Internet story of Bush witnessing
to teen not supported by facts
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___No evidence can be found to support a story circulating widely on the Internet about President George W. Bush taking time out during a banquet for volunteer staff to lead a teenager to faith in Jesus Christ.
___While not discounting the president's Christian faith or evangelistic zeal, two firms that specialize in tracking down so-called "urban legends" on the Internet have labeled the e-mail message a hoax.
___Likewise, the Baptist Standard made two calls to the Bush-Cheney transition team's communication office specifically seeking clarification on the Internet story. Those calls were not returned.
___The Standard also attempted to contact Jeff Benoit of Austin, the person credited in the e-mail message as the source of the account about Bush. The Austin phone books lists only one person by such a name, and he did not return a call from the Standard to confirm the story.
___According to the e-mail account, Bush attended a thank-you banquet for his campaign's volunteer staff the last week of December. He went from table to table shaking hands with the volunteers. As he did so, he met a woman who had brought her 16-year-old son with her.
___"Gov. Bush asked him if he was a believer too," the account states. "He said he didn't think so. Gov. Bush then asked, 'Do you mind if I tell you how I came to know Christ as my Savior?' The boy agreed, and Gov. Bush pulled up a chair and witnessed to him for 30 minutes, and led him in the sinner's prayer."
___The Internet research sites Urban Legends Reference Pages and Truth or Fiction.com have identified the story as a hoax.
___Both companies said they had talked with Bush campaign insiders, including some Christians, and none of them knew anything about such an event actually occurring.
___Furthermore, the Bush campaign held no formal thank-you banquet for its volunteers because the prolonged controversy over the vote count kept the campaign staff too busy. A reception for volunteers was held later at the governor's mansion in Austin, but Bush did not attend.
___Both companies also point out that Bush's time is so closely managed that it is highly unlikely that he would be able to spend 30 minutes witnessing to a teenager at a banquet, even if he wanted to.
___In an article posted on the Urban Legends Reference Pages, Barbara Mikkelson writes that Americans should not be surprised that such a story would be spread over the Internet.
___"Tales that seek to highlight the sterling qualities of incoming presidents provide ways for supporters to proclaim that their man is not like the bum leaving office and thus are a time-honored tradition no matter who is on his way out and who is on his way in.
___"Such tales also work to reassure folks, both those who voted for the newcomer and those who didn't, that this new man is a decent sort of guy and that he will do right by the country," she said.
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