The Secret of Levi Johnston's Success

Levi Johnston, the lad most famous for knocking up his high-school sweetheart—who also happened to be Sarah Palin's daughter—is making the most of his fame. He's been made news twice this week already. On Tuesday, we were chattering about his amusing role in a new commercial for nuts. Today, the blogosphere lit up with news of his nude shoot for , titillating girls and gay men alike. Apparently Levi has become a work-out machine, toning the love handles he exposed in in preparation for moment in the female erotica spotlight. If he wasn't a liberal pin-up boy before, he certainly is now. Surely Levi's 15 minutes are almost up. And yet there he is again, trending high on Google, and cluttering up gossip blogs. So why the fixation with this unemployed, hockey-playing, high-school dropout?

Of course, his appeal is partly explained by his looks. The dude is hot. But he also comes across as remarkably normal given his circumstances. His starring turns in GQ and Vanity Fair showed a kid managing to remain relatively down-to-earth amid his swirling fame and personal tumult. Sure he has an agent and talks about landing acting gigs, but one imagines him doing so with the same unaffected nonchalance with which he pops a pistachio, or talks about shooting moose. He seems playful, as though he's not taking this whole caper too seriously. He'll chat about his life as long as people want to listen. And therein lies the secret to his success: Johnston can pan the one of the most criticized women in the world without sounding salacious, nasty, or misogynist. He's not a screeching critic. He's just a guy bitching about the inlaws. It's an entirely unique position in the Palin-sphere. And people love it.

When Johnston drops bombshells about troubles in Palin's marriage or about Sarah's plan to adopt Bristol's baby to cover up her pregnancy, he does so with a straightforward naiveté that can't help but provoke sympathy. It's a tone that's absent from most of the revelations about Palin's personal life. That's why his critiques are so devastating. When Johnston speaks, liberals quiver, because in a universe of hungry anti-Palinites, Johnston offers a rare spot of credibility. He's been in her house. He's part of her world. So when he speaks, there's a kernel of truth, even if he was just a teenage observer.

Palin detractors love Johnston for another reason too—he actually seems to get under the former governor's skin. Since he first appeared in the public eye, almost everything Johnston has done is an affront to Palin's image as a family-values conservative. He got her unwed daughter pregnant, he didn't marry her, he aired the family's dirty laundry, sought fame in licentious Hollywood, and now he's getting his gear off in public. Palin has hit out at Johnston. Clearly irked by his interview on The Tyra Banks Show in April, a Palin family representative issued a statement saying "It is unfortunate that Levi finds it more appealing to exploit his previous relationship with Bristol than to contribute to the well-being of the child."

When Palin trashes the media, it feels like part of her schtick. But when Palin-the-mom knocks Johnston-the-ex, there's palpable,seeping tension. It's compelling.  And it's why as long as there is Palin, there'll be Levi Johnston.