Father of Bristol Palin’s baby speaks

heart filled speech of young father makes a stand for young black fathers in america. speaks to bristol palin (daughter of sarah palin.. female vice presidential nominee for the republican ticket) about their sexual relationship and future child.

Father of Bristol Palin’s Baby: “I Don’t Want Kids”

Tuesday September 2, 2008

Achorage Daily News/MCT/Landov
Levi Johnston (above). The Palin Family (below)

us_weekly995:http://www.usmagazine.com/news/new-levipalin-draftBuzz up!

Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin’s high school sweetheart, and father of her unborn baby may not be ready for fatherhood just yet.

Bristol, the 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, is five-months pregnant.

Palin announced the pregnancy in a statement to Reuters on Monday. She also used the occasion to reveal Bristol and Levi’s marriage plans. She said, “Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family.”

The New York Post reports that although Levi admits to being ‘in a relationship’ on his personal My Space page, the teen hockey player makes the candid revelation that he does not want to be a parent stating, “I don’t want kids.”

The teen also uses the site to talk openly about how he likes to spend his time. He boasts, “I’m a f – - -in’ redneck who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes. But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some s- – - and just f – - -in’ chillin’ I guess.”

He warns, “Ya f – - – with me I’ll kick [your] ass.”

McCain announced Palin as his running mate on Friday.

The 44-year-old, who is expected to be a grandmother by Christmas, will be the first woman nominated by the Republican Party to run on a national ticket.

In Wasilla, Pregnancy Was No Secret

By NATHAN THORNBURGH / WASILLA, ALASKA

Sarah Palin’s husband Todd, left, and daughters Piper, Willow and Bristol (holding Trig) join Cindy and Meghan McCain at the announcement of the Alaska governor’s addition to the Republican ticket in Dayton, Ohio, on Aug. 28

Christopher Morris / VII for TIME

So his name is Levi.

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That’s about the only thing I didn’t know about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy. The rest of the details I picked up almost without trying, while talking about other things with townsfolk — some who know the governor and her family well, some who don’t. It was, more or less, an open secret. And everyone was saying the same thing: the governor’s 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, the father is her boyfriend, and it’s really nobody’s business beyond that.

I happen to agree.

This tiny town wedged between the Chugach and Talkeetna mountain ranges has intrigued the whole country since John McCain’s surprise Friday announcement that Wasilla’s favorite daughter, Sarah Palin, would be his running mate. Sure, some of the interest was a prelude to attacks on Palin’s readiness for national office. But Wasilla also offered a welcome chance to get specific about the geography of a politician. It’s one of our most cherished myths, that a leader can come from somewhere and you can guess at their qualities not just by what they say, but by where they live.

Well, here’s the deal: small towns have their own value systems, and in this situation those values are a lot more valid than the dispassionate, pushy inquisitiveness that political journalism encourages.

I just got off the phone with a longtime Wasilla resident. She had urged me to find time today to go up to Hatcher Pass — “the most beautiful place in the valley!” — when I mentioned that the story on Bristol’s baby is now national news. Her voice slowed. “Oh,” she said. “I’m so sorry. That’s so unfair.”

Wasilla seems at times to be utterly without guile. It’s a large part of the town’s charm, and it’s exactly the quality that could make an unorthodox pick like Palin pay off. Don’t get me wrong — she’s a tough politician with sharp enough elbows on her own. But still, she appears to be more steeped in the values of her hometown than any politician I’ve ever come across.

Maybe that means Palin is a little too much Northern Exposure for America — after all, her father’s good friend Curt Menard happily showed me a picture of the governor as a high schooler in 1981, in a root cellar with family and friends, helping skin and cube and cure a whole moose. It’s enough to make you almost miss fake hunters like John Kerry and Mitt Romney.

People in Wasilla are Alaskan tough, so not only does a thing like teen pregnancy not seem like anyone’s damn business, but it’s also not seen as the calamity that so many people in the lower 48 states might think it is. This is dangerous country — it’s not just the roughneck jobs on cable reality shows. It’s real life here. I listened to the absolutely heartbreaking story of how the godfather of Track Palin, Sarah’s oldest son, died in a small plane crash just minutes after having dropped off four kids. Another family invited me into their home and told their incredible story; with one son in Iraq, their other son was working on a conveyor line in Anchorage, got caught in the belt and had his head partially crushed. He lived to stand across the kitchen table from me and his parents, looking fully healed just three months later, grinning at his dumb luck and wondering what comes next in life. “It makes you realize that a thing like a little teenage pregnancy isn’t such a big deal,” his mom said. “Bristol — and lots of other girl like her out there — are going to be just fine.”

