First it was Beau Biden, Biden's grown son.  Biden was said to be considering running for president because Beau, on his deathbed, whispered something like "Dad...you have to run for president!" with nearly his dying breath.

How do we know this happened?  Because Joe Biden delighted in revealing this very personal conversation to everyone with a pair of ears.

Aug. 1, to be exact – the day renowned Hillary Clinton-critic Maureen Dowd published a column that marked a turning point in the presidential speculation. According to multiple sources, it was Biden himself who talked to her, painting a tragic portrait of a dying son, Beau's face partially paralyzed, sitting his father down and trying to make him promise to run for president because "the White House should not revert to the Clintons and that the country would be better off with Biden values."

So Biden was said to be considering running, not because the public asked him to, but because his son did.  We are asked to believe that his father's political future was foremost on his dying son's mind.

But then Biden decided not to run for president, because he was still grieving for Beau (who died several months ago).  "Grief over son kept Joe Biden and family from committing to longtime aspiration to presidency," said the LA Times.  It certainly didn't have anything to do with the fact that Biden was third in many polls.

It was all about Beau.

And then we heard the story of the reluctant Paul Ryan.  Ryan didn't want to be speaker because he has young children!  And then the story changed: Ryan could in fact be speaker, but only if he got time off for child care, and only if everyone supported him in advance.  But what if, after he became speaker, his children objected?  Would he then have to resign the speakership?  And say, doesn't he already have very long hours as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee?

These apparent family motivations, which are reported uncritically by the press, are really so disingenuous.  Biden didn't run because he saw he was behind in the polls.  Paul Ryan is lazy and didn't want to have to campaign for the speakership; he just wants to be crowned.  But they both framed it as about their children.

Maybe that's why so many people are supporting Donald Trump.  Perhaps they are doing so because of Ivanka.

This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.