Now I understand why Bristol said abstinence is not realistic.

Goodness, I do hope the Republicans are mad enough to nominate this woman.
Where do I make my donation to her campaign?
Even by the very low standards we have come to expect from the Republicans, this, well, I’ll say lady for lack of a better term, is beyond belief.
Had my parents ever caught me in bed with a girl, they would have believed our protestations of innocent rough-housing.

You really have to wonder about the wisdom a mother who would permit her minor daughter to have her minor boyfriend sleep over in the daughter’s bed. Was she seriously thinking that nothing would happen in these instances?
And where was the father in all of this?

Wow you must have one crack research department. He moved in just before the baby was due. As for her knowing they were having sex his exact quote was “I think she knew because moms are smart like that”.
Way to help the lefties push the smears.

Since the question was “how do you handle that?”, my answer is that when our 24 year old daughter and her boyfriend stay over at our house, they sleep together on the couch in the family room. They are living together (and have for about 2 years) so they are used to having that other body next to them (as are my husband and I) and don’t sleep as well if they are not together. The same thing holds true when we go to visit my father-in-law (he lives out of town).

No, loggerfeld. You conservatives don’t need any help from us to make idiots of yourselves, you are doing just fine on your own.
Of course, at this point in time, the Republican party has drifted so far off to the wing-nut right, Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan – back when he still had two brain cells to rub together – would no longer be welcome, all being way too far to the left for you.
And what was with the gag order Caribou Barbie had hung on Levi’s family during the election? Can’t wait to see you justify that one.
But, heh – like I said. Nothing I want more than for you folks to nominate her. Be the best gift you could give us.
Why do you think Joe 6-pack and wife didn’t vote for you a few months back…hint: It wasn’t because they suddenly fell in love with Obama.

“Wow you must have one crack research department. He moved in just before the baby was due. As for her knowing they were having sex his exact quote was “I think she knew because moms are smart like that”.
Way to help the lefties push the smears.”
Wow…so it’s OK for unmarried people to live together after the woman has become pregnant out of wedlock? Gee…I thought it was the same-sex marriage crowd that was destroying the “sacred institution” of marriage.

Now that this has degenerated into a custody issue, I simply cannot believe either side, unless both agree. The only dignified thing left for Levi, Bristol, and their families is to shut up in public. I’m beginning to catch faint whiffs of Brittney Spears.

Hi Gerard,
I’ve missed you. I do hope all is well with you and your family.
Frankly, I am delighted to see the Johnsons (another one just got busted) and the Palins in the news. Especially in the news for these reasons.
It is so wonderful to have a first hand look at the family and lifestyle of those whom the conservative Christians consider to be fitter to lead the United States than Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
They, after all, are just boring, monogamous, true, wait-till-after-your-marrried-to-have-kids folks.
No drugs, no sex, no rock and roll.
How could we have been so foolish to turn down such a wonderful woman for the job of being one heartbeat away from the presidency?

Didn’t know that Levi was living in Palin’s house. What was he, a house guest? Or was he just visiting at her house…in her bedroom! Whatever, the baby is here…they aren’t together anymore supposedly, and IMO they won’t be getting married. Levi is showing his immaturity by coming on the talk shows(is he being paid?)and discussing details that no one really cares about. Bristol isn’t the first teen to get pregnant and certainly won’t be the last. She just has the misfortune to be the child of a governor of a state.
Both my children were living with their future mates, so…they were also adults, so what they did in private, as long as it was consentual, not my business.

I think, if this appalling woman and the conservative Christians weren’t constantly looking for ways to make my life a living hell, I would not give the entire matter a second look.
Given, however, this in-duh-vi-duals preoccupation with making life hard for gays and transgendered, we can not learn enough.
And, O! my paws and whiskers, Jerry Springer couldn’t have scripted this one any better.
Levi is cute, he knows it and he also may very well be smart enough to know that his best protection is to get enough money together to get out of Alaska and stay out.
We’ve see what Caribou Barbie does to cops she doesn’t like, how easy would it be for her to have Levi set up?
In any case, this is precisely what the conservative Christians, hypocrites all, deserve.
I’m betting, by the time this ends we’ll have at least one more interesting revelation and more than one blogger is going to owe Andrew an apology or three.

Gerard: “Now that this has degenerated into a custody issue, I simply cannot believe either side, unless both agree. The only dignified thing left for Levi, Bristol, and their families is to shut up in public. I’m beginning to catch faint whiffs of Brittney Spears.”
Perhaps the more direct comparison would be to Britney’s sister, Jamie Lynn. And this is indeed beginning to resemble something that Jerry Springer would put forth on his cesspool of a show.
I agree, Gerard…they should all shut up, go home, and take care of their responsibilities.

