I'm so tired of my fellow liberals giving a fuck what any British paper (except The Economist) says about anything. It's tempting to take succor from their incredulity at American conservatism, buttThey were wrong in 2004- unhelpful, even- and they're wrong now. The race shut down for a week? Puhleeze. It would come across as just as big of a stunt as the "campaign suspension."

ps- the rumor about Biden has been floating around conservative blogs for a week now.

Queue up the concern trolling: OMG! We're gonna lose big now! America loves teenage weddings!!!

BTW, why would this shut the race down for a week? I can't imagine McCain taking a week off to attend a wedding in Alaska.

Where are Levi's parents?
This is what I have been thinking for quite awhile.
What do they have to say about this shotgun wedding?
What if these kids do not want to get married. I have not seen any comments from them at all.
If they are being made to then it seems they are being bullied into getting married. If they want to get married then fine, let them. But religion is behind this situation so they would have to get married either way because of religion, it does not mean it will all work out in the long run. It just looks good for now it will not upset the voting religious right. Not that they are going to all vote for Obama if this marriage is not made to seem like it is going through with but there is that tiny percentage that could be swayed.

It is a shotgun wedding

Why the hell would Obama replace Biden? He's good. He speaks forcefully and knowledgeably. He acts a bit oafish sometimes but it's endearing and it comes from a backdrop of vast, unimpeachable experience, especially in foreign policy.

The media should stop saying "hockey player Levi Johnston, 18." Shouldn't he be called "unemployed High School drop-out Levi Johnston, 18?"

I mean, hockey is not his job right? Lots of dude bros shoot hoops or play golf or whatever in their spare time, but that doesn't make you Tiger Woods. And it doesn't support your wife and kid.

I see a future for him in amateur porn.

But I don't mean that in a creepy way.

Of course they would! It's great political theater.

Plus, the kids would absolutely rake in the wedding gifts -- probably enough to buy themselves a nice house with separate entrances and enough left over to pay for the first year of a good nanny. I say have it November 1st, the Saturday before the election. That way the bachelor/bachelorette parties will be on Halloween -- which is certainly appropriate.

Shotgun wedding my ass - that's a nuclear bomb wedding :-)

IF this is true, they would have to trod very carefully here: While "Giving the kid a name" is a time-honored tradition (quite common in my family) It could very easily be seen as "cheapening the tradition of marriage". Also, there's probably quite a few parents out there who don't want to see this sort of thing glamorized, and quite a few people who were put in that position for whom it ended quite badly. Plus, it again leads to questions of judgment. A small simple wedding is one thing - a big garish production is quite another. Even the wedding industrial complex would probably frown on it.

I really doubt it will happen.

Try to think of something they WOULDN'T do.

Um, no. People don't give a shit about a Palin family wedding. "I won't talk to the media for weeks on end and can't string together a cogent thought on American foreign policy, but hey, look, my kid's getting married!! How sweet!!!"

Independents want health care, a fixed economy, jobs, national security.

What happened to the "Leave the children out of the campaign" angle? Exploiting the teenage daughter suits them fine if it means winning votes. Hypocritical double-standard #14921.
BTW, McCain on 'This Week w/ George S.' was cranky and wooden as ever.

real clear no toss up is showing Obama building a large lead, electoral colelge wise, bc he is now ahead in VA and NC.

!

Still not in OH.

Silver lining of our economic bust.

This whole wedding thing is disgusting!

Sarah Palin should be locked up on child abuse charges!

She has used her daughter as a political prop! She also used her son going to war to her advantage and then she used her down syndrome baby to make a statement about special needs children. She is the worst example of a parent I can think of.

This wedding is a joke just like Sarah Palin.

I think Slog needs to host a bachelor party for Levi in some nice dark room with lots of sturdy eyebolts spaced conveniently around, so that he can be shown the proper use of condoms.