Bristol Palin, Sarah Palins Out of Control Teen

Here’s Bristol Palin, Sarah Palins 16 year old pregnant, underage drinking, gun-toting daughter. If this were Obama’s daughter, all the right-wing neocons would be claiming that he’s a bad parent. Why does she get a pass?

Note: I understand that some of these pics are not of Bristol but are in fact pictures of her Fiance and his Sister.

However, most of these pics are clearly Bristol Palin.

Bristol Palin with her baby

The joke was on you McCain. Now they are saying Bristol got pregnant when she had mono 5 months ago? During the time she was pulled from school because of her sickness? My gosh she is only 17? Where were the parents?

Bristol Palin Is Pregnant, Let The Opprobrium Begin

In order to rebut the aforementioned rumors, and (more likely) to save her daughter the humiliation of even worse headlines, Sarah Palin today released a statement that her 17-year-old daughter Bristol Palin is five months pregnant and plans to marry her boyfriend. The McCain campaign reportedly knew about the pregnancy but didn’t plan to disclose it to the world or think that it disqualified Sarah Palin (Bristol’s mother) from running for the Vice Presidency. Naturally, this has led many of the same people who spent the weekend trafficking in the rumors about Trig Palin — Sarah’s infant son with Down’s Syndrome — to crow wildly about how Bristol Palin, a fucking seventeen-year-old girl, if you’ve forgotten — is the new anti- poster child for abstinence-only education. Of course those claims are well-researched.

Because, for one, most schools in Alaska do teach comprehensive sex-ed, and the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development offers schools a choice of curricula that include programs focusing on abstinence without endorsing a specific program. In fact, there have even been debates in Alaska since the start of Palin’s tenure whether exempting children from comprehensive sex ed is constitutional. Palin’s statements on abstinence-only education date to one questionnaire from a right-wing group during her campaign in 2006 when asked the following question:

Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?

In answer to that leading question which conflates comprehensive sexual education with condom and Pill distribution, her campaign answered:

Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.

In the last year and a half, searches of her office’s website and the Guttmacher Institute revealed no abstinence-only initiatives by her administration. Simply put, Sarah Palin is by no means the world’s biggest promoter of abstinence-only education, as some people are claiming.

Is it possible that she supports it (or supported it)? Sure, it’s certainly a Republican initiative. But there’s no evidence that I can find that she yanked Bristol out of sex ed classes or denied her contraceptive education. To make a 17-year-old girl who didn’t likely choose either to be pregnant or to be some political football the new poster child for attacking her mother’s policy positions doesn’t leave any better a taste in my mouth this afternoon than I had this morning.

On a more personal note, though, let those of us who did remain abstinent in high school (and thereafter) and always practiced safe sex throw stones. I lost my virginity at 16 not because I wasn’t exposed to comprehensive sex ed or because my parents were too religious or even too permissive. I chose to have sex with my high school boyfriend because I loved him deeply and because I wanted to. The two of us were honors students, tops of our classes, responsible and reliable and I’ll be damned if I can sit here and swear that we were the safest sex practitioners on God’s green earth. That we didn’t end up pregnant had likely a lot more to do with luck than it did a rigorous adherence to what Ms. H. taught us in health class. And, had we gotten pregnant, I would’ve strongly preferred to get an abortion — but I don’t think he would’ve been quite as enthusiastic about that alternative.

I can only imagine the courage it took for Bristol to go to her parents, pregnant at 17, and lay out one of the most personal aspects of human life — her sexual activities — and the consequences of those activities and that she was choosing to keep the child despite the high probability of political embarrassment that would be laid at her mother’s doorstep. And all of that was before her mother was about to be made VP. She didn’t by any means choose the easy path here, and everyone probably fully expected that this big reveal would happen at some point rather soon. That it has doesn’t make my bile rise any less with every post I read about how, ha-ha, look what happens when you promote abstinence. Once again, even for this great lover of Schandenfreude, my lips are curling in a little disgust with the glee shown by some of my political compatriots at this news.

