Levi Johnston may only be 18 years old, but he has received a lifetime of political experience in the past seven weeks.  Bristol Palin’s fiancé marvels at the attacks his new family has received in the election cycle, and tells the Associated Press that the conspiracy theories bear no relation to reality.  He has not been abducted, he wants to marry Bristol, and he’s looking forward to life as a family man:

Levi Johnston, who’s having a baby with the daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin, can’t believe all the things he’s hearing.

No, he wasn’t held against his will on the campaign trail. No, he’s not being forced into a shotgun wedding with 17-year-old Bristol Palin.

“None of that’s true,” Johnston, 18, said in a rare interview with The Associated Press. “We both love each other. We both want to marry each other. And that’s what we are going to do.”

And no, the McCain-Palin campaign is not scripting his answers, either.  In fact, they would rather he not give interviews at this point, no doubt because of the insane rumors that the media has peddled about Bristol’s pregnancy and Sarah Palin’s maternity of Trig.  Johnston appears to be his own man, though, and makes up his own mind about what he should and should not do.

Certainly, Levi and Bristol would have made news regardless of the mentally imbalanced writers who chose to speculate on pregnancies, paternity and maternity, and so on.  However, the kind of allegations made against the Palins and Johnston, or about Johnston, would have reduced more seasoned politicians to fury or tears.  Johnston’s equanimity speaks well about him and his future as a husband and father.