Wow, how very fifties! Two horny teenagers with an unwanted pregnancy forced to "do the right thing" and marry. Wow, that really is traditional family values. I wonder if anyone remembers how the children of those shotgun 50's weddings turned out? Didn't they grow up to be hippies who 1.) divorced in droves and didn't stay together for the sake of the children 2.) Never married in the first place and had kids with multiple partners. Because that's how I remember how that generation turned out.

The steady economic focus has results:

"PRINCETON, NJ -- Barack Obama leads John McCain, 50% to 42% among registered voters in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday -- just one point shy of his strongest showing of the year."

I don't think Palin knew about her daughter being pregnant before she was chosen as McCain's running mate or the girl would be married already. If McCain had done simple vetting Bristol and the high school drop out would have already been married and he would be working for the GOP right now. There is something very fishy going on. I think she is carrying her sister, no her daughter, no her sister, her daughter, her sister and her daughter!

about children being off-limits: dems and palin are both guilty on this front. do you think palin wanted to announce that her daughter was pregs? or that her son had some issues as well? it really plays better for palin to have the kids off-limits.

since they haven't been left alone, this would seem like a natural response. remember, palin is being used to appeal to the ultra-conservatives. while somewhat split on the shot-gun wedding, it stills plays well to have a husband (ANY husband) around as the father of a child.

Hmmm, I think I get it now . . . if Bristol's going to get married at some point in October, that gives them an excuse to have Sarah Palin out of commission for the weeks leading up to the wedding.

Can't do any interviews -- she's planning a wedding.

Can't make any appearances -- she's planning a wedding.

Let's see if she can't attend any debates because (wait for it) -- she's planning a wedding.

Sigh.

These are some of the most gross posts I have ever read.

He, soon to be daddy, is an adult, what the fuck do his parents have to do with anything? Sure, Dan, you asked mommie and dad who you could screw at 18? Sure. Isn't it true that about 50 percent of babies are out of wedlock or conceived out of wedlock? Big fucking deal. Charles would get her pregnant if he could.

They will marry, the baby will be blessed. As are all babies.

He looks healthy, will get a decent job using the all family connections, the best of American traditions, families help families, and so goes love, biology and the saga that surrounds us.

Media will suck it up, yes. The young couple will harvest gifts galore, including money. Good for them.

I know Democrats in Seattle that have thought that Hillary will come in at the last moment to save the election. Not a bad idea.

Blow Hard Biden does have bad health and Hillary is getting great remarks for her campaign efforts. HER efforts. Bill is on his own.

Where has Biden been on saving the banks? What a horrible choice, its is the economy stupid, so they said.

Do you all remember Hillary proposed a moratorium on foreclosures on the campaign trail??? Duh.

I'm The Incredible Sulk, and I approved this off-topic comment.

And no, I don't feel like letting it go.

It would seem like a gimick & backfire, just like backing out of the debates.

Well,

As the Advertising board says near the intersection that I won't give out the name of for free....

as advertising in this town is never advertised for free...

( go ahead ...read my mind and say you know why ...old fornication laws and sub catagories of punishment under the kings rules...) have you ever said the "F" word in the wrong room???

" Any thing that family does should suprise only those who think this year is funny."

Funny what?

You know what we should bring back???

The old kill them and weep laws.

Remeber when the real power of the people lay in the power of revolt?

And by that I mean... Forget the movie where Sir John Gielgud ( by the way did I remember to spell his name correctly????... who cares... I do for the Theaters sake... oh ...never mind, don't answer that.)

any way...

" snooty " people and playwrites like to use the accent with the line...

" How REEE- VOwLTing !"

This is what I think we should do with revolt...

Remind everyone... and I ask you to encourage people to pass this message on to Jon Stewart of The Daily Show... and David Letterman and Bill Mahre and everyone else except Dick Cheney...( God I confess ....I love to pick on that guy....)

message to be passed on....

" If the tax payers were getting their money's worth out of the politicians and elected and appointed officials that get their WAGES in their bank accounts on time... while the rest of whoever doesn't... we'd have a rule that worked something like this:"

Kids in school, who don't go to class, get an "abscent from class" and the parents get called after a couple of abscences.

Remeber truancy?

