Even the CBS News reporter, Maggie Gonzalez, is skeptical of Levi’s claims. In this interview, he says that Sarah Palin called Trig retarded repeatedly, and that he has “huge” thing he could reveal about her. But aw, how sweet — he doesn’t want to hurt her… that much.

First of all, it says a lot to me that even Ms. Gonzalez doesn’t buy his claim, at least not about Trig. It says a lot about how much his credibility is diminishing. He may never have had much credibility with conservatives, but the mainstream media bought everything he was selling, and they did so enthusiastically. And some of what he has said isn’t completely unbelievable. Sarah Palin knew that he and Bristol were sexually active? OK, that’s believable. She and Todd fought sometimes and even discussed divorce? I can buy that. What couple doesn’t fight? My own parents got separated once and had talked about divorce. They certainly fought a lot growing up. But they’re still married to this day. What he’s said before is not out of the realm of possibility. But when he starts saying that Sarah Palin would come home from work and ask, “Where’s my retarded baby?”, it starts getting hard to believe. When it’s even hard to believe for mainstream media reporters, who are eager to report anything that makes Sarah look bad, it should really say something. By his own admission he has no proof, and given how we’ve seen Sarah Palin talk about Trig and act towards Trig, it seems extremely unlikely that he’s telling the truth.

He’s also saying now that, at the Republican National Convention, he was just playing a part. That’s not something I would say if I were Levi — because at the convention, he looked like a mature, classy, capable young man, one who was committed to his girlfriend and his soon-to-be-born child. By saying that it was all just an act, and right before he poses in Playgirl, no less, what is he telling us? That he’s a stupid, classless hick who’s out to get money and notoriety at any cost possible? That’s not going to help with his credibility, either, but apparently Levi’s not smart enough to think that one all the way through (big surprise).

Bristol, on the other hand, still seems to be the same beautiful, classy, family-oriented girl she was during the election. Tellingly, she’s remained quiet about all of this. She hasn’t stooped to his level. And by his own admission, she doesn’t speak to him about everything he’s been saying about her family when they have to see or speak to each other about their baby. While he tries to put some kind of conspiratorial spin on it — it must be Sarah Palin cooking up some evil plan to get revenge!!!! — it simply seems to me that Bristol has a lot of something that Levi Johnston will never understand: class, dignity, and integrity. Levi clearly has none.

Sarah Palin, meanwhile, has fired back at Johnston:

We have purposefully ignored the mean spirited, malicious and untrue attacks on our family. We, like many, are appalled at the inflammatory statements being made or implied. Trig is our ‘blessed little angel’ who knows it and is lovingly called that every day of his life. Even the thought that anyone would refer to Trig by any disparaging name is sickening and sad. CBS should be ashamed for continually providing a forum to propagate lies. Consider the source of the most recent attention-getting lies — those who would sell their body for money reflect a desperate need for attention and are likely to say and do anything for even more attention.

What’s sad and disgusting is that Levi seems to be doing this because he says the Palins hurt him somehow. But if my memory serves me accurately, he was the one who sold them out first; he was the one speaking out to the media saying harmful things first. And because she had the audacity to respond, it means that he has the so-called right to do what he’s doing and say what he’s saying. It frankly is pathetic. He’s trying to paint himself as some kind of victim here, but all the while he’s stabbing the people who put him in the public eye to begin with in the back. It says a lot more about him than it does about the Palins, and I think that even the mainstream media is starting to see that.