Politicians' Most Embarrassing Relatives
Onyango Obama is the latest relative to embarrass a prominent politician.
Aug. 31, 2011— -- intro: Several prominent politicians' relatives have taken the spotlight in recent years for embarrassing their famous family members.
Here's a list of the top seven, starting with the recent arrest of President Barack Obama's uncle, Onyango Obama.
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title: Onyango Obama
text: Obama's uncle Onyango Obama, an illegal immigrant, was ordered by an immigration judge to leave the country in 1992, the Associated Press reported today.
Onyango Obama, 67, generated headlines this week after being charged with drunken driving in Framingham, Mass., Aug. 24, 2011. Police say he failed to come to a complete stop at an intersection before quickly turning right, which caused the police officer behind him to hit the brakes. According to the police report, after being pulled over Obama wouldn't allow the officer to speak and "continued to interrupt" while slurring his speech. He did, however, acknowledge that he "should have yielded" to the officer when at the intersection, the report said.
Suspecting alcohol had been involved, the officer observed Obama walk, describing him as "moderately unsteady." Another test left Obama "barely able to keep himself from falling," the report said. Obama eventually admitted to having "two beers."
Police booked him, and he was offered a telephone call to arrange for bail, at which point Obama said, "I think I will call the White House."
He is being held without bail due to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer. His attorney did not respond to an interview request from ABCNews.com.
Police reported his blood alcohol level as .14. In Massachusetts anyone with a blood alcohol content of .08 or above is considered intoxicated.
Onyango Obama, the half-brother of President Obama's father, isn't the first of Obama's relatives to cause a stir. His aunt, Zeituni Onyango, lived in Boston illegally for years until the U.S. granted her asylum in May 2010.
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category: Embarrassing Relatives
title: Roger Clinton
text: Former president Bill Clinton's half brother, Roger Clinton, drew controversy in 1985 for a cocaine conviction and in 2001 for a drunken driving arrest in which he claimed he had had ''two Coors Lights, maybe.'' He eventually pleaded guilty to reckless driving.
The following year a Justice Department report revealed ''a number of potential violations of law'' involving Roger Clinton, including failure to register as a lobbyist, and Clinton's infamous request to his brother's parole commission to pardon a heroin trafficker for which he received cash and favors from the inmate's family.
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category: Embarrassing Relatives
title: Neil Bush
text: After Neil Bush divorced his wife of 23 years, Sharon, in 2003, sordid details emerged about his behavior during their marriage, including sexual trysts with prostitutes in Thailand and Hong Kong. He told his wife's attorney, however, that he didn't pay the women anything.
"Whatever happened, happened," he said, according to court documents.
Brother Neil, one of former president George W. Bush's four living siblings, drew media attention over his relationship with the controversial billionaire Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who now lives in exile after fleeing Russia in 2003.
In 2005 the Moscow Times reported Berezovsky invested in Ignite Learning of Austin, Tex., an educational software corporation Neil Bush co-founded. Ignite came under fire in 2007 when Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington found money from No Child Left Behind had been used to buy products made by Ignite.
But Neil Bush's troublesome behavior didn't start during his brother's presidency. Before his father's presidency ended, the $1 billion savings and loan company Neil Bush directed had collapsed, and he became embroiled in a negligence lawsuit. Eventually he and other defendants had to pay $49.5 million to settle.
George W. Bush's twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, also brought embarrassment to the family during their mischievous youth when they went out drinking while underage. In 2001 a judge suspended Jenna Bush's license for 30 days and ordered her to pay $600 in fines for violating drinking laws. Her sister, Barbara, was fined $100 and ordered to take alcohol counseling and perform community service.
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category: Embarrassing Relatives
title: Al Gore III
text: Former Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore's son, Al Gore III, pleaded guilty to possessing marijuana and prescription drugs in 2007 after he was pulled over for driving 100 mph on the San Diego Freeway.
Afterward, Gore, who was 24 when he was caught with the drugs (which included Xanax, Valium, Vicodin and Adderall), went to a live-in treatment center. He had also been arrested in 2003 for marijuana possession when he was a student at Harvard University.
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category: Embarrassing Relatives
title: Patrick Kennedy
text: Patrick Kennedy, son of the late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, appeared to have a promising future when he was elected in 1988 to the Rhode Island House of Representatives at age 21. But in 2006 he pleaded guilty to a DUI after a drug-induced car crash. After smashing his Ford Mustang into a barrier near Capitol Hill, he said he had been disoriented because he had taken Ambien.
Kennedy had already admitted to taking cocaine as a teenager and sought therapy for bipolar disorder. After the May 2006 incident he admitted himself to a drug rehab center in Minnesota.
In a CNN documentary that aired this May, he admitted to more than 25 years of substance abuse and over half a dozen stints in rehab.
This year he had planned to debut a memoir entitled "Coming Clean," detailing his struggle with addiction, but he no longer appears to be working on the project.
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category: Embarrassing Relatives
title: Billy Carter
text: Former president Jimmy Carter's younger brother, Billy Carter, grabbed the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, often failing to hide his drinking problem, even telling reporters during his brother's campaign that he was "a real Southern boy," because "I got a red neck, white socks, and Blue Ribbon beer." One of his business ventures, a brew called Billy Beer, was short lived.
He was investigated by the IRS several times.
One of his more famous quotes touted his "sanity": "My mother went into the Peace Corps when she was 68. My one sister is a motorcycle freak, my other sister is a Holy Roller evangelist, and my brother is running for president. I'm the only sane one in the family."
But the younger Carter's antics became more serious in 1978 and 1979 when he visited members of the Libyan government to discuss oil. He even registered as an agent for Libya. His connections to the country, including receiving a $220,000 loan from the Libyans, eventually prompted a federal inquiry as to whether or not Billy Carter had influenced American policy.
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category: Embarrassing Relatives
title: Patti Davis and Michael Reagan
text: Although she eventually reconciled with her family, late president Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis (formerly Patricia Ann Reagan) had often been referred to as the "black sheep" of the Reagan family. The former drug addict had a tense relationship with her parents, in part because she opposed so many of her father's policies: She supported gay rights, was pro-choice and chose to live with her boyfriend while unmarried.
Then, in 1986, she became temporarily estranged from her parents after publishing "A House of Secrets," a thinly veiled novel that seemed to be based on the Reagans. In a 1992 autobiography she described her mother as "abusive." Davis posed nude for Playboy in 1994, and posed nude again this year for More magazine.
Reagan's adopted son, Michael, also generated controversy after publishing his 1988 memoir, "On the Outside Looking In," which largely focused on being sexually abused by a camp counselor. Despite the shocking revelations, the book didn't appear to generate any sort of private or public response from his father.
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