Post by graybeard on Apr 8, 2009 7:24:56 GMT -6
Palin Winked While Levi Dallied With Bristol
Commentary by Margaret Carlson
April 8 (Bloomberg) -- From Alaska, Governor Sarah Palin can see Russia, which she said gave her sufficient foreign-policy experience to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
From that same location, Levi Johnston, her would-be son-in- law, can see television cameras.
On Monday, Levi appeared on the “Tyra Banks Show,” which calls itself the place that gives “young women the ‘girlfriend’ they want to hang out with.”
And a place for boyfriends to let it all hang out. Banks was also host that day to a judge issuing Solomonic rulings on whether a young man should have to return seductive photos to a former girlfriend and whether, as between two friends, one should get sole custody of a pair of shoes.
On the heels of that came Levi, who kept insisting he and Bristol Palin practiced safe sex “every time.” Thanks go to Banks for sticking with him. What he meant was safe in that they weren’t tied to railroad tracks. After many back and forths, Levi admitted that what he’d meant to say was that he practiced safe sex “most of the time.”
There was more to the show, but that snippet shows the limits of putting a family matter like teenage pregnancy into the policy hopper and giving it a fairytale ending of wedding bells and happily ever after. Unlike heathen Democrats, true Christians believe there is no sex until marriage and if there is, it’s fine as long as it ends in the marriage of two unwilling teenagers.
Errant Teens
There was no shame for the errant teens. Levi was pulled out of the tundra, where he was hunting, to don coat and tie for a week among Republicans. From the time the lovebirds landed on the tarmac in Minneapolis, they were treated like rock stars, unclasping their hands only long enough to wave to the cheering crowds, like Evita and Juan from their box seats high above the Xcel Energy Center arena.
The unplanned pregnancy didn’t interfere with Palin’s meteoric rise, and she may be the most popular elected official in her party. Her favorability holds well above 50 percent, and a majority in one GOP poll wished that its leaders could be more like her. There’s an active 2012 Draft Sarah Committee, although she says only that she will pray about running if God opens the door to her.
Last month, Palin was invited to headline the biggest Republican joint congressional fundraiser of the year, but had to decline because the legislature might still be in session. Rush Limbaugh must be busy. Newt Gingrich will be filling in for her.
Front and Center
She keeps herself in the news. Last week, Palin urged the new senator from Alaska to resign after former Senator Ted Stevens’s conviction on corruption was voided because of prosecutorial misconduct. Most of the time, Republicans are apoplectic when a criminal walks on a technicality.
Fairy tales don’t usually last in politics, which is more often a reality show. The promised wedding bells for Bristol and Levi never pealed. The one big happy family of Palins and Johnstons raising Tripp is a pipe dream.
For the Johnstons, family values means sharing Tyra’s couch. Levi’s sister, Mercede, and his mother, who is out on bail awaiting trial on six felony drug charges, complained that the Palins won’t let Levi bring three-month-old Tripp over to their house, because, as Mercede told a tabloid, they consider the Johnstons “white trash.” What better way to counter that impression than by pleading your case for greater visitation rights on TV?
Helps to Abstain
Most politicians at this point would let the story die. Palin took the opportunity to get in a plug for her favorite method of birth control. “We’re disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies,” a spokesman said. “Bristol’s focus will remain on raising Tripp ... and advocating abstinence.”
Tripp and abstinence don’t belong in the same sentence. For abstinence to work, you have to abstain. According to Levi, the governor must have known that he and her daughter were sleeping together because when he spent the night at the Palins’s house he slept in Bristol’s room.
Bristol gets the contradiction. She told Fox News back in February that she realizes abstinence is “not realistic at all.” Unlike her parents, Bristol seems relieved that an unwanted pregnancy wasn’t followed by an immature, unworkable marriage.
Republicans complain that Democrats and the press are unfair to Palin, unlike the treatment given to Barack Obama, who wasn’t really born in this country and pals around with terrorists. I wouldn’t ask either teenager any questions myself, but now that they are both speaking, it’s something to write about.
The Palins created Levi. If he’s not handling any of it all that well, it’s probably because after the election, he was no longer under the control of the McCain campaign, which he said told him to respond to all queries with “no comment.” If only both sets of parents had such good sense.
Levi now has the hollow-eyed look of advanced celebrity addiction worn by accidental wonders like Joe the Plumber, who merely shook the hand of a candidate and then found himself speaking out on trade and taxes. Levi’s trajectory seems to be heading down, plummeting from “Good Morning America” in March to former model Tyra Banks on daytime cable Monday. Jerry Springer looms and then the lights go out.
(Margaret Carlson, author of “Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House” and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the writer of this column: Margaret Carlson in Washington at mcarlson3@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: April 8, 2009 00:01 EDT
------
Maybe I'm weird, but I love Margaret Carlson's writings. Even her physical appearance is a caricature.
