Political Journalism Incest Chart
This matrix is a spotlight on those members of the corporate media and public relations spin machine, and their mostly GOP/neo-con shill relatives, especially their spouses. (Additions are welcome):
| Journalist/Propagandist | Relative | Job title of spouse/relative |
| Howard Kurtz, Washington Post and CNN Reliable Sources host | Sheri Annis (wife) | Pres. Fourth Estate Strategies, GOP campaign consultant, 2002 spokesperson for Arnold Schwarzenegger, media consultant for various anti-immigration California propositions, including Prop. 227, which eliminated various California bi-lingual education programs. Has written for the neo-con National Review. |
| James Carville, NBC Meet the Press guest, Hillary Clinton adviser and promoter of the corporate-funded and anti-labor and anti-progressive Democratic Leadership Council. | Mary Matalin (wife) | Long-time confidante of Vice President Dick Cheney and was a member of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), which helped "sell the war" in Iraq. Matalin and Carville often appear on Meet the Press together as dueling Washington insiders -- which is a ruse designed to deceive the public. |
| Chris Matthews, NBC and MS-NBC, Hardball host | Jim Matthews (brother) | GOP Lt. Gov, running mate of 2006 GOP gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania Lynn Swann. |
| Kathleen Matthews (wife) | Executive Vice President for Global Communications and Public Affairs at Marriott International. Willard Mitt Romney is named for J. Willard Marriott, the founder of the corporation who was also a close friend of the Romney family. | |
| Campbell Brown, NBC News | Dan Senor (husband) | Former Coalition Provisional Authority chief spokesman, contributor to Fox News, former intern for American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), senior associate of The Carlyle Group. director US-Israel Business Exchange (USIBEX). Senor is working as an aide to Democrat-turned-independent/Republican candidate Joe Lieberman. Adviser to Mitt Romney presidential campaign. |
| Wendy Senor Singer (sister-in-law) | Head of AIPAC office in Jerusalem. | |
| William Kristol, Editor, Weekly Standard, columnist, New York Times | Irving Kristol (father) Gertrude Himmelfarb (mother) | Mentor to Norman Podhoretz, leader of American Jewish Committee. Former editorial page editor Wall Street Journal |
| Saul Singer (brother-in-law) | Opinion editor of Jerusalem Post. | |
| Michael Ledeen, American Enterprise Institute, Karl Rove adviser, formerly with The New Republic. | Barbara Ledeen (wife) | Staffer, Senate Republican Conference. |
| Simone Ledeen (daughter) | Former Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority adviser to occupation Iraqi Ministry of Finance for northern Iraqi affairs | |
| Brit Hume, Managing Editor, Fox News, Washington | Kim Schiller Hume (wife) | Former Fox News Washington Bureau Chief, Vice President Fox News. |
| Virginia Hume (daughter) | Attorney with Quinn & Gillespie, co-founded by former RNC Chair and current top Bush aide Ed Gillespie. | |
| Carl Cameron, Fox News | Pauline Cameron (wife) | Campaigned for George W. Bush's 2000 election. |
| John Ellis, Fox News | George W. Bush (cousin) | In charge of 2000 election projections for Fox News. |
| Tucker Carlson, MSNBC | Richard Carlson (father) | Vice Chairman of neo-con Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), member Scooter Libby Legal Defense Fund Trust |
| Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute | Stephen Rademaker (husband) | Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation. Reported to John Bolton, then Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs prior to his appointment as UN Ambassador in 2005. |
| Veronique Rodman, American Enterprise Institute | Peter Rodman (husband) | Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. Former senior editor of National Review and signatory of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). Although PNAC recently closed its doors, its core members are connected to successor neo-con elements, including FDD and the Committee on the Present Danger. |
| Bob Schieffer, CBS News | Tom Schieffer (brother) | U.S. Ambassador to Japan, former U.S. Ambassador to Australia, former President of the Texas Rangers baseball team when G. W. Bush made millions from a $700,000 investment as general partner. |
| Anne Applebaum, Washington Post | Radek Sikorski (husband) | Defense Minister, later Foreign Minister, of Poland, former Fellow, American Enterprise Institute |
| Jim VandeHei, The Politico | Autumn Hanna (wife) | Former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay. |
| Andrea Mitchell, NBC News | Alan Greenspan (husband) | Former Chairman, Federal Reserve Bank |
| Daniel Pipes, Columnist, New York Post, Jerusalem Post | Richard Pipes (father) | Former consultant to Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson, Ronald Reagan adviser, and Harvard professor. Leading neocon. |
| John Podhoretz, Fox News, New York Post, National Review, Weekly Standard, regular on CNN's Reliable Sources | Norman Podhoretz (father) Midge Decter (mother) | Retired Editor-in-chief Commentary (magazine of the American Jewish Committee) and Project for the New American Century member. Heritage Foundation, Project for the New American Century, Harper's, Commentary, Jamestown Foundation, Hoover Institution, Hudson Institute, Accuracy in Media. |
| Norman Podhoretz, Retired Editor-in-chief Commentary (magazine of the American Jewish Committee) and Project for the New American Century member. | Elliott Abrams (son-in-law) Steven Munson (son-in-law) | Deputy National Security Adviser to George W. Bush
