Say what you will about her mothering skills, Sarah Palin is a dogged defender of her children and the boys who impregnate them. The Alaska governor released a statement regarding reports about her new granddaughter that note that Levi Johnston dropped out of high school. He and Bristol Palin, she says, "are working their butts off to parent and going to school and working at the same time." (Levi previously said he'd stopped attending classes to work, but he's now pursuing a degree online.) Any report otherwise "harms Bristol's reputation and Levi's reputation and their chances for good work opportunities." As opposed to not even blinking before deciding to drag them into the public eye for months of mass scrutiny and criticism during the pregnancy. That was great for everybody's reputation.

Palin's Last Word [WP]