WASILLA, Alaska, Oct. 13, 2008
Levi Johnston: It's Not A Shotgun Marriage
Bristol Palin's Fiance Denies Rumors About Him, Discusses His Relationship And The Campaign
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Play CBS Video Video McCain Greets Bristol, Fiance "CBS News RAW": Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain greets Sarah Palin's pregnant 17-year-old daughter and her fiance Levi Johnston on the tarmac in St. Paul, Minn.
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Video Palin Boyfriend In Spotlight Levi Johnston, 18, heads to St. Paul, Minn., and will join the Palin family at the Republican National Convention. He's in a harsh spotlight, reports John Blackstone.
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In this Sept. 3, 2008 file photo, Levi Johnston, left, is seen with his girlfriend Bristol Palin, daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. (AP)
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Timeline Palin's Path A look at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's life and career
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Photo Essay Sarah Palin Alaska's youngest and first female governor tabbed to be McCain's running mate.
No, he wasn't held against his will on the campaign trail. No, he's not being forced into a shotgun wedding with 17-year-old Bristol Palin.
"None of that's true," Johnston, 18, said in a rare interview with The Associated Press. "We both love each other. We both want to marry each other. And that's what we are going to do."
Standing in the driveway of his family home in this small Alaska town, Johnston spoke about the rumors swirling around him.
The soft-spoken teenager discussed his relationship with Palin and how life has changed with fatherhood fast approaching. He agreed to talk despite the presidential campaign's advice in the days following Gov. Sarah Palin's nomination to avoid the media.
"They're not telling me anything right now," Johnston said as he checked his Blackberry. "It's pretty chill."
Not surprisingly, Johnston was a little shocked when he learned about Bristol's pregnancy, but he says he quickly embraced the prospects of fatherhood. The baby is due Dec. 18. Johnston has dropped out of high school to take a job on the North Slope oil fields as an apprentice electrician.
Johnston hinted he's expecting a boy, but he declined to discuss baby names.
"I'm looking forward to having him," he said. "I'm going to take him hunting and fishing. He'll be everywhere with me."
Johnston, a Wasilla heartthrob, said he wanted to set the record straight.
For starters, he said his much-maligned MySpace page was a joke -- the one that claimed he said: "I'm a ... redneck," and "I don't want kids." Johnston said his friends created the page a few years ago and he had nothing to do with it.
Johnston said he has dated Palin since his freshman year in high school.
"We were planning on getting married a long time ago with or without the kid," he said. "That was the plan from the start."
While Johnston provided few details about next summer's wedding, the planning has started: A cousin will likely be his best man, and he has asked two hockey buddies, Ben Barber and Dane Wilson, to be groomsmen.
Barber doesn't think anyone pressured Johnston into marriage.
"If he thought it wasn't the right thing to do he probably wouldn't do it," he said.
Johnston is an avid hunter. He's dark haired, tall and muscular, sports a bit of stubble and drives a red Chevy Silverado truck. He'd be the perfect cover for Field & Stream.
He's bagged bears, sheep, elk, and caribou. Some of the antlers are scattered about his yard. Last July on a caribou hunt he lost a "promise" ring that Palin had given him. He said he decided to tattoo her name on the finger and not bother with more rings because he'd just lose them anyway.
Johnston said he wasn't forced to campaign with Palin's mother. Bristol Palin invited him and Johnston jumped at the chance. It was a whirlwind experience for Johnston, who was seated with the Palins at the Republican National Convention.
"At first, I was nervous," he said. "Then I was like, 'Whatever."'
While Barber said his friend is a celebrity now, Johnston said it hasn't changed him.
"I'm still the same old boy," said Johnston. "I'm just a workin' man."
And now he's also about to become a family man.
"We're up for it. I'm excited to have my first kid. It's going to be a lot of hard work but we can handle it."
Wasilla hockey coach Bill Sturdevant, who was invited to the wedding, said he was sorry to hear Johnston wasn't going to return for his senior year of high school. But he said he believes Johnston, a talented hockey player, will find his way.
"He's a tough kid," Sturdevant said. "He's taking everything in stride."
What about Johnston's politics?
The young man said he wasn't an expert on politics by any stretch. Asked about Barack Obama, he replied: "I don't know anything about him. He seems like a good guy. I like him."
But Johnston still rooting for John McCain and Sarah Palin.
"I just hope she wins," he said. "She's my future mother-in-law. She better win."
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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- Does no one but me find this whole article sad? How in the world can someone who proposes to be our next vice president not INSIST that both these kids stay in school? Where are all THOSE family values?
Second, does anything this kid says lead you to believe he''s ready to be a husband and father?? Sure there are some mature enough 18 year olds, but he doesn''t come across as one of them; and that''s not a bad thing... lots of 18 year olds are not that mature.
The only good to come out of this for me is an opportunity to have some really good conversations with my own teenagers about choices and the rest of their lives. - Reply to this comment
- The Palins and Levi''s parents should try to convince Levi that dropping out of school is not the best choice. Does he really have that much time left before he would graduate? I know some people say an electrian makes a good wage but I know some people in the trade and they like many Americans are not that satisfied with their occupations.
- Reply to this comment
- McLame/Trailer Park Queen 08!
