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From Washington Dispatch.com

Editorials
Bush Photo With Teen Becomes Internet Phenomenon
Editorial by CK Rairden
June 14, 2004

This is a story of how powerful the new media has become. A phenomenon of sorts has grown from a picture of a 15-year old girl named Ashley Faulkner in a warm embrace with President Bush. It all began in early May. President George W. Bush was on the campaign trail in Ohio and one of his stops for the day was at the Golden Lamb Inn in Lebanon, Ohio. In this Cincinnati suburb awaited Ashley Faulkner and her father Lynn. They had arrived early with their friend Linda Prince to get a spot in the front of the line hoping to get to meet the president. As the campaign event wound down they would indeed get to see President George W. Bush up close and personal.

Mr. Bush worked the line, shook Mr. Faulkner’s hand and then proceeded until Linda Prince spoke up. “This girl lost her mother on 9/11,” Prince told the president. With that proclamation the president changed from the leader of the free world to a father and a husband. According to Mr. Faulkner, “The president’s entire expression transformed and he turned and came back against the flow and his eyes locked on Ashley’s.” The president took the time to talk to Mr. Faulkner’s daughter Ashley and give her a warm hug. Mr. Faulkner told me he debated before taking this now famous picture, wondering if he was invading a very private and special moment between his daughter and the most powerful man in the world. He decided to snap the picture you see here, the only one taken of this incredible moment of compassion by President Bush.

Mr. Faulkner described it as “a precious gift to my daughter.”

The family returned home, and Mr. Faulkner took a look at the picture he had taken with his Kodak digital camera. He liked what he saw and decided to share it with those close to him. He told me that he e-mailed it to roughly 15 family and friends, and had no idea of the buzz it would create. “The photo was not meant for publication,” he said. But by Thursday morning, only two days after the event, I had received eight different e-mails with the photo attached. At that time only the Cincinnati Enquirer had published the photo, and Matt Drudge linked to it on his Website. The old media chose to ignore it.

I published the photo in the Page 2 Politics journal, along with a brief blog entry on May 6^th. The response was such that it was obvious more people wanted to hear the entire story. So--we did the legwork, I contacted Lynn Faulkner and got the interview. Mr. Faulkner was very generous with his time, and gave me the full story of the entire day and how the photo was forwarded to the press, not by him but by friends and family. The story along with the picture was wonderful and touching. I attempted to capture that in the lead editorial, “Bush Photo with Teen Shows Conviction and Compassion” on May 10^th". The story has become an Internet phenomenon. It is mailed around the Internet to literally thousands of people each day. The proof; each day our server clocks thousands of people going to that page and reading the story and looking at this beautiful photo of compassion. And each day the e-mails flow in thanking TWD for publishing the photo and telling the story. There is some negative e-mail, but they are outnumbered by 100-1. And last week it grew so big that some very serious skeptics emerged. I noticed then in the scores of notes that I received that some people were questioning the validity of not only the picture but the story as well. I took the time to answer each one and assured them that the story was legitimate, but someone wasn’t satisfied. They contacted the “Urban Legend” Website Snopes.Com and wanted the story validated. Snopes investigation bore out the truth, as a question “Does a photo show President Bush hugging the daughter of a 9/11 victim” was given the status of true by the popular Website.

And of course it is a true heartwarming story. The notes I get are touching and run the gamut from an 83-year old WWII veteran crying as he read it, to a 15-year old girl explaining “At my age you don't know how much a hug helps [especially] being a girl we take things harder and a hug is the best thing anyone can give.” This beautiful picture and story show no sign of slowing down as people continue to log on to read it, and look at the picture. And it is a story that should have been picked up by the old media, but only the local Ohio newspaper, The Washington Dispatch and Fox News picked up on it. Again the new media took over, and now millions have seen it. Take the time to read the entire story, and look closely at this incredible picture. As you do, think of this---according to Mr. Faulkner, the press was already back on the bus, and it’s obvious that President Bush and Ashley did not pose for this photo. “I don’t deserve any credit for this picture,” Lynn Faulkner explained. He does of course as it shows the character of President Bush and the compassion and conviction he carries with him.

It is said that character is measured by what you do when no one is looking. President Bush warmed Ashley Faulkner’s heart and took the time to comfort her when he believed no one was looking. But with one fortunate click of a digital camera, now the world gets to look.

Perhaps they were wrong in the nineties--- maybe character does matter.