As the GOP turns: Sarah Palin's daughter's baby's father to attend convention

ST. PAUL -- Levi Johnston, the boyfriend of the pregnant 17-year-old Bristol Palin, plans to join the family at the Republican Party's nomination here of mom and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for vice president.

The 18-year-old father-, husband- and celebrity-to-be left Alaska this morning to join the Palin family at the convention, according to his mother. Gov. Palin's speech is scheduled for Wednesday night.

The young parents-to-be haven't faced any pressure to wed, says the boy's mother, Sherry Johnston, reporting that the two teens planned to marry before it was known she was pregnant.

"This is just a bonus," Johnston said.

So much for family privacy: Imagine the attention this couple will confront in the media-filled Xcel Energy Center where the hurricane-truncated convention is playing out.

The Palin family already has captured the attention of this hall, after Sarah Palin and husband Todd announced Monday that their daughter planned to have the baby and marry the father. They also asked the media to respect the young couple's privacy.

Good luck with that this week, as the small-town hockey player makes his national TV debut.

It is traditional for the running mate's family to join him or her on stage at the close of the vice presidential nomination acceptance speech.

Sherry Johnston allows some concern about all the attention her son will face. It's difficult enough for teenagers to cope with pregnancy, she says, without an entire nation watching. The Wasilla High School hockey team is not accustomed to 19,000 spectators.

But that's probably what'll happen tomorrow night. Our blogging buddy Mark Silva has more on this soap opera story over at the Swamp.

--Andrew Malcolm

Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Willow D. Peeples]

Hey! Can Bristol Palin be the "Baby Mama" Drama that Fox News was looking for earlier this campaign season?

[08vote]

….please place your bets now and see if you reap the rewards of a V.P. withdrawal before this Friday….

Will it be Baby-gate that brings Gov Sarah Palin down?

I doubt it….

Will it be Trooper-gate(with the help from DUI-gate, Earmarks-gate and Secede-from-the-Union-gate) that brings her down?

More likely….at least the impropriety of the investigation certainly won't help the Republican brand this fall….

[Jimmy Dean]

did you read this redneck's statement about how he hates kids and uses the F**** word over and over again. Way to go!

[McCain is Bush]

What do we know about this Republican Baby Daddy? Pre-marital sex does not sound too Christian. Is he Pagan? Some Muslims are allowed many wives or consorts. How many children has he sired? What country is he from? Does he have a valid green card? He would be one heartbeat away from being the First Baby Daddy.

[Mike]

Is all this going to bring Sarah Palin down? Nope...hello Vice-President Palin.

[Andrew]

I'd be interested to read Malcolm's (or any of The Ticket's bloggers) thoughts on the debate over the newsworthiness of Bristol Palin's pregnancy...

[metro1]

didn't barack obama work for years with domestic terrorist bill ayers? didn't he lose $110 million in grant money for the Annenberg Challenge in Chicago?

didn't joe biden get caught twice plagiarizing?

these obama/biden scandals show real moral turpitude.

these palin "scandals" are just examples of the mainstream media trotting out the Democratic talking points as soon as possible.

[McCain/Palin 2008]

Keep it up, Dems. Throw in "white trash" and "breeders" for good measure. Then comes the whining after you lose by 5 points in the general.

[lynne]

You go to the convention with the family you have, not the family you might want or wish to have at a later time.. :-)

[David]

I would like to know why Palin's daughter's pregnancy is off limits and personal as McCain and Obama have stated. Palin believes abortion should be outlawed completely. She believes her views should be imposed on all of us. If that is no personal, I do not know what is. Why are our personal views on abortion rights NOT off limits to her and the rest of the right wing conservatives? I think everyone should be talking about how hipocritical the republicans are. What happened to abstinence? What happened to the sanctity of marriage? Oh yeah, if its a liberal, then is an abomination. If it is one of them, its ok.

[Lawrence Franko]

I think they should have the wedding at the convention on the last evening thereof. Wouldn't THAT set off the hideous, nasty lefties!!!

[Dave]

Palin is a values-hypocrite and a fascist liar, and typical of all that the GOP has on offer. She's got about as much chance of being Veep as McCain has of accomplishing anything but reading the teleprompter. I'm embarrassed for America that the GOP would even nominate Palin.

