Levi Johnston: I lied about Sarah Palin

[kallipolis]

One of the problems with liars is it can be hard to tell when they're lying.

There's support for the belief that he lied initially, being motivated by hurt and anger and also celebrity and flattery and financial reward. And there's support for the belief he's lying now, motivated by the desire to be re-accepted by the Palin family.

My point is that he said he lied and yet some go to the trouble to ridicule or dismiss it, asking whether or not anybody should care. I'm saying we should care about truth and lies and when someone steps up to say, "I lied." It matters. We have a big problem with deceitfulness in the United States and a lot of people seem to not realize how damaging it is, that there are consequences to lying about others. Even if the consequences aren't immediately evident there ARE consequences, sometimes minor and sometimes serious.

So when someone who's tried to damage another's reputation and credibility, comes out and says I lied about that, it matters to people who care about the truth.

I am attempting not to assume a partisan approach to this particular matter.

Nevertheless........ there lies a credibility issue ...........that obliges me to question this young man's easy willingness to lie (and in graphic detail), followed by his confession that he had lied, and that his audience should now accept his apparent repentance for having previously lied, as evidence that he is now speaking the truth.

I appreciate that in the United States public confessions of irresponsible behaviour attracts a sympathy response from the general public, that improves the guilty person's popularity ratings.

 

[JasunStrikesBack]

Or is he lying now?

Anyone who has an opinion about the Palin family is going to believe whatever they want to believe.

I personally believe that she has no interest in being president or leader of the GOP. She's interested in making money for speaking, putting her name on books written by other people, selling T-shirts and commemorative plates.

There's more money in being a talking head than being an actual politician.

For all the snarky comments she had about how being a governor was like "being a community organizer except it has actual responsibilities," she doesn't WANT actual responsibilities... she wants to get rich and famous.

So did Levi Johnson. And both Sarah and Levi got famous and made money.

Discussing which one is telling "the truth" is no different than discussing whether Jake or Vienna is telling the truth or whether Jon or Kate was the worse parent.

 

[kallipolis]

It's a partisan flame thread, one of about 100 by Justapixel. That's the whole point.

That might be the case. But I never follow a pied piper. I do my own piping.

 

[kallipolis]

Or is he lying now?

Anyone who has an opinion about the Palin family is going to believe whatever they want to believe.

I personally believe that she has no interest in being president or leader of the GOP. She's interested in making money for speaking, putting her name on books written by other people, selling T-shirts and commemorative plates.

There's more money in being a talking head than being an actual politician.

For all the snarky comments she had about how being a governor was like "being a community organizer except it has actual responsibilities," she doesn't WANT actual responsibilities... she wants to get rich and famous.

So did Levi Johnson. And both Sarah and Levi got famous and made money.

Discussing which one is telling "the truth" is no different than discussing whether Jake or Vienna is telling the truth or whether Jon or Kate was the worse parent.

I appreciate that our political allegiances will colour our response to this matter, but I believe that beyond the publicity hype, there lies a well orchestrated campaign to reconstitute the Palin family image, as a precursor to something much more sinister than making money. Sarah Palin is not going away. She represents everything that will attract the vote of the lowest common denominator. And you have more than enough of them to swing Sarah Palin into high public office. Do not underestimate the undercurrent that now circulates around Palin's determination to remain firmly fixed in the public eye.

But I am a very suspicious Greek, who has learnt much from the inauspicious behaviour of our own Greek political elite. We have few thousand years working experience ahead of your political mafia, and have learnt to our great loss, that being suspicious is also being fore armed.

 

[rareboy]

Or is he lying now?

Yeah.

Once a liar, then always a liar.

Funny how the partisan hacks that are tongue punching Palin's fart box all the time now suddenly think this puck dazed hillbilly from the Alaskan Ozarks is suddenly the paragon of truth by his admission that he's a liar.

But it changes nothing.

 

[construct]

You are also not American, as your location shows, so I suppose you are not used to it. This is the sorry level of debate in politics that America has reduced to, and really why nothing is getting done.

I rarely see wholesome threads being posted here. Just mostly partisan flame threads.

Oh, I think I've seen kalipolis around enough to believe that he's kind of aware of what to expect out of Americans and their politics.

 

[kallipolis]

You are also not American, as your location shows, so I suppose you are not used to it. This is the sorry level of debate in politics that America has reduced to, and really why nothing is getting done.

I rarely see wholesome threads being posted here. Just mostly partisan flame threads.

Take it all in your stride.

Never become over involved in Internet discussion boards if you want to remain sane.

These discussions merely offer our brain a certain level of mental gymnastics,
that should be appreciated as a reminder that dementia problems can be prevented, by maintaining an active involvement in brain challenging exchanges, that can also teach us not to assume that we are the oracle of all truth.

Modesty, and humility make good travelling companions.

 

[Kulindahr]

The fact remains that his mother-in-law is still an intellectual lightweight who has helped to destroy the credibility and integrity of the GOP in the US, who quit her job in order to cash in and who really shouldn't be regarded as a desirable standard for achievement of any kind.

In the interest of truth....

She didn't quit to cash in. She quit to avoid bringing scandal to the state.

