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Estranged family members come out of the strangest places when the lottery is won or someone has presidential aspirations. These quiet individuals find a sense of power never felt before in their lives when a blood relative hits it big or is about to hit it bigger.
In Barack Obama’s case, Vanity Fair reported on a half-brother who was recently discovered living in a small shack in Kenya. Obama’s relative lives on less than $1 a month.
National Public Radio found Cindy McCain’s half-sister, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, who is not only a Democrat but also felt slighted when McCain described herself “as an only child” in a previous NPR report. However, McCain did grow up without other siblings in a two parent household, while her half-sister grew up with a single mother. NPR points out Hensley Portalski received $10,000 from her biological father's estate, while Cindy went on to inherit the family's beer fortune. McCain's father died in 2000, but the report continues to almost blame her for her half-sister’s “modest” past and current circumstances.