Yes, we need to have a rational conversation in this country about striking the balance between providing students with age-appropriate sex education and a rational discussion about moral values and their role in making sexual choices. I am a full and complete supporter of comprehensive sex ed — which includes information like “there is no such thing as blue balls” and “no means no” and “saying no to sex can be a sign of respect for both of you.” But clapping our hands in joyous rubbernecking over Bristol Palin’s being in the family way is not going to be the start of any discussion. It makes us look as judge-y as we accuse Them of being, it makes us look like abortion-promoters instead of choice-respecters (it does mean both choices, after all) and it makes us look like we think a 17-year-old target is easier to hit than a 44-year-old target. Sex education will be a great topic for discussion and reform in an Obama Administration, and it wouldn’t — and shouldn’t — involve the now rather-public embarrassment or shaming of a 17-year-old girl.

Palin’s Daughter Pregnant [Politico]
To Rebut Rumors, Palin Says Daughter, 17, Pregnant [Reuters]
Health Education Curriculum in Alaska [Alaska Legislative Information]
HIV/STD and Sexuality Education Curricula [Alaska Department of Education & Early Development ]
2006 Gubernatorial Candidate Questionnaire [Eagle Forum Alaska]
Alaska Schools Discuss Whether Exempting Kids from Sex Ed is ‘Unconstitutional’ [Christian Post]

The Lesson of Bristol Palin

By Ruth Marcus

Tuesday, September 2, 2008; Page A15

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Bristol Palin’s pregnancy may be the ultimate teachable moment. It just might not be the lesson that John McCain intended.

Bristol Palin holds her brother Trig while their mother is introduced as John McCain’s running mate. (By Stephan Savoia — Associated Press)

My first thought on hearing the news was: What was Sarah Palin thinking? Assuming, as the campaign says, that she knew about her 17-year-old’s pregnancy and informed McCain in advance, how could she expose her daughter to the inevitable spotlight that Palin’s vice presidential nomination would bring?

The unwed mother — or at least, the not-yet-wed mother — has become a more common (this is bad) and less shameful (this is good) phenomenon in 21st-century America. It’s the unusual celebrity (the Hollywood type, not the Obama type) who bothers to get hitched before getting pregnant. The baby bump has become a badge of honor, not a scarlet letter.

Yet no one feels good about a pregnant 17-year-old, whether it’s Bristol Palin or Jamie Lynn Spears. As Sarah and Todd Palin put it with decided understatement yesterday, this will “make her grow up faster than we had ever planned.”

And it will be that much more difficult in the media glare. “We ask the media to respect our daughter and (the father) Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates,” the Palins said in their statement.

As a parent, I sympathize. But as a parent in the media, I also know that the Palins assumed this risk. Anyone who watched coverage of the Bush twins’ barroom exploits knew that the avert-your-eyes stance toward candidates’ children has its limits.

It’s naive to imagine, in the anything-goes Internet era, that Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy would go unremarked upon. It’s also mistaken, I think, to expect it. Like it or not, Bristol Palin’s pregnancy is intertwined with an important public policy debate about which the two parties differ and on which Sarah Palin has been outspoken.

Which brings me to the teachable moment: What should teenagers be taught about sexual activity and contraception? By whom? What access should they have to condoms or other forms of birth control? Specifically, is abstinence-only education enough?

The 2008 Republican Party platform acknowledges that “each year, more than 3 million American teenagers contract sexually transmitted diseases, causing emotional harm and serious health consequences, even death.” It expresses support for “efforts to educate teens and parents about the health risks associated with early sexual activity and provide the tools needed to help teens make healthy choices.”

Then it adds, “Abstinence from sexual activity is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against out-of-wedlock pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.”

Yes, but talking about abstinence turns out to be easier than abstaining. More than 60 percent of high school seniors report having had sex at least once. The message that every family should take from Bristol Palin’s pregnancy is: It can happen here.

Except Sarah Palin opposes programs that teach teenagers anything about contraception. “The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support,” she said in answering a questionnaire from the conservative Eagle Forum during her 2006 gubernatorial race.

McCain has voted to increase abstinence-only funding, voted to terminate the federal family planning program and voted against funding teen pregnancy prevention programs. He voted to require teens seeking birth control at federally funded family planning clinics to obtain parental consent.

Being a teenager means taking stupid risks. The best, most attentive parenting and the best, most comprehensive sex education won’t stop teenagers from doing dumb things. The most we as parents can hope for is to insulate our children, as best we can, from the consequences of their own stupidity.

I have two daughters back home, 11 and 13 — close enough to Bristol’s age that I cannot comfort myself that her situation is a far-off irrelevance.

