by Mark Silva
So much for the "hockey mom.''
So much for the son-in-law.
Levi Johnston, father of Alaskan Sarah Palin's grandson and estranged boyfriend of Bristol Palin, pulls no punches in an interview that Vanity Fair is billing in its October issue.
Palin, who resigned as governor of Alaska this summer and is said to be away writing a book, won't be too pleased with Johnston's take on family life in the Palin household. Bristol and baby Tripp have embarked on a Just Say No to Teen Pregnancy tour. (We really did just write that.)
"The Palin house was much different from what many people expect of a normal family, even before she was nominated for vice president,'' Johnston now tells Vanity Fair, in a tell-all article entitled Me and Mrs. Palin.
"There wasn't much parenting in that house. Sarah doesn't cook, Todd doesn't cook--the kids would do it all themselves: cook, clean, do the laundry, and get ready for school. Most of the time Bristol would help her youngest sister with her homework, and I'd barbecue chicken or steak on the grill.''
Before Palin became Republican Sen. John McCain's running mate last year, the 19-year-old writes, the then-governor worried about the impact of daughter Bristol's expected baby.
A.B. Culvahouse, the man who did the vetting of McCain's potential running mates, however, says Palin was forthcoming about the situation. He presented her to McCain as a "high risk... high reward'' running mate.
"Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret--nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant,'' Johnston writes of Bristol's pregnancy at the time. "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. ''
After the campaign ended, the estranged Johnston writes, everything changed.
(Illustration of Gov. Sarah Palin and Levi Johnston / Vanity Fair)
"Sarah was sad for a while. She walked around the house pouting. I had assumed she was going to go back to her job as governor, but a week or two after she got back she started talking about how nice it would be to quit and write a book or do a show and make "triple the money."
"It was, to her, "not as hard." She would blatantly say, "I want to just take this money and quit being governor,''' he writes. " She started to say it frequently, but she didn't know how to do it. When she came home from work, it seemed like she was more and more stressed out. ''
Palin, meanwhile, has amassed about 850,000 fans on her Facebook page, up from about 600,000 when she was leaving the governor's office.
No word today, however, on Levi's Vanity piece. Her father, Chuck Heath, told reporters this week that she is away working on her book.
Ought to be a good chapter on Johnston in there.
Comments
here we go, moron levi, who couldn't provide for a child that became of his sperm. "The Palin house was much different from what many people expect of a normal family, even before she was nominated for vice president,'' Johnston now tells ... why is it that this big baby, sponging off the baby's grandparents by living under their roof, is seen as relevant? hey, levi. you should have kept your levis zipped. you wouldn't have been put in a situation where you expected the grandparents to babysit you. why weren't YOU, levis, DOING THE COOKING? the grandparents both worked for a living, levi boy. here we are ... this guy thinks he can do his five minutes of labor (producing sperm cells) and stand around and expect to be waited on and babied, when everyone else around him works. grow up, child. keep your levis zipped, why don't you, and save us from having to hear from you ever again. i don't read whatever magazine he interviewed with, so won't be reading any more about this little boy.
Posted by: reddog | September 2, 2009 2:41 PM
Sounds like they're still feuding down at the Palin Trailer Park....
RUN, LEVI, RUN !!!
.
Posted by: RiffRaff | September 2, 2009 2:59 PM
why don't you, and save us from having to hear from you ever again. i don't read whatever magazine he interviewed with, so won't be reading any more about this little boy.
Posted by: reddog | September 2, 2009 2:41 PM
*********************************
.
I've been saying the same thing about Sarah the Moose Huntress.....and yet she keeps opening her pie-hole and lying to everyone (death panels)....
Posted by: Teresa K Kathy | September 2, 2009 3:10 PM
Is that "Dueling Banjos" that I hear down yonder, round about the still, near the Palin's???
Posted by: gibster | September 2, 2009 4:18 PM
Will someone please send Mark Silva some good stories?
He's going to write himself into a straitjacket covering one American citizen.
Posted by: WTF Capital Investments | September 2, 2009 5:51 PM
"Sarah doesn't cook, Todd doesn't cook . . ."
Reminds me of my own situation growing up in the 1950's and 1960's. Both my parents worked, so we kids (6 of us) took care of putting the supper on the table and cleaning off afterward. Gave me skills I still use today.
Posted by: DaveB | September 2, 2009 6:02 PM
Dems should set about recruiting Levi right away. He's a perfect spokesperson for the culture of entitlement that liberalism has fostered since the Great Society. America used to stand for something. Now it celebrates a lack of ambition and complete dependency on government. Why work for anything?
Meanwhile the Lib/State Run Media continues to be enamored with Levi to the disgust of most Americans. The only thing more disgusting is the combination of the flamboyant, grotesque, unfunny Michael Musto and the arrogant Keith Olbermann, subhumans squared. MSNBC should bring Perez Hilton in to complete the unholy trinity.
Posted by: Highschooldropoutsfordems | September 2, 2009 6:08 PM
Well... I don't know that I've ever run across a family that isn't disfunctional in one way or another. Depends on who is defining disfunctional. Some are probably more so than others. Probably be more out about this in due time. At any rate, it's too bad. No cause to jump up and down making fun. Could be your family, your future.
