Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Consanguinity
I admit, I didn't see this coming:
There's no sign of a family reunion planned, but U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama are distant cousins.
So says the vice president's wife, Lynne Cheney, who said she discovered that her husband of 43 years is eighth cousins with the senator from Illinois....
The common ancestor was Mareen Devall, who the Chicago Sun-Times said was a 17th century immigrant from France.
It is sort of a goof, in the sense that there are probably tens or hundreds of thousands of people descended from Mareen Devall.
But still.
6 Comments:
By 
, at
Wed Oct 17, 12:42:00 AM:
Well TEDDY ROOSIVELT and FDR were cousins i think and they were in two different parties
By , at
Wed Oct 17, 06:42:00 AM:
FDR and TR were fifth cousins, which would mean they had a common great-great-great-great grandfather. FDR’s wife Eleanor was TR’s niece and FDR’s fifth cousin once removed. FDR’s maternal grandmother was a first cousin of President Monroe’s wife.
By 
GreenmanTim, at
Wed Oct 17, 07:57:00 AM:
While on the topic of genealogy, TR's mother was the sister of the wife of TH's gr-gr-gr-great uncle. A tenuous connection, you say, but close enough for him to send roses from the White House garden to the wedding of TH, CV and my great grandparents in 1904.
By , at
Wed Oct 17, 08:53:00 AM:
If we didn't see this one coming, imagine how people would feel if they found out that Obama was related to the president, himself?
It turns out he is:
"But Obama's family ties to the Bush administration don't stop with Cheney. According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times last September, Obama is also an 11th cousin of the president himself. The two share a 17th century Massachusetts relative."
From the CNN new site. As far as Obama and Cheney go, Yahoo News missed a great line:
"Reacting to the news, Obama's campaign spokesman Bill Burton told CNN's Dana Bash with tongue in cheek, 'Obviously, Dick Cheney is sort of the black sheep of the family.'"
Stories the blogosphere is missing this week:
1. Libya joins the UN Security Council.
2. The tragedy that Al Gore, the only person capable of stopping Hillary, decides not to run.
3. The utter lack of real news stories in the MSM as the "war" in Iraq becomes more positive. Here's a recap of the past few days (I paraphrase for clarity):
"Hillary Raises Lots of Money!"
"Obama Raises Lots of Money!"
"Mitt Says Bad Things About Rudy!"
"Rudy Says Bad Things About Fred!"
"Fred Says Bad Things About Mitt!"
Along with dumbing-down words like "torture" and "war", apparently the word "news" has also been redefined.
4. The slow winding-down of global warming alarmist stories in the MSM as the tide slowly turns.
Please note that's "turns", not "rises". :)
By , at
Fri Oct 19, 12:52:00 AM:
BARACK OBAMA is a distant couseon once removed he just hasnt been removed far enough
By mic_comte, at
Fri Nov 16, 10:14:00 AM:
Speaking of consanguinity, here is how to compute it, FYI:
http://www.braquedubourbonnais.info/en/inbreeding-calculation.htm
