It's very sad and all...I suppose...to see two young lovers torn asunder. So, leaving aside the weepy and over-told tale of Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston one is left to wonder: What's it like in that strange household? Is Sarah Palin able to use her questionable political skillset to better effect in her personal life?

One certainly hopes. And one hopes that they are--all of them--happy, healthy, and not to be heard from on the national stage for a long time to come. And while it's hard to be 100 percent sure, I'm pretty sure this is about how it's going down just outside Wasilla.

Yes, that is a tattoo of Bristol's name on Baby Daddy Levi Johnston's ring finger. Anyone else picturing Todd Palin brandishing a shotgun at the tattoo parlor? And just because this campaign can't get surreal enough, from TPM:

(Given) what we've seen so far, I can't say I'd be surprised if the moral jalopy that is the McCain-Palin Straight Talk Express sunk us even further into farce with something like this. From the Times of London ...

In an election campaign notable for its surprises, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice- presidential candidate, may be about to spring a new one -- the wedding of her pregnant teenage daughter to her ice-hockey-playing fiancé before the November 4 election.

Inside John McCain's campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. "It would be fantastic," said a McCain insider.

If this actually sways a single voter, I weep for my country.

[Image from here, and it's not a joke.]

It's understandable that some critics of the Left think we progressives have an unhealthy hatred/fascination with the Palin family. And certainly, the children of former vice-presidential candidates are off-limits...

...except when they are willingly interviewed by Greta Van Susteren at FOX News. Sigh, the Palin Reputation Recovery Tour is obviously fully booked through the Iowa Caucuses on December 20, 2011.

But the big "news" of the interview is that, gasp, Bristol Palin thinks "everyone should be abstinent but it's not realistic... [sex] is more and more accepted among kids my age."

Wasn't it one news cycle ago that the Minority Leader of the Senate thinks it will, ahem, play well with his base to remove contraception/AIDS prevention programs from the stimulus package?

Why does it bear repeating that the entire Republican Party is completely out of touch with reality?

Add: (Nicole) Interesting that Grandma Sarah didn't want Bristol to have too much time alone in the spotlight, and made an "unexpected" call on Bristol and Greta, bringing baby Tripp with her. Her response to Bristol's comments on abstinence-only education not being realistic? "Life happens"

Brilliant.