City Council Members, Senators and Lawyers, Reresentatives and Presidents, Lobbiests and Aides and all the other Judicial and Executive and Legislative wanna-bees who don't do their job, or cancel a council meeting, or fail to appear by calling in sick...

( no- don't call their parents.... that is sophmoric....)

The answer is

DON"T PAY THEM!!!!!!!!

That would be pretty much like the old days of getting a SWAT on the back-side by the Principle... which in todays world of Uptight Parent Teacher Confrences would be useless unless you are PRO-DEATH PENALTY IN TEXAS.

And... (yes keep reading....

shhhh it's a library be very very quiet)

I'M NOT THROUGH YET ANTAGONIZING OVER THE STATE IF BEING THE ENABLED POOR HIOMELESS GUY!!!!!

Furthermore... don't let the mentioned people above sign on to book deals or tour and speak at engagements or symposiums if they quit without earning their pay...

That way...

all you would have would be legal lawsuits against employers and disgruntled employees!!!!!!

Disclaimer.. I love to spell wrong... that way Obama and McCain can argue over the real problem with Politicians getting the inside scoop first.

As long a Bristol does not wear a white wedding dress, I see no problem.

uh, it's not your spelling we most notice, dbk.

"They will marry, the baby will be blessed. As are all babies."

Yeah, but the problem with babies is that they grow up to be assholes like Larry, who doubtless comes from a long line of bastards.

The Palin grandchild (or whatever it is) is probably about as welcome as a case of the clap. If Sarah weren't in the spotlight, there'd probably be a quick trip to whatever doctor delivered the last one to get rid of this one. That's the way it happens in trashy families with a little bit of money.

Too bad Larry came from poor folks.

How ironic that Republicans are celebrating premarital sex. Maybe Move On .org should have a counter ceremony of some kind. Like the marriage of two dogs. Two horny little dogs.

As previously stated, his balls are under Palin's pillow and there is no way he can get them out on his own. Where the fuck is his dad or whoever it is that is supposed to be watching him? The wedding is a complete publicity stunt, in a really fucked-up, abusive, surface only kind of way...I don't know...annulment following Barak's election

#28

You can't be as stupid and boring as your post indicates.

My whole family has money, if that matters. And I can't think of any illegitimate or bastard or throw away kids.

I am sorry if you are sterile or infertile. Or just hate people. Get some help.

Most of us are not in your grove, even gay boys and dykes are having kids.

Try to talk to your mom about the horrible childhood, might help.

What a nice life you have, wishing total strangers ill from your little screwed up world.

"his balls under a pillow" and variations

get it on a T shirt, great slogan and very sexy

Levi will marry Bristol because Mama Palin is a mother bear you REALLY don't want to piss off.

(Balls under pillow, natch)

@33

This is one of those myths I can't stand, like Palin having any political skill. She has none, and she's not much of an enemy, either.

Sure, she thinks she's queen dragon lady of the North, and she likes to fire people, but she couldn't even fire the freaking librarian. She tried, but it was too hard. It took her months to fire her police chief. Mostly all she got for her efforts was embarrassment. She more a danger to herself than anyone else.

And Levi doesn't even have a job to get fired from, so what can she do to him?

Levi gets lots and lots and lots of snatch - pretty young lady stuff - what is the mystery? He is 18, raging testoserone, or so I remember.

Grand mama gets a good looking stud to father her grand babies. Good genes, daughter seems happy. What is the mystery?

Some folks here are obsessing. This stuff is so ordinary, so common, who cares ...

Sarah Palin is such a fright in her own game, who cares about her breeding kid?

Beware of powerful people from small towns, elenchos. They are smug, insular, provincial people, with little life experience and no coping skills. (I know, I come from the armpit of western Iowa, and I still own property there.) Don't believe the hokey mythology of the idyllic small town.

Maybe Levi's people are as backwards as the Palins - hence the silence. Or maybe something else is going on behind the scenes.

If it stays true to type, they'll get married in a big splash, realize how much they hate each other, and get divorced. Unless we are collectively stupid enough to actually elect McCain/Palin - in which case they will be trapped in a loveless marriage for the duration of Mrs. Palin's term in office.