When I talk with them about this news, I will use the moment to convey this admittedly muddled message: Wait, please. But whenever you choose to have sex, at some distant moment, don’t do it without contraception.

marcusr@washpost.com

Read more from Ruth Marcus at washingtonpost.com’s new opinion blog, PostPartisan

Bristol Palin Pregnancy: Is VP Sarah Palin’s 5th Child Really Her Daughters? (Photos)

Whoah! The Sarah Palin pregnancy scandal is getting lots of interest. Sources are saying that Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol Palin,16, became pregnant, and that Sarah Palin pretended the baby was her own! This would have been her “fifth child” that has Down’s Syndrome. Is Sarah Palin Trig’s mother or grandmother? And did Sarah Palin really fake her pregnancy or is this just a rumor? Update! Palin announces Bristol Palin is 5 months pregnant. See new post here.

Click Thumbnails for Larger Images

Update! Palin announces Bristol Palin is 5 months pregnant. See new post here.

Yep! While uncertain who little Trig Palin actually belongs to… Sarah or Bristol… we now have confirmation that Bristol Palin is 5 months pregnant currently. Bristol is keeping her baby and plans to marry the father.

Previous story:

Now being upfront, we have no idea if this story is true but sources say it’s correct. But Media Takeout is reporting that McCain’s vice-presidential pick, Sarah Palin, is said to have pretended her fifth child, Trig Palin, was hers… when actually the baby belonged to her 16 year-old daughter, Bristol Palin. So did Sarah Palin actually fake her pregnancy?

This pregnancy scandal is hitting the internet, and supposedly people “in the know” from Alaska are stating it is true, and that Sarah Palin hid her daughter’s pregnancy. And that the child, Trig Palin, might actually belong to her daughter, Bristol.

But could this just be a smear campaign? Not sure how you readers feel but it actually makes me think more of Sarah Palin actually, trying to protect her daughter and the child, Trig Palin.

Knowing Palin’s anti-abortion, does make the rumors make more sense though. She certainly could have faked her pregnancy and covered for her teenage daughter Bristol!

Here is an excerpt taken from the blog The Moderate VPoice):

[Governor Palin’s] oldest girl is rumored to have actually been the one who had the last baby, the one with Down’s Syndrome. She was taken out of school the last 4 or 5 months of her mother’s pregnancy.

On March 5th, 2008 Alaska’s Republican Governor, Sarah Palin, announced to the media that she was 7 months pregnant with her 5th child. She is currently 44.

Palin’s daughter Bristol is 16 and attends an Anchorage high school. Students who have attended class with her report that she has been out of school for months, claiming a prolonged case of mono.

Palin does not appear pregnant in any recent photographs. The announcement came as quite a shock to people who had worked closely with her, and have been quoted as saying that she did not appear pregnant whatsoever during the prior 7 months.

If you look in the main photo, Bristol Palin does appear to be pregnant, while Sarah Palin, does not look pregnant at all!

Some people have said at 7 months pregnant supposedly, Sarah didn’t look pregnant. Now if this would have been her first baby, you could think maybe she just wasn’t showing yet. But as you have more children, you actually show more quickly.

Here’s a photo taken when Sarah Palin would have been nearly 7 months pregnant. Does she look even the slightest bit pregnant to you?

Click Thumbnails for Larger Images

And further fueling these rumors, the Alaska Department of State has now taken down all the photos of Sarah Palin and her family from their website. Hmm… that does seem a bit strange doesn’t it?

Here’s a photo below of Bristol Palin wearing what appears to be a wedding ring and holding Baby Trig. One reader pointed out, why wouldn’t the father have been holding the baby? Interesting points!

If these Palin fake pregnancy rumors are true, it will slowly come out in the coming weeks.

As to whether or not this is true, remember this is a gossip site but we always attempt to report accurately. The facts we know are that Bristol Palin was home for 4-5 months with mononucleosis. That’s odd in itself. Sarah Palin announced her pregnancy at 7 months. Strange and why wasn’t she showing. Lots of women that are slender and fit still show, almost being more evident in the belly with their smaller size. Interesting to see how this all turns out.

In Sarah Palin’s defense here, if she did pretend the baby was hers, is it just a mother protecting her young daughter, and doing the right thing?

Well now with the new revelation of Bristol Palin, 17, being “5 months pregnant”, it is possible for Trig Palin to still be Bristol’s. Trig Palin was born on April 18, 2008. Bristol could have gotten pregnant right after giving birth. And honestly who is to say if Bristol is really 5 months. It’s hard to know what to believe anymore. But it just keeps getting more interesting!