Posted by: irene | September 2, 2009 7:13 PM
I refuse to read this blog, except the headline, and I certainly won't read the story. I cannot believe anyone wants to read what this bozo has to say! Good grief, what a jerk.
Posted by: Beth | September 2, 2009 7:19 PM
God that's funny.
How do you fix something that broken.
And she is the 'top cat' of 'the base'?
Posted by: C.Morris✧ | September 2, 2009 9:08 PM
This is great. I find politics so predictable......
unless a little Margo Channing like Sarahhh drops in......
Now, it seems, Sarahhh is about to be upstaged by her own Eve Harrington.....
in the form of Levi.....
Sarahhh....so full of fire and music....
but remember what happened to Eve....
Posted by: ornery | September 2, 2009 11:05 PM
And then, of course, we can switch channels, over to the Southeast Coast, where Fatal Attraction is playing in SC.....
or up to NYC where Rudy and Bloomie are reprising "Whatever happened to Baby Jane?"....
Or perhaps a remake of "Elmer Gantry"?
Posted by: ornery | September 2, 2009 11:16 PM
What adult would give a rat's fanny about what some irresponsible, feckless teenager says about a woman who was elected Governor and was nominated for VP? Does this constitute news or merely slander?
Posted by: Searching for actual NEWS | September 3, 2009 12:23 AM
Personal issues like this should remain private matters.
Posted by: Pierre | September 3, 2009 1:00 AM
Sarah Palin-Tonya Harding 2012!!
Posted by: DEO | September 3, 2009 2:18 AM
I'm told by someone considerably younger that Levi is the new "Justin Timberlake", whatever that means.
Posted by: ornery | September 3, 2009 10:18 AM
Does anyone believe Levi Johnston about anything? Gee, I wonder how much child support he is paying. Oh right, none.
Rick
Posted by: Rick Caird | September 3, 2009 11:46 AM
Seriously, did they think it wouldn't come out that Bristol had the baby? What, was she going to have the baby at home? As far as I know Trick, Tripp, Twig or whatever his name is was born in a hospital. How did they think they'd get away with it? I know medical records are personal, but you don't think people would see them in the hospital? In the maternity ward, no less? I wonder if all Alaskans give their kids funny names -- clearly they have been in the wilderness too long. Bristol, Willow, Track, Tripp, Trig(?), seriously, what kind of names are Trig and Track? Anyway, I don't see that as ever working out anyway. I also heard that Sarah Palin came right out and said she didn't want "the retarded baby" (her words), she wanted Bristol's. Even if only half of what Johnston is saying is true, OMG! This is the white trash you Repubs wanted in the White House. No parenting going on, deadbeat secessionist husband, and on and on. At least we know the truth of why she resigned, the job was too hard! What did you think a governorship would be, sitting around watching soap operas and eating bonbons? Wow, the mind boggles.
Posted by: Nancy | September 3, 2009 11:49 AM
"Nancy": Are you basically crazy? You heard "Sarah Palin came right out and said she didn't want "the retarded baby" (her words), she wanted Bristol's". I am sure you can give us a reliable source for that. O wait, you can't, but you are sure you heard it.
I assume, too, you make fun of all the black females with "funny names".
Levi Johnston has contradicted himself. He has no interest in "truth" only money. I am sure he wants that money so he can pay child support, right?
Rick
Posted by: Rick Caird | September 3, 2009 5:56 PM
Sarah--don't look now, but
Levi
is virtually an anagram for.....
Evil.
Posted by: ornery | September 3, 2009 8:59 PM
Ornery,
funny funny funny!
Posted by: C.Morris✧ | September 4, 2009 12:49 PM
thx.
I guess that picture Silva posted of Hannibal Lecter reminded me of anagrams......
Dr. Lecter liked to play.
Posted by: ornery | September 4, 2009 7:10 PM
Levi's just being a good capitalist, making a buck any way he can. I can't believe right-wingers are objecting to his superb money-making skills.
Sarah Palin and John McCain made Levi famous. Now he's cashing in. Just like Jenna Bush Hager.
Posted by: Sharon | September 4, 2009 8:00 PM
Actually, if you saw Levi on Larry King's show, he actually seemed like a normal, nice guy.
Not like that Facebook or Myspace or whatever page he had which was taken down promptly after Sarah emerged from the spaceship.
I bet he's really, really happy to be out of the Palin "household".
Posted by: ornery | September 5, 2009 12:10 AM
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Posted by: Marc Herstein | September 7, 2009 9:17 AM
You are a sad example of a MAN,
LEVI!!! You had your fun with Bristol and her Family allowed you to be in their home as their intended Son-In-law. Wow!! You are really sooo appreciative of them as we have learned your own home situation was much to be desired. I pity you with your future as a productive adult to society. You are a user!!!!
Posted by: sharon critelli | September 7, 2009 9:50 PM
Thats what I always thought. Sarah Palin is running towards the cash and still doesn't pay attention to her family. Thats why her kids are becomeing such losers. Her eldest son had to go to the service ot risk jail time for cutting tires on school buses. Sarah Palin is not someone that should be talked about. She is a embarrassment, not educated enought and full of herself.
Posted by: Catherine | September 11, 2009 2:45 PM