GB
Commentary by Margaret Carlson
April 8 (Bloomberg) -- From Alaska, Governor Sarah Palin can see Russia, which she said gave her sufficient foreign-policy experience to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
From that same location, Levi Johnston, her would-be son-in- law, can see television cameras.
On Monday, Levi appeared on the “Tyra Banks Show,” which calls itself the place that gives “young women the ‘girlfriend’ they want to hang out with.”
And a place for boyfriends to let it all hang out. Banks was also host that day to a judge issuing Solomonic rulings on whether a young man should have to return seductive photos to a former girlfriend and whether, as between two friends, one should get sole custody of a pair of shoes.
On the heels of that came Levi, who kept insisting he and Bristol Palin practiced safe sex “every time.” Thanks go to Banks for sticking with him. What he meant was safe in that they weren’t tied to railroad tracks. After many back and forths, Levi admitted that what he’d meant to say was that he practiced safe sex “most of the time.”
There was more to the show, but that snippet shows the limits of putting a family matter like teenage pregnancy into the policy hopper and giving it a fairytale ending of wedding bells and happily ever after. Unlike heathen Democrats, true Christians believe there is no sex until marriage and if there is, it’s fine as long as it ends in the marriage of two unwilling teenagers.
Errant Teens
There was no shame for the errant teens. Levi was pulled out of the tundra, where he was hunting, to don coat and tie for a week among Republicans. From the time the lovebirds landed on the tarmac in Minneapolis, they were treated like rock stars, unclasping their hands only long enough to wave to the cheering crowds, like Evita and Juan from their box seats high above the Xcel Energy Center arena.
The unplanned pregnancy didn’t interfere with Palin’s meteoric rise, and she may be the most popular elected official in her party. Her favorability holds well above 50 percent, and a majority in one GOP poll wished that its leaders could be more like her. There’s an active 2012 Draft Sarah Committee, although she says only that she will pray about running if God opens the door to her.
Last month, Palin was invited to headline the biggest Republican joint congressional fundraiser of the year, but had to decline because the legislature might still be in session. Rush Limbaugh must be busy. Newt Gingrich will be filling in for her.
Front and Center
She keeps herself in the news. Last week, Palin urged the new senator from Alaska to resign after former Senator Ted Stevens’s conviction on corruption was voided because of prosecutorial misconduct. Most of the time, Republicans are apoplectic when a criminal walks on a technicality.
Fairy tales don’t usually last in politics, which is more often a reality show. The promised wedding bells for Bristol and Levi never pealed. The one big happy family of Palins and Johnstons raising Tripp is a pipe dream.
For the Johnstons, family values means sharing Tyra’s couch. Levi’s sister, Mercede, and his mother, who is out on bail awaiting trial on six felony drug charges, complained that the Palins won’t let Levi bring three-month-old Tripp over to their house, because, as Mercede told a tabloid, they consider the Johnstons “white trash.” What better way to counter that impression than by pleading your case for greater visitation rights on TV?
Helps to Abstain
Most politicians at this point would let the story die. Palin took the opportunity to get in a plug for her favorite method of birth control. “We’re disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies,” a spokesman said. “Bristol’s focus will remain on raising Tripp ... and advocating abstinence.”
Tripp and abstinence don’t belong in the same sentence. For abstinence to work, you have to abstain. According to Levi, the governor must have known that he and her daughter were sleeping together because when he spent the night at the Palins’s house he slept in Bristol’s room.
Bristol gets the contradiction. She told Fox News back in February that she realizes abstinence is “not realistic at all.” Unlike her parents, Bristol seems relieved that an unwanted pregnancy wasn’t followed by an immature, unworkable marriage.
Republicans complain that Democrats and the press are unfair to Palin, unlike the treatment given to Barack Obama, who wasn’t really born in this country and pals around with terrorists. I wouldn’t ask either teenager any questions myself, but now that they are both speaking, it’s something to write about.
The Palins created Levi. If he’s not handling any of it all that well, it’s probably because after the election, he was no longer under the control of the McCain campaign, which he said told him to respond to all queries with “no comment.” If only both sets of parents had such good sense.
Levi now has the hollow-eyed look of advanced celebrity addiction worn by accidental wonders like Joe the Plumber, who merely shook the hand of a candidate and then found himself speaking out on trade and taxes. Levi’s trajectory seems to be heading down, plummeting from “Good Morning America” in March to former model Tyra Banks on daytime cable Monday. Jerry Springer looms and then the lights go out.
(Margaret Carlson, author of “Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House” and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the writer of this column: Margaret Carlson in Washington at mcarlson3@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: April 8, 2009 00:01 EDT
------
Maybe I'm weird, but I love Margaret Carlson's writings. Even her physical appearance is a caricature.
GB