At least trig/track/thug (whatever the oldest son's name is) was fortunate enough to escape to the military. That's about the only option small town kids with indifferent parents have these days.

Palin is a woman and a mother. Some kid has been fucking her daughter and now she's pregnant. Palin is going to fucking squeeze him and hold him til there's nothing left. She's got hand. There is nothing political in this.
The wedding drama, pregnancy drama blah blah blah IS political and the goddamn Rove/Bush/McCain sewage will spin it

Granted, this is a bit cynical. But is there any proof she's pregnant? A convenient "miscarriage" around the end of October would create a symapthetic wave of attention.
Just saying.

Yeah... whatever British paper published this is one of Britain's many retarded tabloids. October is a wretched month to have a wedding in Alaska, it's right when the weather is getting horrible and depressing. In any event Bristol's pregnancy and engagement are old news, so the wedding would get one day of media attention at best.

38, have you SEEN the size of those tits???

as for wearing white....whatever. it's her first marriage, raindrop, so she's supposed to be able to wear white according to emily-fucking-post-it-somewhere. it just needs to be made by omar the tentmaker, so's to accommodate the precious parasite and all that tit-age. good luck to her and her bridedude. with any luck, she won't wind up being the horrid creature her mother is.

Sigh. All this moralistic fuming from an aggregation of mostly amoral indiscriminate sex monkeys. Here's a banana, go eat a clue.

Mr Biden dropping out sounds far-fetched, but who doesn't remember Senator Bob Torricelli falling on his sword six years ago next Tuesday? Or Bill Clinton, last Thursday on Larry King, talking about going down to Florida for Obama to 'hustle up the cracker vote?' "Crackers For Obama?" Please!

Hmm while not as all the gossipy chit chat re polinuptials Biden departure fantasies, etc. etc. apparently there was some kind of law drafted up in DC today ?

Something to do with the economy or something ??

Probably not as riveting as all the other stuff in this thread about polinuptials, Biden etc. but anyway check it out...

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/bailoutbill20080928.pdf

What's wrong with getting crackers to vote for a black guy?

Makes them a tad less crackerish, n'est-ce pas?

Um, dontcha believe "el pueblo ---unido--- jamas sera vencido"???

Unity y'all--

#18 -- Just about everyone in Wasilla knew that Bristol was pregnant long before the VP announcement, according to an Alaska blogger.

Me, I want to see Bristol and Levi on the next season of Temptation Island.

I just hope that "sudden complications" don't come up this week, requiring palin to rush back to Alaska to with her family on Thursday rather than take part in the debate. I think the Mccain campaign has already drawn this one up -- as well as some othrs. Isn't it obvious that his whole hissy fit and "suspension" was an attempt to upstage the Palin/Couric interview AND postpone the vp debate indefinitely?

Decision making is the hallmark of a President...not encyclopedic retention of wonk facts.

Barry failed by selecting a terrible VP choice. Now he may be floundering and pick someone who he would be at odds with and who didn't have the oomph to win her own party's vote!

I have to agree with some of Catalina Vel-DuRay comments. I do think that if this idea is being floated by the campaign, they will be doing an extensive opinion survey to judge the benefit of a pre-election nuptial prior to making any announcement. The fact it is even being discussed at this time in the media suggests the idea in the already in the process of being trial-balloned. I would be surprised if it were to happen if there is no clear benefit, and that benefit has to be measured in its appeal to undecided voters. Undecided voters are what's at stake now in this election process. I think most people would find this a disturbing and unnecessary distraction to the campaign. Of course, after watching McCain this past week run around in circles with his underwear pulled over his head, I suppose most anything is possible in his campaign.

Bailo! What the hell are you doing on here? AOL only gives us 500 minutes a month now, and you've used 2,050!!! Who's gonna pay that extra time, diaper-boy?

Jesus, I thought tracking you down to that "bookstore" in White Center was bad. Now I have to come in here with all these freaks? Give me the glory hole crowd any day.