Oops -- partial truth! She quit because she's such an intellectual lightweight with such a flimsy conscience that she screwed up bad enough that she had to run for cover.

And after that -- why should anyone care?

So when someone who's tried to damage another's reputation and credibility, comes out and says I lied about that, it matters to people who care about the truth.

Okay. So when my buddy who was in prison a while back admits he lied to me about something, should I start a thread about it so "people who care about the truth" can celebrate it here?

If we have to pay attention to this story, the lesson for people who care about truth is this: don't believe everything you hear.

Well said. Looks like he decided to get off the roller coaster ride and move on. Looks like the kid from Alaska, that got thrown into public life with no control of his own, may be ready to go back to his "own" life.

More like an "owned" life. He's an example of a bunch of things, but telling the truth isn't high on the list.

Besides, he did have control: he could have told them, "I won't be used".

 

[kallipolis]

Oh, I think I've seen kalipolis around enough to believe that he's kind of aware of what to expect out of Americans and their politics.

Well said.

Experience is the most willing, and the most welcome of teachers.

 

[NickCole]

I am attempting not to assume a partisan approach to this particular matter.

Nevertheless........ there lies a credibility issue ...........that obliges me to question this young man's easy willingness to lie (and in graphic detail), followed by his confession that he had lied, and that his audience should now accept his apparent repentance for having previously lied, as evidence that he is now speaking the truth.

I appreciate that in the United States public confessions of irresponsible behaviour attracts a sympathy response from the general public, that improves the guilty person's popularity ratings.

I understand and your point is well taken.

 

[NickCole]

I appreciate that our political allegiances will colour our response to this matter, but I believe that beyond the publicity hype, there lies a well orchestrated campaign to reconstitute the Palin family image, as a precursor to something much more sinister than making money. Sarah Palin is not going away. She represents everything that will attract the vote of the lowest common denominator. And you have more than enough of them to swing Sarah Palin into high public office. Do not underestimate the undercurrent that now circulates around Palin's determination to remain firmly fixed in the public eye.

But I am a very suspicious Greek, who has learnt much from the inauspicious behaviour of our own Greek political elite. We have few thousand years working experience ahead of your political mafia, and have learnt to our great loss, that being suspicious is also being fore armed.

I think your suspicions are well founded.

But keep in mind it's easy to see it in Sarah Palin and it's wise to be at least as suspicious of those a larger crowd cheers, check what they say against the truth of what they do and their actual achievements.

And beware Greeks bearing gifts.

 

[kallipolis]

They're in a trunk somewhere in my attic.

I am sure that Oscar Wilde would recommend that you check to see whether your portrait is also hidden in this trunk.

 

[MystikWizard]

Is this something everyone feels they NEED to talk about or do people just want to bitch for the sake of bitching?

Levi Johnston is not worth wasting a breathe on.

Either he told the truth first, and is lying now ....

or

He is telling the truth now, and lied when he trashed the family ...

Who really cares? It's a useless discussion topic since nobody really knows, but he and the Palins, and debating something as trivial as this is kind of pathetic.

 

[NickCole]

Okay. So when my buddy who was in prison a while back admits he lied to me about something, should I start a thread about it so "people who care about the truth" can celebrate it here?

If he and you are public figures, written about in most of this country's newspapers and discussed on national TV news, and what he said was used by your opponents to publicly denigrate you, sure.

If we have to pay attention to this story, the lesson for people who care about truth is this: don't believe everything you hear.

A better lesson is consider the source and context, and verify.

 

[kallipolis]

I think your suspicions are well founded.

But keep in mind it's easy to see it in Sarah Palin and it's wise to be at least as suspicious of those a larger crowd cheers, check what they say against the truth of what they do and their actual achievements.

And beware Greeks bearing gifts.

Sarah Palin and her words do not worry me. Rather it is the puppeteer whom I most fear. Their faces remain in the shadows so that we may never know who pulls the strings that manipulate the face of power from behind the throne.

Troy received its just reward. We are not shy in exacting retribution.

 

[NickCole]

Sarah Palin and her words do not worry me. Rather it is the puppeteer whom I most fear. Their faces remain in the shadows so that we may never know who pulls the strings that manipulate the face of power from behind the throne.

Yes and in that context my point about those that a larger crowd cheers stands.

 

[T-Rexx]

"I publicly said things about the Palins that were not completely true."

So, I guess it is only partly true that Palin couldn't handle the governor's job, that the Palins were having marital problems, and that they make jokes about Trig's Down's Syndrome.

 

[chace1617]

I really like Levi i think he's hot and i wouldn't kick him out of my bed... what do i know...

 

[CowboyBob]

So, I guess it is only partly true that Palin couldn't handle the governor's job, that the Palins were having marital problems, and that they make jokes about Trig's Down's Syndrome.

So if it's not completely true does that make it a LITTLE true then? I suspect it was a forced apology. More will come out.

 

[rareboy]

Who really cares? It's a useless discussion topic since nobody really knows, but he and the Palins, and debating something as trivial as this is kind of pathetic.

Well it is a Justapixel thread so what can you expect?