doppelganger whose creation they applauded.
The other day, however, there was a less damaging story on Levi at Lucianne, about his appearing in a TV ad for pistachio nuts.
I notice this comment about it:
Reply 12—Posted by: MsMontana, 10/6/2009 1:05:27 PM
I feel bad for him that he keeps making these stupid choices. He obviously has no parent to guide him through the minefield of stupidity and bad reputation. He’s a 19 year old kid that the public is unmercifully hard on and he has no guidance whatsoever.
It doesn’t occur to McMontana that it was John McCain and Sarah Palin who thrust Levi into the spotlight.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 08, 2009 12:19 PM | Send
