Easily one of the best, non-political stories of this election cycle has been the tale of Levi Johnston, an 18-year-old kid from Alaska, who was living his life, going to high school, watching his friends tend to his MySpace page, playing hockey, and hanging out with his girlfriend, Bristol, until everything suddenly changed.
In the course of a few months he found out Bristol was pregnant, that Bristol’s mom, Sarah Palin, was a vice presidential nominee, and that he was suddenly world famous. He appeared at the Republican convention, before an audience of about 37 million to hold his girlfriend’s hand. He became a political hockey puck, to be knocked around by pundits in every direction–at once, a poster child of responsible fatherhood for proposing to his pregnant girlfriend and a poster child for better sex education in school.
He took it all silently, until now. In a story published today, he gives an extended interview with the Associated Press, standing in the driveway of his family home. It turns out he has dropped out of high school to apprentice for a career in the oil fields of Alaska’s north slope. Other than that, he is not that fazed by everything.
Of Barack Obama, he says, “I don’t know anything about him. He seems like a good guy. I like him.” Of Sarah Palin, he says, “I just hope she wins. She’s my future mother-in-law. She better win.” Of his girlfriend, he says, “We were planning on getting married a long time ago with or without the kid.” Of his unborn son, he says, “I’m looking forward to having him. I’m going to take him hunting and fishing. He’ll be everywhere with me.” Of his appearence at the convention, he says, “”At first, I was nervous. Then I was like, ‘Whatever.'”
There is more. Read the story here.