Levi Johnston

I swear you can’t make up the stories that come out about the Wasilla-billies.

Back in the news today is Levi Johnston, who has given Vanity Fair a deeper look into the Palin family during the election. One of the disturbing pieces:

Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret—nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didn’t have to worry about anything. Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging—she wouldn’t give up. She would say, “So, are you gonna let me adopt him?” We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby. I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didn’t want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid.

So Palin was putting her political future ahead of family – how very Republican of her. What strikes me as most interesting is how Palin never threatens legal action against Levi for saying these things, unlike bloggers who she threatens nonstop. To me that gives a lot of credit to what Levi says. Can anyone take Sarah seriously?

Here’s Buchanan on Levi Johnston yesterday:

BUCHANAN: “Well, first, with regard to Levi, I think First Dude up there in Alaska, Todd Palin, ought to take Levi down to the creek and hold his head underwater until the thrashing stops.“

It’s amazing that MSNBC continues to bring Buchanan on the air. Its not just statements like this, but his past patterns of racism. I am finding it harder and harder to even watch that network given their tendency to ignore such problems. I don’t even watch Olbermann or Maddow that much anymore. Perhaps if more people turned of MSNBC they would get the idea that we don’t want to give credence to a network that employs a mad man such as Buchanan.

Levi Johnston had this to say about Sarah Palin’s resignation:

"She had talked about how nice it would be to take some of this money people had been offering us and you know just run with it, say 'forget everything else,'" he said.

Needless to say, this has sparked a war with Palin. Palin’s spokesperson issued the following:

"It is interesting to learn Levi is working on a piece of fiction while honing his acting skills,"

Generally the approach on claims that could be considered false is to respond with something like “we’re not going to dignify that claim with a response”, but Palin couldn’t do that. Instead they decided to start another war with the father of their grandchild. Very interesting.

But now let’s look at Palin’s stated reason for resigning – the legal fees associated with ethics complaints against her. That excuse has been pretty much debunked by most, and the evidence to support the claims that these fees were so high seems to be crumbling even more:

The administrative director in the governor's office, Linda Perez, conceded that some costs were counted twice and said "the total cost is overstated by $26,849." She said she missed that the Department of Law's updated numbers included costs that were already counted.

"It was my error . . . mea culpa," said Perez, who has worked for governors of both parties since the 1980s.

Perez said she's going to ask the Department of Law about some other puzzling parts of the spreadsheet, including a line item that says 0.3 attorney hours added up to $10,063 in costs.

That would add up to an attorney billing of over $30,000 an hour, and Perez said the flat billing rate the state uses for its attorneys is $121.98 an hour. Perez said she would check and see what costs beyond the staff time went into that calculation of over $10,000 in costs.

(emphasis added)

If Palin is sticking with the legal fees as a reason for resigning, then isn’t it ironic that she is resigning based upon a clerical error? There’s even an interesting irony with this revelation. As executive of her state, don’t you think Sarah Palin would have said “wow these numbers seem high. Maybe we should take a look at them again”, instead of using them as an excuse to resign. How can that be considered fiscally responisible?

But if we take these  two stories and put them together, we start seeing something that might make sense out of this whole soap opera style episode in American politics. Perhaps Palin and Johnston are both right. The Palins probably did talk about the money she was missing out on by not taking all these deals. Who in their right mind wouldn’t talk about something like that? And thenn Palin sees some highly inflated numbers that indicate the charges of ethics against her is costing the state all this money. Instead of questioning those numbers, which it turns out are wrong, she takes that as the excuse to resign.

Of every reason I have heard for her resignation so far, this one makes the most sense. She had motive, the money she was missing out on, and she had reason in these numbers. But that still leaves the unanswered question of why Palin saw these numbers and didn’t immediately question them. That’s a problem that can go right to the heart of her ability to lead, and something that should be brought up when/if she has any future runs for office.

Reading the latest interview with Levi Johnston something really caught my eye:

At the time, the Palins insinuated he’d have to move to D.C. if McCain won. “I ain’t never moving,” he says with a shudder, thinking back.

So the Palin’s were telling him where he and his bride would have to live? I don’t remember any other VP telling their adult children they would have to live in D.C. The only reason I can think of for such a demand would be keeping the “family appearance”. Palin just wants to show everyone she is some great family person, even if it means going against the wishes and desires of her family. In other words – everything is for nothing but show. Using your family in that way doesn’t make you anymore of a matriarch. Instead it makes you a user.

It looks like RedState master mind Erik Erickson has declared war on Levi Johnson (via Sully):

The real Levi Johnson is something altogether different. The left, when it decided Bristol Palin was fair game, went after Levi Johnson for being a thug and redneck. He was not interested in college — only in scoring with the Governor’s daughter. The classic tale of the high school jock who is, in essence, a low life loser in it for a good time. The left and media regaled the rest of us with tales of what a loser the Palin kid slept with.

The left was right. Now, though, they can’t be bothered by it. Below is the actual Levi — no preppy clothes. No polish. Just good old boy who knocked up the Governor’s daughter. Not exactly the image Tyra Banks and he would like you to think about.

What’s even more creepy is that the other person in the picture is his sister. And, as if lifted from the pages of Deliverance, she has his name tattooed on her back finger. Think about that one for a minute.

Yup Levi – you better watch out or Erik might get ya! Hell he’s already starting with the implications of inbreeding.

How this is going to be fun and hey Erik – how’s “Operation Leper” going?

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston have reportedly broken off their engagement. I’m sure it will be back on just in time for Palin’s 2012 run though.

This seems rather ironic, but during the election we all learned about Joe “the Plumber”, the McCain poster child/supporter who turned out to not even be a plumber. He never completed the state requirements to become a journeyman plumber in his allowed time frame as an apprentice. Now we fast forward a couple of months and here we are again, another person tied to the Republicans trying to become a tradesman under a cloud of suspicion.

I am talking about Levi Johnston, Sarah Palin’s grandbaby’s daddy. There has been a lot going around about his getting into an electrical apprenticeship program in the oil fields, without the mandated high school diploma or equivalency. Now the company he was working for has released a statement on it:

In a written statement, the company said its electrical apprenticeship program eligibility requirements include a high school diploma or equivalent, "but this is not a requirement mandated by the federal government."

So was Levi to become an electrician only by ASRC Energy Services standards?  Every state I can think of requires a high school diploma or GED to enter apprenticeship programs for either plumbing or electrical. I doubt Alaska is any different. I don’t know of an actual “federal regulation”, as these licensing requirements are usually mandated by state law, so something doesn’t pass the smell test here.