What do you guys think of this Palin pregnancy scandal? Do you think it’s true? And if it is true, does it make you think more or less of Sarah Palin if she “faked” her pregnancy to protect her daughter Bristol and baby Trig?

BRISTOL PALIN PREGNANT — RIGHT NOW

From NBC’s Mark Murray
Reuters: “The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin’s five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said. ‘We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us,’ the Palins’ statement said. ‘Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support,’ the Palins said.”

*** UPDATE *** Here’s a statement the McCain camp released from Todd and Sarah Palin, which is identical to the quote in the Reuters story: “We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us. Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.”

“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”

Bristol Palin’s pregnancy was an open secret back home

BY NANCY DILLON, VERONIKA BELENKAYA and TINA MOORE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008, 10:40 PM

Levi Johnston

Johnston is a varsity hockey player at Wasilla High School.

Beck/Getty

Bristol Palin

He’s a superhunky bad-boy ice hockey player from cold country; she’s a chestnut-haired beauty and popular high school senior.

The all-American teen twosome will make GOP vice presidential pick and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin a grandma at age 44 – just in time for Christmas.

Doe-eyed Bristol Palin, 17, and ruggedly handsome Levi Johnston, an 18-year-old self-described “f—in’ redneck,” have been dating a year, locals in Wasilla, Alaska, told the Daily News.

And the pregnancy? An open secret in the close-knit town of 9,780.

PHOTOS: MEET SARAH PALIN AND HER FAMILY

Bristol Palin, now a senior, was frequently seen cheering her young beau from the stands. Levi is also a senior.

Wasilla mom Jennie Johnston, whose son Jade played hockey with Levi, saw the young couple in January at a game.

PHOTOS: SARAH PALIN THE LATEST BEAUTY QUEEN TO HIT BIG TIME

“She was in a cute little outfit like young girls wear,” said Jennie Johnston, who is not related to Levi. “She was with Levi.”

She said her son told her the two were already engaged.

“They’ve been together quite a while, more than a year,” she said. “I hope everything comes out well. These are local kids.”

Johnston, broad-chested and wearing a No. 15 jersey, can be seen in photographs hitting the boards as a Warrior in action.

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE RNC

A closeup shot shows the handsome teen with a light dusting of whiskers on his chin – his dark brown hair curly and wet.

“Levi has got huge potential,” Jennie Johnston said. “He’s a smart kid.”

Sarah Palin admitted yesterday her “beautiful daughter” Bristol was five months pregnant and would marry Levi. The baby is due in late December.

In a photo taken on Aug. 28, Palin holds her infant brother Trig close to her belly during a campaign rally where Sen. John McCain introduced her mom as his running mate.

The campaign released word of the teen’s pregnancy to knock down claims on Internet blogs that the teen – not her mom – secretly gave birth to Trig, who has Down syndrome.

Well-liked Warrior

Wasilla Warriors‘ coach Bill Sturdevant said he never believed that talk.

“He was the same kid from the beginning of the season to the end. No signs of anything like that,” the coach said.

“He was a good kid to be around, with lots of friends. He was well-liked.”

A telephone number for Levi Johnston’s parents, Sherry and Keith Johnston, was disconnected.

Bristol’s pregnancy was no secret in the town that lies wedged between two mountain ranges.

The mother of one of Levi’s friends, who asked not to be named, told The News that locals knew about Bristol’s pregnancy for weeks.

Besides his hard play on the ice, Levi Johnston was also a bit of a hell-raiser off it – another reason Bristol may have been smitten.

State troopers popped Johnston last year for snagging some king salmon out of season in Moose Lake, records from Alaska wildlife enforcement show. He had to pay $370 bail.

On his MySpace page, Johnston proudly declares: “I’m a f—in’ redneck.”

“I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing,” he says on the site.

He also warns that if anyone messes with him, “I’ll kick ass.”

The Web site, before it was removed, appeared not to have been accessed for a year.

On it, he admits to having a girlfriend.

On the part where it asks about children, he wrote, “I don’t want kids.”

Mark Okeson, the assistant principal at Wasilla High School, told the Chicago Tribune that Bristol started her junior year last fall, in the town where Sarah Palin grew up.

He said Bristol inexplicably transferred to an Anchorage high school midyear, leaving Levi behind.

“I never heard the story why,” he said.

tmoore@nydailynews.com