I feel very sorry for Levi. Sarah Palin appears to be a petty, vindictive woman. The harassment of her former brother in law was disturbing. I have a feeling that Levi is in for much of the same.

pagansister,
“discussing details that no one really cares about”
Au contraire, ‘sis. Many seem to care a great deal. The future of the “real America” depends on what these 2 dysfunctonal “families” do. As panthera pointed out, “It is so wonderful to have a first hand look at the family and lifestyle of those whom the conservative Christians consider to be fitter to lead the United States.”
[Bristol] just has the misfortune to be the child of a governor of a state.
I find myself amused to remember another child of a conservative politician, namely Mary Cheney. Seems her (ahem) “lifestyle” was at odd with her father’s policies, too. I think irony is delicious. But as you view it as “misfortune”, I shan’t rub salt in their wounds. But to think “no one cares about” them, sorry, gotta disagree there.

Personally, i don’t really care. I really don’t care what others do in the privacy of their own home or bedroom, as long as no one is harmed.
Unfortunately, there are those conservatives and religions who want to be the morality police and stick their noses where it doesn’t belong.
If the Palin’s allowed Levi to stay the night in Bristol’s room, it’s nobodies business but their own.

“If the Palin’s allowed Levi to stay the night in Bristol’s room, it’s nobodies business but their own.”
That would only be tue if Mrs Palin weren’t a politician (who would be President, don’t forget) that avocates for “abstinence ONLY” ‘education’, all the time enabling non-abstinent behaviour right under her own roof. Sorry, Gwyddion9, but imo, that makes it everyone’s business.
And let us never lose sight of the fact that Mrs Palin herslf was pregnant at the time of her own marriage. She should heed her daughter’s message: abstinence only is UNREALISTIC.

I’m not at ALL a Palin supporter but wonder why you keep putting Sarah Palin’s name in the crossfire of all these Levi/Bristol pieces you’re writing, and NOT the name of Bristol’s father or either of Levi’s parents. These 3 had to have some fraction of an idea of where their child was at night.
Get a clue, stop forgetting that more than ONE WOMAN is to potentially be “blamed” and stop writing such elementary pieces. Geez.

Sarah Palin makes it a big deal. No, we should not care what others do in their homes unless it is illegal. But, when a person puts others down and elevates themselves for family values – I would think those values, especially coming from religious people, should include not facilitating out of wedlock sex in your home. We can’t make our teenagers do anything after a certain age, but we don’t have to encourage it by giving them the keys to the Holiday Inn in our own home. I feel the same way about parents who allow their kids to drink or smoke in their homes – NO WAY SHOULD IT HAPPEN!
What is she teaching Bristol by allowing this – compound the mistake you already made by living with her boyfriend, not the husband. She should just help Bristol with the baby and let Levi get on with his life, which is what most of us thought would happen anyway. That’s being a teenager.

JJ,
“I … wonder why you keep putting Sarah Palin’s name in the crossfire of all these Levi/Bristol pieces you’re writing, and NOT the name of Bristol’s father or either of Levi’s parents.”
Because not a one of those 3 have a chance at becoming the President of the free frikkin world all the while self-proclaiming ‘fambly values’ for the ‘real America’ and preaching abstinence ONLY, that’s

You’re suggesting that Sarah Palin, realistically, has a shot? 8-o
Powerful woman–and public figure–she is, but single parent she is not. More likely than not, her husband shares similar views and that, combined with the fact that he is Bristol’s FATHER, cements him as sharing whatever responsibility we may attribute toward Sarah. The Johnstons have just as much responsibility in this.
Don’t forget that parents can be a lot like politicians, but on a smaller scale. Both roles are essentially that–roles. And when you assume a role, you have to modify your behavior and, sometimes, your views–even if it is slight. Yes, quite a few parents want their child to have a comprehensive sex education, but tell me one parent who wouldn’t be ruminating over what they could have done differently if their 16-year old child was pregnant or got someone else pregnant. Liberal or not, teen pregnancy isn’t exactly socially desirable to anyone and ALL parents stand against having that for their child.

JJ,
I certainly never intended to imply that Mrs. Palin was a “single parent”, though she was, evidently, an UN-married pregnant woman at the time of her first conception, which in turn kind of negates her “abstinence only before marriage” public policy.
I don’t think that either her huband or either of the Johnston parents were in a position to set public policy on sex education, which is the reason they usually get left out of the blogosphere. (Not sayin’ I agree with leaving them out, only explaining it in answer to the original request.)
And I agree that (hopefully) Mrs. Palin’s chances are, indeed 8-0. But, knowing all about hanging chads and activist courts and American temperament in general, I still woudn’t count it out.