The media’s been pointing to the balloon boy story as the ne plus ultra of celebrity-seeking scumbaggery, but there’s an even better example around, isn’t there?

Honestly, at this point, the most rational interpretation of his behavior is that he’s trying to get people to hate him.

“Sounds like you really resent her now,” she asks Levi during the interview, which was taped in advance.

“Well now I’ve heard all the things she’s said. You know, the Sarah Palin I knew before, it was — it was her putting on a front, it was her being fake to me and now that everything’s slowly coming out and I’m hearing more things, you know, and things she’s said and done, you know, I see the real Palin,” Levi responds, before stepping through the looking glass:…

Maggie: That’s what it sounds like…somebody whose bent on revenge and getting even, ‘now it’s my turn’.

Levi: Well that’s part of it, I guess, but at the same time, you know, if she’s going to go out there and say things to me, about me, I’m going to leak some things on her. I mean that’s just how it is.

“I’m going to leak some things on her” is only his second-most memorable quote of the day. The most memorable: “I just get naked. That’s what I do.” I remember writing about this turd a few months ago and speculating that between his treachery and his willingness to stoop to the depths of Playgirl for attention, he’d destroy his credibility as a source for Palin’s enemies before the primaries ever got going. Maybe I was wrong, though. The excerpted bit above comes from a transcript of tomorrow’s Early Show on CBS. If they’re willing to take him seriously enough to put him on the air now, why wouldn’t they be willing two years from now? Evidently he’ll do anything for a buck, so lord only knows what he’d accuse her of if the price is right. Think our crack, fact-checking, fair and balanced media will be scrutinizing his accusations any more intensely than they did, say, those racist quotes attributed to Rush Limbaugh?

Speaking of the primaries, her fans at Team Sarah are trying to organize a speaking event for her … in Iowa. Hmmm.