And where's my black slip?

I don't think a big wedding is going to be staged in the next month -- but I do think he'll drop Palin. There will be some drama late Wednesday (Todd in hospital with chest pains -- or Trig choking and going to the clinic). She'll skip the debate and pull out two days later. We can't condemn that without being mean and sexist. History will say the country can't accept a woman as vp or prez, regardless of the truth.

But who would replace her? If it's not a woman, you lose all the "hockey moms". If it's not a hard-core Christian, you lose all the Christianists. God forbid it would be Romney - he's "not a Christian" (but would bring in the Mormon vote) What if it were Huckabee: Christian as all get-out, but almost as freaky as Palin. Guiliani? Yuck.

In any event, the undecided will see the truth: She was a huge mistake, and they realized it.

Dropping her would be even more of a disaster than keeping her.

Evan Bayh
Bayh currently serves on five Senate Committees: Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, for which he is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Trade and Finance; Armed Services; the Select Committee on Intelligence; the Special Committee on Aging; and the Small Business Committee.

The wedding is never going to come off. The un-employed, highschool drop-out will cut and run. He's probably too chicken shit to do it now, but he will. He will. That horndog wants no-strings pussy. Not a wife, kids, 9 to 5, and a mortgage. The GOP can try and spin him into the dream son-in-law, but it ain't gonna happen. He didn't marry the girl he knocked up in eighth grade, he's not gonna marry this one. Hell, he's got the stank of deadbeat daddy all over him.

Just kidding about Bayh. He was an Obama short-lister. Mccain only has romney.

The tracking polls are all +5 & +6, and that's three day averages - his first day after the debate polled at +9!

A double digit lead in October is live boy/dead girl territory. The rethugs are already working on 2012 - 2008 is a lost cause why burn through another candidate?

BTW - I was rewatching his January speeches again tonight - what a difference. I know it's only been 10 months but he looks a lot older now.

I just hope I get to fuck that sweet ass before he's married.

Alaska had another mind blowingly huge Hold Sarah Palin Accountable rally this weekend. Pics here: http://laurainak.blogspot.com. Not all Alaskans love Sarah!!

Bill Clinton, last Thursday on Larry King, talking about going down to Florida for Obama to 'hustle up the cracker vote?'

Everybody needs to shut the fuck up, get their heads out of Bristol's uterus, and focus on the economy. Remember how the assholes in power used Sadam Hussain to distract everybody from asking why they hadn't caught Osama bin Laden? (Remember him?) Same thing.

#58 ... Before checking, I seem to recall that, from my days living in Florida, "cracker" means a native Floridian ... now, I'll go to check.

Your reference appears to confirm what I remember. Though so smart a person as Bill Clinton can hardly be unaware of the other meaning of the word, which is evidently what sprang to your mind as you read my comment.

Contrary to some of the comments above, the paper that got the wedding leak is not a right-wing tabloid, it's the London Times (http://www.thetimesonline.co.uk) .

The Times is a somewhat conservative paper, and is not at all anti-American. It's not the most right-wing of London's Dailies at all - the Telegraph is far to the right of the Times. Either the Times or the Telegraph woud be an ideal candidate for a leak from the McCain campaign, and the article is full of quotes from nameless staffers. There's every reason to think it's legit.

The Daily Mail - which had the Biden rumour - is a tabloid, and should be taken with a BIG grain of salt.

"....focus on the economy. Remember how the assholes in power used Sadam Hussain to distract everybody from asking why they hadn't caught Osama bin Laden? (Remember him?) Same thing."

Focusing on the economy is admirable, however the real focus should be on the
developing conflict between Pakistan and Afganistan where NATO troops are the
meat being fed into the grinder. Pakistan has a dysfunctional government, a military sympathetic to various tribal leaders in
its northwest territories boardering Afganistan and nuclear weapons whose security would likley be compromised if order within the country ceases to exist.

Levi's parents are keeping mum because they really don't want a lot of reporters snooping around and finding that meth lab of theirs.
And for the record, Levi is a "former hockey playing high school dropout:.