With the caveat that by merely writing this I'm contributing to the problem I'm about to denounce, but would the media--and that means everyone from Andrew Sullivan to the Associated Press--please leave Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston alone now?
In case you haven't heard, their engagement is off. I suppose that's newsworthy--if only because their engagement itself was once news--but I think it's important to remember that we're talking about two teenagers, neither of whom did anything to put themselves in the public spotlight. For that, they can blame Bristol's mom--who, for reasons I couldn't fathom at the time and still don't, decided to accept McCain's offer to be his running mate knowing full well it would subject her pregnant teenage daughter to national scrutiny (and ridicule).
So, feel free to keep on kicking around Sarah Palin, but I think Bristol (and Levi, too) should now be off-limits, unless or until either one of them does something that suggests they actually want the attention. Deal?
--Jason Zengerle