[Jonas from PA]

So Levi is a drop-out? He hasn't graduated?

Not that this is a big deal compared to... well, whatever...

[Gina Levins]

Sarah Paline need to drop out and take care of her family. There is nothing sexist about the coverage. If McCain had chosen a young, inexperienced, male with limited foreign policy credentials, and all this came out, I'd be critical as well. Shame on Mrs. Paline for putting her daughter through this. That girls needs to be sat down and talked about sex, stds, and responsibility. Paline is NOT what this ailing country needs - she needs to return to Alaska and WITH HER HUSBAND take care of her family.

[mommapenn]

I'm disgusted, since when did a 17 year old girls life become our priority?
HOnestly, does Sarah Palins V.P selection have anything to do with wether her daughter is pregnant or not?
It's not like that will govern her ability as to wether she can lead our country if the need arises. We are looking for a leader, not a role model family to lead our country.

Congratulations on Sarah Palin for standing by her committment to a right to life and supporting her daughter and Best of luck to her too, this is hard enough to go through the end of school, find out your pregnant and have your mother running for VP at the same time.

Give it a break already and leave that poor girl alone. Good Lord!!!

[LAJAY]

This is a brilliant PR move by Steve Schmidt, Carl Rove trainee that he is. Don't hide, make it like your proud. The conservative nuts will love it. Taking responsibility etc.

This is the best strategy. Until they find out that this is the SECOND baby Bristol has had, the first being the one mama says she had,

[Munk]

Issues about the young couple - leave them to resolve it...

The true issue is "qualification" - what we have today...
I am skeptical of Governor Palin's qualification...
Senator McCain - perhaps jumped into gun too fast...
wanted to take media attention away from Obama?

God bless America... I hope we play well for the benefit of 300 million Americans... Hope he will hear our comment.

[VJ Machiavelli]

Yes, after Sarah the "New Republican Terminator" speaks and WOWs them. It will be the most watched event in VP history, maybe it will be watched by more people who watched Obama. When the whole family join her on stage that photo will be on the front page of all the newspapers in the world. The young man is use to hearing cheering crowds and this will be the biggest one. The other big photo will be when McCain & Sarah and their families join them on statge.

VJ Machiavelli
http://www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com
ps This is no longer your "GRANDFATHERS" Party

[Mike Licht]

The pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s unwed daughter is not off-limits in discussions of Governor Palin’s fitness to become the Vice President of the United States.

Why? Because your pregnancy is not off-limits to Sarah Palin, not even if you are the victim of rape or incest.

[Dissappointed]

So the Republicans are bringing fornicators to the election. Nice. This our family values party? This is the worst possible message to give to our children. I don't think I will vote for the Sodom/Gomorrah ticket. I am going to vote for the Democrats this time. I can hear pops rolling over in his grave,but this is too much to let pass.

[PAT]

lajay,give it up. get some therapy.

[commenter]

I estimate 95% of the comments here are by people trying to mischievously make their opponents look bad.

Right? Please let this be the case.

[John Paul Telhomme]

Incredulous! What does the Bible say about fornication and pre-marital sex? But here, the Republicans are celebrating both. Imagine what would have been said and written if Michelle Obama's underage daughter were pregnant? Imagine what Foxnews and this page would have said and written if the true maternity of the youngest member of the Obama family were in doubt. Now, really imagine if the baby's father had followed the Obama's to the Democratic Convention before the benefit of matrimony? I guarantee you that these so called news outlets would have been running amok talking about Catholic values in Pennsylvania and Kentucky and West Virginia and Ohio. You remember those voters who are supposedly in doubt regarding Obama's values and how they relate to theirs? What kind of statistics and studies would have been cites and recited regarding unwed mothers in the black communities and how that has so severely eroded the great US of A? Values indeed!

[Bill45]

In the last eighteen months, how many nights has Barack Obama spent under the same roof with his two young daughters? Just wondering.

[Charm]

The mainstream media, megaphone for the Democrat Party, continues to demonstrate their misogynist and child hating behavior. The comments section is littered with the insane meanderings of those who must direct their self-hatred towards others. To those of you who do not have this disease, aren't you glad?