# I apologize for calling Levi Johnson (Palin's future SIL) a "rink rat". **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 12, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214 "2008-09-12T02:43:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/1 "2008-09-12T02:43:27Z")
In this previous thread, [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=481603](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=481603) I started with this line: > [@](#): > > How do you really feel about your 17 year old daughter who is five months pregnant marrying an 18 year old rink rat who is a self proclaimed “fucking redneck” and who “doesn’t want children”? My apologies, Levi is no longer a rink rat. According to this article, [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/12/us/12hockeymom.html?ref=politics](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/12/us/12hockeymom.html?ref=politics) It says: > [@](#): > > Mr. Johnston, 18, who is about to become a father, has dropped out of Wasilla High School and also quit hockey. Therefore, I must amend my question. Sarah, how do you really feel about your 17 year old daughter who is five months pregnant marrying an 18 year old high school dropout who is a self proclaimed “fucking redneck” and who “doesn’t want children”? It’s tough to believe that the 'Pubs trotted this guy out for a photo op and people ate it up. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/2 "2008-09-12T02:55:58Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > It’s tough to believe that the 'Pubs trotted this guy out for a photo op and people ate it up. Yabbut… he cleans up purty. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/3 "2008-09-12T02:57:57Z")
I’m sure rink rats everywhere are relieved. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/4 "2008-09-12T03:51:08Z")
Bill Maher’s take on this poor kid was hilarious last week, including some campaign signs Levi made for em. 😃 [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpTvN_j02Jk) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/5 "2008-09-12T04:01:46Z")
> [@Slacker](#): > > Bill Maher’s take on this poor kid was hilarious last week, including some campaign signs Levi made for em. 😃 > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpTvN\_j02Jk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpTvN_j02Jk) His Myspace quote rules: _I’m a fuckin’ redneck who likes to snowboard and ride dirtbikes. But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing shoot some shit and just fuckin’ chillin’ I guess. Ya fuck with me I’ll kick ass."_ I want that on my gravestone :D. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/6 "2008-09-12T04:07:11Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I want that on my gravestone :D. ROFL same here. 😃 If Palin and Grampa win they need to make this kid Poet Laureate. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/7 "2008-09-12T04:40:57Z")
Oh, and I should have added: “and aspires to playing in the beer leagues.” ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/8 "2008-09-12T07:20:33Z")
As Carol Thatcher said of her brother Mark, “At least we now know that the title of ‘embarrassing relative’ has been taken.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/9 "2008-09-12T07:24:12Z")
My dad chuckled about the photo op. All this guy did was knock up his girlfriend and he’s got a picture with a possible future president? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/10 "2008-09-12T07:55:18Z")
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when Bristol told her mother she was knocked up by this loser! Yikes! (Damn, poor future kid.) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/11 "2008-09-12T11:50:32Z")
And what kind of name is “Levi Johnson”, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_Clock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Shot\_Clock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_Clock)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/12 "2008-09-12T12:10:27Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > And what kind of name is “Levi Johnson”, anyway? A perfect name, assuming you play bass in a Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute Band. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/13 "2008-09-12T13:03:25Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > And what kind of name is “Levi Johnson”, anyway? Sounds like a euphemism for penis to me. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/14 "2008-09-12T14:22:28Z")
Because one lame thread pitting an 18-year-old over his choice of words on a Facebook and/or MySpace page just wasn’t enough. I have no great love for the Palins or McCains but petty sniping at someone only peripherally connected to the campaign is just lame. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/15 "2008-09-12T14:28:31Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > Because one lame thread pitting an 18-year-old over his choice of words on a Facebook and/or MySpace page just wasn’t enough. > > I have no great love for the Palins or McCains but petty sniping at someone only peripherally connected to the campaign is just lame. Fuck yeah! You guys keep this up and Levi will kick all y’all asses!!! ---
**Author:** ![A\_shameful\_cracka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@A\_shameful\_cracka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_shameful_cracka)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/16 "2008-09-12T14:31:36Z")
he has upgraded from “redneck pothead” to “redneck pothead dropout”. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/17 "2008-09-12T14:33:52Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > Because one lame thread pitting an 18-year-old over his choice of words on a Facebook and/or MySpace page just wasn’t enough. > > I have no great love for the Palins or McCains but petty sniping at someone only peripherally connected to the campaign is just lame. Bullshit and more bullshit! The McCain campaign flew him from Alaska to the convention, trotted him out for the photo op and McCain warmly greeted him. He’s 18 years old and what the campaign did makes him fair game. He’s got to realize it’s time to be a man. He knocks up his girlfriend and then QUITS HIGH SCHOOL. Don’t tell me he had to get a job. If the Palin family wouldn’t help out their daughter so that their future son-n-law can at least get a high school diploma then they are scum. They are all fair game because of the total hypocrisy of the situation. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/18 "2008-09-12T14:37:24Z")
Spartydog, Your other thread got closed while I was composing a reply. But I think my response is just as good in this thread, so here it is: > [@Rumors and facts on Track Palin and Levi Johnson.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumors-and-facts-on-track-palin-and-levi-johnson/463262/1): > > From \*\*Gawker \*\*today: > [http://gawker.com/5048904/palin-boys-rage-and-unraveled-dreams](http://gawker.com/5048904/palin-boys-rage-and-unraveled-dreams) > > Track sounds like another winner. It will be interesting to see if his Army enlistment has a subplot. > > I guess it’s just a story of and All-American mom raising All-American kids. I hesitated in bringing this thread back from where it was already halfway down the page with nary a single comment. But let me take you way way way back in the past for a history lesson. It started, oh, two weeks ago, when Palin was announced as Vice President. Immediately afterwards, the story of Bristol broke and both sides went apeshit. The left screamed about hypocrisy. The right that family was offlimits. The left countered that there were legitimate policy issues to discuss. The right said you shouldn’t denigrate Bristol. You shouldn’t attack her. The left - and this is key - said they weren’t attacking Bristol. The issues here aren’t about Bristol. Bristol is irrelevant to the larger issue. And the left was, well, right. So what do you do? You search out other sites for your recreational outrage and submit them here. Today’s submission comes in the form of our own hypocrisy. Is Palin’s family somehow now fair game for the firing squad? Where’s the policy issue here? Is the drug war bad? A legitimate concern that was brought up in neither your OP or the article. Is it right to use the army as an alternative to incarceration? It’s Hammer Time baby because that subject’s too legit to quit. But no. The whole fucking point of this rant is to say how fucked up Palin’s kids are. Well wonderful. I’m sure they also impale hookers with moose antlers attached to their snowmobiles. But I’m not really voting for Palin’s kids. So what’s your damn point other than yet one more freakin’ Palin thread? ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/19 "2008-09-12T14:37:59Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > Bullshit and more bullshit! Yeah, and there should be at least two threads on how you don’t like her glasses, because she wore glasses at the convention so they’re fair game, and it’s such an important issue. You’re right, bullshit x 2. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214/20 "2008-09-12T14:38:15Z")
I’m just thinking what the right-wing pundits would have made of it if it were Chelsea Clinton in this situation back in the day. Ann Coulter would still be in throes of multiple orgasm. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-apologize-for-calling-levi-johnson-palins-future-sil-a-rink-rat/463214.md?page=2)