All in the Family

Politics is a filthy sport that's never helped anyone, so I generally like to steer clear of it on the blog, but this little item was too fun to ignore: Apparently Barack Obama is related to Brad Pitt, Hillary Clinton is related to Angelina Jolie, and John McCain's southern roots are too, um, tangled to figure out.

Notice a resemblance? Me neither.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society did family tree research on the leading presidential candidates and found all of them have some famous relatives. In addition to Brad Pitt, Obama is related to six presidents - including the current one - through is mama, not to mention Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Clinton is related to a lot of famous French Canadians through her mama, including Jack Kerouac, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette, as well as Madonna and the aforementioned Jolie.

John McCain is related to First Lady Laura Bush, but in a rather amusing statement, the NEWHGS said that because a lot of McCain's ancestors are Southerners, they had trouble figuring out who else he's related to. "Notable connections (are) somewhat harder to trace because of challenges to genealogists in that region."

In other words: He inbred!

As far as I know, I'm not related to anyone noteworthy. I have a friend who found out she's a descendant of Scottish pirates. I think I'll start telling people I am too. Y'ar!