- Reply to this comment
- Levi Levi Levi ***-edd did not teach you anything or the girl anything but not to worry. taking care of a child will. Most of your hocky playing days are over just the playng part though with Sarah as a mother-in-law you may be better off if they shoot you now.If you cross her you may come up missing.
- Reply to this comment
- "I think your reaction was kind of like those girls who get drunk on one beer. "I''''m drunk so I''''m not responsible for what I do!!!" WHEEEE . . ."
Posted by tuckerndfw at 02:14 AM : Oct 14, 2008
Haha. Beer is a whole different matter. I could probably drink YOU under the table!! - Reply to this comment
- Tucker
Make that, "Oyasuminasai". :) - Reply to this comment
- Tucker
I''m going to go now. I need to catch up on some sleep.
Sayonara
Dewa mata
:) - Reply to this comment
- I never got "high" from smoking marijuana. But, then again, I wasn''''t real big into it and only smoked it on a rare occasion when other people were sitting around smoking it.
My now deceased ex-brother in law smoked it daily but he still drank about a fifth of Jack Daniels every few days so it apparently didn''''t do much for him either.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 01:44 AM : Oct 14, 2008
I didn''t like smoking it because I didn''t have to smoke much and I would be in really bad shape.:) And then my girlfriend had this boyfriend that smoked it everyday. He like to s-c-r-e-w with my head. Hahaha, I can laugh now, but it wasn''t funny at the time. One time we all went on a vacation together down the west coast of the U.S., and into Mexico. That was a nightmare. People that smoke pot always say it isn''t addictive, but it is. Not physically addictive, but mentally. This guy couldn''t take anything across the border, but he spent the whole time trying to find some. Even in Mexico! I thought for sure we would be arrested. He was a jerk the whole time. He would kick my girlfriend out of the car and leave her on the highway and we would have to pick her up. Fun times. NOT. - Reply to this comment
- Bush is strong as an ox, and nearly as smart.
He was a mediocre student at best before he fried his brain with alcohol.
Fortunately for him, he killed the neurons responsible for dependency (sadly some language was lost as well) - Reply to this comment
- Jumping the shark!! hahahahaha!!
Here it is - you can see it yourself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpraJYnbVtE
About the article - Technically, I think the groom to be is correct.
A silencer wedding is NOT a shotgun wedding! LOL - Reply to this comment
- "Jumping the shark" means the gum has lost its flavor or the topic is no longer interesting.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 01:28 AM : Oct 14, 2008
Ahh, I see.
I went back to see what that "Chicago Rail" posted, but it must have been deleted. Usually he will write one line, and then there will be a huge blank space before you come to "posted by". And he will just keep repeating it for like 5 pages or something. - Reply to this comment
- Smoked some hashish in Europe a few times. When I got back to the states, people were smoking junk. Hashish was okay but marijuana sucks. All it did was gave me a sore throat.
But, neither did much for me. I''''m always tired & hungry. I don''''t need to smoke stuff to make that happen. . .
Posted by tuckerndfw at 01:24 AM : Oct 14, 2008
Hahaha, yeah, the need to eat was a definite drawback. Never liked hashish. What do you mean by smoking junk? You mean poor quality? - Reply to this comment
- "You know a board has jumped the shark..."
Posted by tuckerndfw at 01:12 AM : Oct 14, 2008
Huh? - Reply to this comment
- It is supposed to be "just dropped in to see what condition my condition is in."
Posted by tuckerndfw at 01:11 AM : Oct 14, 2008
Yes, that is how it goes and it was the "First Edition". I loved them!
"Yes, I inhaled but I didn''''t much care for it, didn''''t do much for me."
Me neither. Well, other than paranoia, that is.:) - Reply to this comment
- "He may have a high IQ, but that has not been proven. Posted by Meg001 at 12:37 AM : Oct 14, 2008"
Obama - Magna C*um Laude Harvard Graduate
McCain - finished 894th out of a class of 899
Palin - switch schools six times in six years to get one four-year degree.
But, Obama''s intelligence hasn''t been proven yet? - Reply to this comment
- "I just dropped in to see what my condition was in. . ."
Posted by tuckerndfw at 11:48 PM : Oct 13, 2008
Kenny Rogers and the First Edition? - Reply to this comment
- I have no idea what motivated those irrelevant posts. . . or who "Chicago Rail" is supposed to be.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 11:54 PM : Oct 13, 2008
"Chicago Rail" is one of those whackos that keeps clicking on the "publish" button over and over. - Reply to this comment
- People of equal levels of intelligence can make different decisions. It''''s not a measure of intelligence, often, it''''s a measure of the information that was utilized to make a decision.
Posted by justsurfing
Certainly, yet Democrats continually harp on Obama''s intelligence as superior to others. He may have a high IQ, but that has not been proven, and he hasn''t been in public office long enough to display many skills except for oratory and showmanship, both of which are valuable qualities in a statesman. - Reply to this comment
- Sarah Palin, future President of the United States, will make a fantastic grandmother just as she is a fantastic mom! What a lucky kid that will be. I think it''s kind of funny how Palin gets under the liberals skin so bad. I saw on the news today that she drew over 32,000 at the rally in Virginia. She rocks!
- Reply to this comment
- People of equal levels of intelligence can make different decisions. It''s not a measure of intelligence, often, it''s a measure of the information that was utilized to make a decision.
- Reply to this comment
