CULTURE: Is Levi is a Palin Puppet?

Levi Johnston may be trying to make amends with the Palin family, but he's not winning any friends in his own. "I am extremely disappointed in him," writes his sister, Mercede, on her blog. "Not only is he being controlled like a puppet, but saying that all of his comments and stories were lies is absurd!" She also writes that Levi warned that if Mercede didn't take down her blog, she'd never see him or Tripp again. (Her blog is staying put.)

Very curious, writes noted Palin watcher Andrew Sullivan at his Atlantic blog. He wonders ' "how Palin finally put the screws on Levi. In Palinland, no one knows what's really going on. But I wonder if this is a somewhat panicked response to the recent blip upwards in web interest in the Trig question. With all these family members able to speak to the public and McGinniss digging deeper, Todd and Sarah may have felt the need to crack down and use Levi's access to Tripp and Bristol as their latest weapon."