Little Levi's MySpace page ..... After reading that, would you want your daughter to marry him? How did the guy get past the Palin's front door? Obviously, he wasn't vetted ...

How would we know anything about Levi? Well, turns out he wanted the world to know he's an immature 17yo foul-mouthed jerk. He advertised his assholery to the world, so there goes his right to privacy. Oh, and he knocked up the governor's daughter (maybe twice). At 17, he might have a smidgen of awareness that this might attract attention.

The story is McCain's judgment, Palin's policies, her hypocrisy, and perhaps even the more serious issues tied to the fake pregnancy (as if announcing that Plymouth... ooops, Bristol... is 5-months pregnant proved anything... I'll believe it when I see her give birth at the end of November).

I guess that Palin woman pointed a shotgun at Levi's head and told him that if he didn't marry her daughter she would blast his fucking head off.

...where the Jeff Goldblum character says: "I hate being right all the time" - I looked up Levi Johnston, why, just the other day! I wondered, is this him?

And I'm not even a presidential candidate! I'm not even a member of the F-B-I. I'm just a nobody American! And I just went to Google. Google!

Is this intentional? Well, forget about the housing crisis, the price of gas, the hurricanes (on the way, season's not over yet), the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, Putin, Georgia, China trade imbalance, uh, an utter lack of any cohesive urban policy in the US, outsourcing, GLOBAL WARMING - forget all that stuff, heck, this is like a soap opera coming to the White House!

I do not want the RECKLESS, CARELESS John McCain (note I did not say reckless careless teenagers, I said the oldster JOHN MCCAIN) in the White House setting policy for the next 4 years!!!! And Palin: Where's her judgment - troopergate, Alaska Independence Party, I was for the bridge before I was against it, ties to Big Oil, anti-polar bear, creationist, antiabortion....No way, no how, no McCain-Palin!!!!!

Thank god Smudge - it is heartening to see another post that is spot on. (see my post previous to yours). This "teen pregnancy" is only static, covering up the real story about McCain's reckless judgment. It is even beyond judgment - crissake - I think he forgot to take his meds or something !!

McCAIN's POOR JUDGMENT is the story !!!! (yeah, just what you want in a president - poor judgment, recklessness.

AND, I think he is LYING about knowing in advance. AND, IF he really did, his judgment is EVEN MORE questionable.

I'm content to leave Bristol and Levi alone. They didn't ask for this and I don't get any pleasure over the fact they've been pushed into an international spotlight.

McCain's knowledge of the pregnancy illustrates how clueless he is on women's issues. That he failed to recognize how much controversy a teen pregnancy would generate speaks volumes. The fact that Sarah Palin herself didn't realize it, or chose to overlook it tells me that Mrs. Palin is more than slightly self-absorbed.

This boy and Palin's daughter should be off limits. Shame on Salon or anyone that reports this stuff. I agree that the boy's MySpace page makes him sound like most kids his age.

Some of the facts of Mrs. Palin's daughter's impending pregnancy are important to the current national debate; some are not. All are fairly personal, and as such, we unwashed masses should confine ourselves to those bits that further the national discussion meaningfully. We won't, of course, but the quality of our national discourse is already reprehensible; encouraging muckraking for its own sake doesn't help matters.

We should be discussing why the McCain campaign was not just heedless of nominating Palin in light of this information, but, in fact, seemed utterly unaware of it. That they were speaks volumes about McCain's style of "leadership" -- non-deliberative, secretive -- and its potential consequences.

Christian conservatives, of course, may wish to go on about the question of Mrs. Palin's moral turpitude or Vice Presidential suitability because of this, but I don't believe the inability of Mrs. Palin to keep her daugher from having sex should disqualify her from high political office. Do you? There are plenty of reasons why I don't want Mrs. Palin to be Vice President, but really, this isn't one of them.

As progressive types, we believe that teenage parents and their families deserve compassion. Mocking a kid's Myspace page and gawking at every tangential aspect of their situation does not constitute compassion. I hope people keep this in mind as long as this issue remains in the public eye.

It's relevant because the mother and possible VP of the United States wants her daughter to marry this thug...for appearance's sake. If you'll foresake your daughter, you have no values.

The NYT has it right. The story here is McCain's error in judgement, his rush to announce a choice that hadn't been vetted, etc. The baby daddy is NOT the story or at least it shouldn't be the story for War Room. Leave that to the tabloids and get serious. Enough.

I haven't heard the part where Levi says HE wants to get married and change diapers and forget about college and get a job herding moose or whatever it is they do up there besides drink and snowboard and polay hockey.

If these religious fundamentalists would stop badgering everyone else to practice abstinence, and did so themselves. This guy reminds of the dopey husband who winds up getting Lolita knocked up, and then tells Humbert Humbert that Alaska is a great place to raise children, because there's so much room for them to run around in!

Mr. Schaller,

YES, Exactly, PLEASE keep beating this drum - it is about McCain's total lack of good judgement. Not only TRUE, but, CRITICAL to point of having someone like that as Commander and Cheif. It is NOT the fault of the Palin's that their personal life is on display - it doesn't even really have anything to do with it - BUT - it shows the breathtaking incompetence of McCain AND his campaign team - AND - the Republicans who are STILL embracing this horrible choice. PLEASE - everyone, get off the "teen pregnancy" angle of this story, and start talking about the REAL story. JOHN McCAIN TOTAL LACK OF JUDGEMENT !!!! THANK YOU MR. SCHALLER !!!