Political director for Voice of America. One time aide to Jeanne Kirkpatrick. |
| Francis B. Coombs, Jr. Managing Editor, Washington Times | Marian Kester Coombs (wife) | Contributor to anti-Semitic and racist Occidental Quarterly, edited by Kevin Lamb, former Managing Editor for Human Events and Evans-Novak Political Report. |
| Robert Kagan, Columnist, Washington Post, Co-founder of Project for the New American Century (PNAC), | Victoria Nuland (wife) | Bush administration Permanent Representative to NATO. |
| Fred Kagan (brother) | Resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute and major force behind the "surge" in Iraq. | |
| Donald Kagan (father) | West Point miltary professor. Leading neocon. | |
| Kevin Martin, FCC Chairman, authority over broadcasters and mergers and former General Counsel, 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, Member 2000 Bush-Cheney Florida vote recount team, | Catherine "Cathie" Martin (wife) | Special prosecutor witness against Scooter Libby and Assistant to the President for Plans and Programs. Spokesperson for Vice President Dick Cheney, Named as source of information to news media about Valerie Plame Wilson's covert CIA identity. |
| George Will, ABC News, columnist | Mari Maseng Will (wife) | Republican operative for some two decades for former Sen. and 1996 GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole (R-KS) and current Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), the 2006 National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair. |
| Ron Brownstein, Los Angeles Times | Eileen McMenamin (wife) | Communications Director for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). |
| Joseph DiGenova, frequent news commentator and former DC US Attorney | Victoria Toensing, (wife) also law partner | Both DiGenova and Toensing are longtime paid consultants for the Republican Party who are rarely identified as such in their media commentaries, but instead as former federal prosecutors. |
| Brent Bozell, Founder and President of Media Research Center and member of boards of Council of National Policy and American Conservative Union | William F. Buckley, Jr. (uncle) | Longtime conservative Republican activist and publisher of neo-con National Review. |
| James L. Buckley (uncle) | Former Conservative Party Senator for New York and current judge US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. | |
| Dick Morris, GOP strategist and Fox News commentator | Eileen McGann (wife) | CEO of Vote.com, a GOP-oriented web site that pushes Morris's books and links to the Drudge Report. |
| Billy Bush, Cohost, NBC Universal Access Hollywood | George W. Bush (First cousin) | President of the United States |
| Danielle Ann Crittenden, Editor, Women's Quarterly, Blogger, Huffington Post | David Frum (husband) | Former George W. Bush speechwriter. Coined phrase, "Axis of Evil." |
| Chris Caldwell, Senior Editor, Weekly Standard, a Rupert Murdoch publication | Robert Novak (father-in-law) | Chicago Sun Times and Washington Post columnist, involved with Karl Rove in outing Valerie Plame Wilson as CIA agent. |
| Mark Woodward, Executive Editor, Bangor Daily News | Bridget Woodward (wife) | Staffer for Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins. |
| Dan Abrams, MSNBC General Manager | Elliott Abrams (second cousin) | Assistant National Security Adviser and leading neocon policy maker for Bush Mideast policies. |
| Floyd Abrams (father) | New York attorney; Abrams represented Judy Miller and the New York Times in the Scooter Libby case. Also, consultant & actor for the upcoming Hollywood docu-fable "Nothing But The Truth" promoting the Miller/Libby worldview. | |
| Chuck Todd. NBC News Political Director (decided to ban Mike Gravel from NBC presidential debate at Drexel Univ., 30 Oct. 2007) | Kristian Denny Todd (wife) | Press Secretary for Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb. |
| R. Emmett Tyrell, Editor, American Spectator | Anne Tyrell (daughter) | Spokeswoman for Blackwater USA |
| Lowry Mays, Chairman, Clear Channel | Mike McCaul (son-in-law) | US Representative (R-TX) |
| Alan Colmes, "Liberal" side on Fox's Hannity & Colmes | Jocelyn Crowley (wife) | Sister of Monica Crowley, Republican pundit and sometimes fill-in for Hannity. |
| Rush Limbaugh, Radio talk show host | Stephen Limbaugh Sr. (uncle) | Senior US Federal judge Missouri |
| Stephen Limbaugh, Jr. (cousin) | Missouri Supreme Court judge. Nominated by President Bush for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri | |
| Pat Buchanan, MSNBC commentator, McLaughlin Group panelist | Bay Buchanan (sister) | Chair of Tom Tancredo for President campaign |
| Elsa Arnett, Boston Globe reporter, daughter of former CNN reporter Peter Arnett | John Yoo (husband) | Former Justice Dept. senior attorney. Contributed to Patriot Act and author of White House torture memos. Visiting scholar American Enterprise Institute. |
| Matt Cooper, formerly Time magazine reporter who was used by Karl Rove to reveal CIA agent Valerie Plame's status. Now editor for Conde Nast Portfolio | Mandy Grunwald (wife) | Major adviser to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. |
| Mark Halperin, political reporter formerly of ABC News and now with Time. | Mort Halperin (father) | Adviser to Barack Obama. |
| David Gregory, NBC News White House correspondent | Beth Wilkinson (wife) | Vice Pres./General Counsel of Fannie Mae |
| Christiane Amanpour, CNN | Jamie Rubin (husband) | Former Madeleine Albright press spokesman |
