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.

Kathy Griffin, always the bridesmaid, at the Johnston-Palin nuptuals (detail). Full image here. Open thread below....

(h/t Heather) The team here at C&L were a bit confused earlier today when we heard that Kathy Lee Gifford was dating Levi Johnston. No no no it's Kathy GRIFFIN. We love her.

And unlike Sarah Palin, Kathy keeps it real via Twitter (yesterday): "Spooning with Levi (my new very serious lover/boyfriend) now. "D List" season finale is tonight. Coincidence? Of course not."

Open thread below...

I realize this is a little old-news-cycle, but it did amaze me this past month that Sarah Palin went massively ballistic in defense of her daughters re: David Letterman's jokes, but a localized threat like Levi Johnston, who actually had sex with her underage daughter? Not so much. The Obama daughters are more 'off-limits' than you know, Governor. Ask their grandmother.

Open thread below.

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.