George Washington and Bernie Madoff Are Brothers From Different Mothers

The internet is very upset that Bernie Madoff looks like George Washington. Could it be because it's like being made love to by a woman with the same mannerisms as your mother? We investigate.

January 9, 2009: The First Documented Reference is Made: "I saw a picture on Google News that caught my attention in that it made him look eerily like George Washington. "
February 26, 2009: Blogger wonders if anyone else notices resemblance: Maybe investors trusted him simply because he looks like the Father of our Country!
March 6, 2009: Staten Island commenter notices the same thing. The seventh seal has been unbroken, the dead are rising, the end of the world is near.
March 11, 2009: Appearance of First Video Mashup Youtube mashup: Interestingly, in this one Madoff is simultaneously both Washington and Ben Franklin.
March 11, 2009: NBC Washington commenter Emory Humdorf notes, "The strange irony is that he bears a striking resemblance to George Washington.The strange irony is that he bears a striking resemblance to George Washington.
March 12, 2009: The very next day the same irony is noted by NYT commenter: ironically, he kinda of resembles the guy on the one dollar bill in this picture…
March 13, 2009: Sensing the zeitgeist, Gawker overlord Nick Denton commissions Steven Dressler to create two portraits. (See below)
March 14, 2009: The official history of the Geo. Washington/Bernie Madoff similarity is published on this website, thus validating the meme as a true social phenomenon.
March 15, 2009: Joshua David Stein is offered six figure book deal to write a blog-to-book book about Madoff and Washington tentatively entitled, "George Washington and Bernie Madoff: They Kind of Look Alike." to be put out by Knopf.

[Photos: Top: DarthAbraham/Flickr] Middle: Steve Dressler did the two top good ones. Bottom: I did the kind of crap bottom one. If anyone knows how to make a layer look like an engraving in Photoshop, I'd welcome any tips.]